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KO RAL L E ’s I n k e n Krause t al k s w ith Claude Schuhmacher of Extre me Corals
When Claude Schuhmacher started work as a glass
Claude
Schuhmacher
displays two
stony corals he
propagated,
demonstrating
the increased
size that can be
achieved under
optimal rearing
conditions.
cleaner for a marine livestock wholesaler in 1985, he never dreamed that his
involvement with saltwater creatures would become a lifelong affair—or that
he would eventually become the proprietor of an important business in the
field.
Once the current managing director of Fauna Marin had cleaned aquariums for long enough to learn his trade in the ranks, in 1993 he became a staff
member and later the manager of a large pet store. In 2001 the time was ripe
to make the leap to independence and establish his own online retail business, Aquaterrashop. In the years that followed, Claude Schuhmacher’s name
became known on the aquarium-hobby scene, mainly through his retail activities. At the same time, he and his partners founded Fauna Marin and built
a collecting and export station for aquarium livestock in the Philippines. In
recent years he has been involved mainly in the
production of equipment and high-tech foodstuffs
for the international market.
and the entire family Mussidae is also very interesting in terms of its wide distribution in the
wild. Besides, they are all azooxanthellate corals, which are my particular passion.
CORAL: The first thing that catches the eye at your premises is the huge number of captive-raised
LPS corals, especially Acanthastrea specimens in every nuance of color. How did you stumble upon
this gap in the market, and why do the vast majority of breeders in the field prefer to offer smallpolyp stony corals (SPS)?
CS: That is a good question. I find SPS corals very beautiful as well, but to me they always look
too static in the aquarium. During my trips overseas and my dives in the tropics, I’ve been
struck by the fact that the reefs are home to a great variety of corals that we haven’t yet been
able to reproduce in our aquariums. My keen desire to maintain such corals successfully and
breed them developed during these dives. It was my good fortune that I was able to spend so
much time studying the natural “template.”
This specialization in foodstuffs for azooxanthellate corals
and other filter-feeders led to cooperation with various universities, but above all to knowledge and experience from which
private aquarists can now benefit. We hobbyists also have
Schuhmacher to thank for the annual “Fisch & Reptil” event
in Sindelfingen. He also established the Aqua-Terra Symposium, which takes place at this annual event; it is by now one
of the most important conferences of its kind in Europe, and
was born of the conviction that advances in the maintenance
of delicate reef-dwellers are possible only through the free exchange of valuable knowledge.
Following is the transcript of our conversation with Shuhmacher about large-polyp stony corals (LPS).
Claude Schuhmacher: Even after all the years that I have been professionally involved with the
maintenance and propagation of corals, there is one genus that continues to have a special
fascination for me: Acanthastrea. I find their inexhaustible variety of colors simply bewitching,
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CORAL: What comes next, after Acanthastrea, Echinophyllia, Scolymia, & Co.? Can you predict what
the next fashionable coral will be?
ALL Images: i. krause
CORAL: The main feature for our forthcoming issue will be about colorful LPS corals. Which of
these brightly colored beauties do you like best?
Acanthastrea
specimens of
every color morph
imaginable
CS: I don’t think that we are into “fashionable corals” as much here in Europe as people are in
the U.S., for example. However, there are noticeable cycles here as well, with certain species being particularly in demand. Right now it’s colorful mushroom corals and encrusting anemones
like Ricordea and Zoanthus that are getting the most attention—along with the colorful LPS corals mentioned earlier. In particular, LED lighting allows certain LPS corals to achieve extreme
colors that are not normally seen in any other corals. LPS are also somewhat less complicated
to maintain and keep in good color than the majority of SPS, so it is really no wonder that SPS
corals are having to slowly yield their position at the top of the popularity scale to their largepolyp cousins.
CORAL: You are regarded in the hobby as a specialist in azooxanthellate corals, and you even sell
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The pronounced
fluorescence of many
Acanthastrea polyps can
be seen particularly well
under blue LED light.
tank-raised specimens of many species. You also manufacture food products for these tricky creatures. What new
paths do we need to tread to be able to maintain azooxanthellate corals with the same reliability as we do SPS, which
used to be seen as difficult or downright impossible to
keep? Or is it completely unlikely that similar success will
be possible with azooxanthellate corals in the long run?
CS: Of course we will be able to maintain these corals in
the long term and even breed them—of that I have little
doubt. There are already a number of aquariums around
the world with populations consisting predominantly of
azooxanthellate corals that are run successfully—with a
lot of dedication on the part of their owners. The important points here are chiefly water conditioning, the
Claude Schuhmacher
showing KORALLE editor
Inken Krause some of his
aquarium-propagated
stony corals.
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Photos, design, art and text
Copyright 2010
by Aqua Craft Products® &
Michael Del Prete
Dealer Inquiries Invited
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tain. But using a combination of special particles with
marine fatty acids, proteinogenous surfaces, and a nutrient solution based on marine polymers, it has proved
possible not only to keep these corals successfully but
also to propagate them via cuttings.
CORAL: How realistic are the possibilities for coral breeding? Are there species that in your opinion cannot be bred
commercially, or is it all just a question of time and improved know-how?
It isn’t size that is important in tank-propagated Acanthastrea,
but color. The sale of these small but exclusive corals also reduces
the need to collect from the wild.
role of organic substances, and their breakdown in the
aquarium, and these have to be optimized to be successful with these corals. A lot of research is still required in
this field, although a number of successes have already
been recorded.
CORAL: Can you give us some concrete examples?
CS: One good example is the gorgonians of the genus
Anthogorgia, known to many people as blueberry gorgonians and still generally regarded as impossible to mainBelow, left: Brightly colored Scolymia corals are currently in great
demand, even though their propagation in aquaculture isn’t yet
practicable. These colorful actinians are easier to keep than most
small-polyp stony corals. Right: Extreme Corals lives up to its
name by offering intensely colored specimens like this.
CS: It is quite clearly just a matter of time and means.
It is evident that many coral species are currently being
bred in greater numbers than the trade usually demands.
Luckily, however, the variety of species being bred professionally is also constantly increasing, so that in the
long term it should be possible to provide all the species
that aquarists want via aquaculture, and not just those
that are easiest to propagate. The commonplace species
of soft and stony corals are already being propagated in
large quantities commercially, and the demand can be
satisfied by the numerous maricultured specimens imported from Indonesia, for example. There is still a lot
of room for expansion in the field of Zoanthus encrusting anemones and similar small, soft corals, as well as
azooxanthellate corals.
CORAL: You are producing propagated corals in astonishing quantities. Where do these specimens go when they
are ready for sale, directly to the aquarist via your online
shop or primarily to the wholesale and export business?
CS: We breed our LPS and soft corals mainly for the
trade and export them to most European countries. But
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117 Neverslnk St. (Lorane)
Reading, PA 19606-3732
Phone 610-404-1400
Fax 610-404-1487
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POLY-BIO-MARINE, INC. ~ EST. 1976
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The propagation of Zoanthus encrusting anemones in aquaculture has a lot of potential.
naturally we also offer these corals at our online shop, Extreme Corals. The
direct contact with customers and their feedback is immensely important in
enabling us, as manufacturers, to offer products required for the successful
maintenance of these corals in the home aquarium. Products like “LPS Grow
and Color”, for instance, would have been virtually impossible without private testers and their feedback.
CORAL: Does the aquaculture of corals in Germany make sense from an ecological viewpoint?
CS: I believe it does! I see the culture of corals here in Germany as a “hybrid”
process similar to that used in plant propagation: Small specimens are raised
on special farms in the tropical countries of origin, and are then grown on
to saleable size under aquarium conditions in Europe. This permits the perfect combination of the advantages of the two systems—that is, production
in marine-supported coral farms and domestic coral culture in Europe.
CORAL: What advantages and disadvantages do the two systems have, and
how can aquarists benefit from their combination?
CS: In the area of reef conservation, I think that biodiversity can be maintained if corals are produced in a sustainable manner—that is, by the harvesting of small cuttings taken directly from the reef. One advantage of this
is that at least some of the subsequent profit goes directly to the local population, so they aren’t completely cut out of the trade. Domestic coral producers can benefit from the fact that the young imported corals have already attained a certain size without the high energy costs prevalent in Europe, and
this probably also outweighs the ecological costs, including the fuel used to
transport them from overseas. A further benefit of the importation of “semifinished” cuttings from the tropics is that a wider variety of different species
and color forms is available.
There are also arguments in favor of some of the rearing being performed
here in Europe. Cuttings reared exclusively under natural conditions frequently lose color in the aquarium, react badly to their new environment,
and often bring parasites with them. Hence it is beneficial to accustom them
to artificial lighting during the critical phase prior to sale and cleanse them
of parasites, so that the end customer can purchase a thoroughly healthy
specimen. I can well imagine a time when greenhouses with the latest equipment will be used here to raise corals on an even larger scale.
CORAL: Claude, thank you very much for this chat. Our congratulations on the
10-year jubilee of Fauna Marin, and we wish you every future success in your
work propagating corals!
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