In Taiwan, the lack of suitable indigenous species is in a bottleneck in the freshwater aquaculture. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, the search for suitable aquaculture species has been ongoing. Introduction of fish species with considerable potential for aquaculture is regarded as the most effective way to achieve this goal.
Silver perch Bidyanus bidyanus is native to Australia and possess desirable culture attributes such as being eurythermal, and omnivorous. It is popular with consumers because of its tasty flesh and absence of intermuscular bones. Juvenile silver perch were obtained from a private fish farm in 1992, and through the use of our developed integrated spawning-hatching-larviculture system, the first successful induced spontaneous spawning and larval rearing was achieved in 1994.
Hybrid striped bass Morone saxatilis × M. chrysops was imported from USA. This species demonstrates favorable merits for aquaculture, including wide salinity and temperature tolerance, fast growth rate, good taste, and bright appearance. Due to its high market value as a result of its good acceptance by local consumers, substantial increase in interest in its aquaculture in Taiwan has been noted. In 1992, juveniles were transferred from a local fish farm to our laboratory. In 1995, the first case of induced sportaneous spawning and larval rearing of captive F1 hybrid striped bass was recorded in Taiwan. The F2 progeny exhibited a low hatch rate, low survival, high level of deformities and growth variability, which suggested that F2 progeny might not be suitable for culture.