The wild broodstock are kept in covered, fiberglass tanks with a UV-filtered, aerated, seawater system circulating through them. Each tank contains one female and two males. Early efforts to get the fish to spawn on a particular schedule using hormone injections have not been as successful as allowing the fish to spawn naturally, which is our current approach. Once the adults have spawned completely, they are removed from the tanks.

Hatching of fertilized eggs occurs between nine and 21 days after fertilization depending on water temperature. Typically, they hatch within two weeks of fertilization at the Coastal Marine Lab. The newly hatched larvae are transferred into 2000-liter grow out tanks with the same water and aeration system as the incubation tanks.