Posted by gerard on November 26, 2008 under Saltwater Fish | 
The lemonpeel angelfish (Centropyge flavissima) is an omnivorous marine angelfish. Its body is a distinctive bright yellow in colour, with a blue circle around the eyes and blue behind the operculum. Juveniles have a blue ring on each side. It is native to the Indo-Pacific region, where it lives in lagoons and reefs and eats marine algae.
In aquaria, it is suitable for fish only tanks. It may be kept in a reef tank, but with caution. This species is well-known for nipping at stony coral polyps and clam mantles, and may even eat soft coral polyps and zoanthids.
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Posted by gerard on November 12, 2008 under Saltwater Fish |
The French angelfish, Pomacanthus paru, is a large angelfish of the family Pomacanthidae, found in the western Atlantic from Florida and the Bahamas to Brazil, and also the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, including the Antilles, and the eastern Atlantic from around Ascension Island and St. Paul’s Rocks, at depths of between 2 and 100 m. Length is up to 41 cm.
The French angelfish is common in shallow reefs, usually in pairs, often near sea fans. It feeds on sponges, algae, bryozoans, zoantharians, gorgonians and tunicates. Juveniles tend cleaning stations where they service a broad range of clients, including jacks, snappers, morays, grunts, surgeonfishes, and wrasses. At the station the cleaner displays a fluttering swimming and when cleaning it touches the clients with its pelvic fins. Coloration in adults is black, the scales of the body, except those at the front from nape to abdomen, being rimmed with golden yellow; a broad orange-yellow bar at pectoral absent; dorsal filament yellow; chin whitish; outer part of iris yellow; eye narrowly rimmed below with blue. Juveniles are black with vertical yellow bands.
Reproduction is oviparous and these species are monogamous. Spawning pairs are strongly territorial, with usually both members vigorously defending their areas against neighboring pairs. Its flesh is considered good quality and it is marketed fresh. It has been reared in captivity.
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Posted by gerard on November 11, 2008 under Saltwater Fish |
The Passer Angelfish, Holacanthus passer, is a large marine angelfish of the family Pomacanthidae, sometimes referred to as the King Angelfish. Due to its large size and bright colors it is a popular aquarium fish, despite the fact that it can be difficult to keep.
Distribution
The Passer Angelfish is a non-migratory tropical fish that inhabits reefs in the eastern Pacific ocean from the coast of Peru north to the California gulf, including offshore islands as far west as the Galapagos, generally at a depth of between 4-30 meters.
Physical description
Passer Angelfish are sexually isomorphic, meaning males and females are visually identical on the outside. They do, however undergo significant changes in coloration and to a lesser degree shape as they mature. Juvenile Passer Angelfish are primarily yellow, with iridescent-blue-rimmed fins and blue striping towards the posterior of their bodies, and an orange mask around the eye. Sexually mature Passer Angelfish, on the other hand, have mostly brown or blue bodies (depending on the light) with the same blue rimming around the fins and a yellow dorsal fin. Passer Angelfish generally grow to 35 or 35 cm long. They have between 18 to 20 rays in their dorsal fin and each of their pectoral fins, and 17 to 19 in their anal fin. There is also have a strong spike found under their lower cheek for defensive purposes.
Habitat and diet
Passer Angelfish primarily inhabit the middle and bottom of the water column of rocky tropical reefs, including in the larger crevices between rocks, and juveniles can occasionally be found in tide pools. They are diurnal and feed on sponges, other sessile invertebrates, zooplankton, and certain species of benthic microalgae.
In Aquaria
Passer Angelfish are somewhat popular as aquarium fish, however their large size, specialized diet, and prohibitive cost make them comparatively poor captive pets. They have not bred in captivity and hence can be very difficult to find in most hobby shops, although they are slightly more available through mail order companies, for a price. Passer Angelfish also have a well-deserved reputation for being difficult to keep, largely because they require sponges and tunicates as a food source and will often not accept even prepared foods with such things as ingredients. Besides their diet, they are not particularly picky about salinity or pH, so long as they are kept stable and the water quality high. Angelfish in general are not generally good community inhabitants, Passer Angels being no exception. If introduced when young, a lucky aquarist may be able to keep two angels in one appropriately size aquarium, but such experiences tend to be the exception, not the norm. Passer Angelfish are quite dominant and can be abusive to smaller or more docile tankmates, or Angelfish that are lower on the social hierarchy for whatever reason.
Reproduction
Passer Angelfish are monogamous within their pairs and, during their spawning cycle, will mate daily around sunset. During a spawning cycle a pair can produce upwards of ten million fertilized eggs, averaging about 25-75,000 daily. These eggs then drift in the water column for about 20 hours, at which point they hatch. After hatching, the fin-less fry live off their yolk sack until it is completely absorbed, at which point they begin to eat small zooplankton.
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Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Posted by gerard on November 10, 2008 under Saltwater Fish |
The Queen Angelfish (Holacanthus ciliaris) is an angelfish commonly found near reefs in the warmer sections of the western Atlantic Ocean.
Description
The adult Queen angelfish’s overall body color can be described as blue to bluegreen with yellow rims on its scales. Their pectoral fins and ventral fins are also yellow but their lips and the edges of their dorsal fins and anal fins are dark blue. Queen angelfish are also known to have blue markings around each gill cover. Juveniles have dark blue bodies with yellow lips, gills, and tail and vertical bars ranging in color from light blue to white. The Queen Angelfish may live up to 15 yrs in the wild and reach up to 45 centimetres in length.white.
Diet
The Queen Angelfish feeds primarily on sponges, but also feeds on tunicates, jellyfish, and corals as well as plankton and algae. Juveniles serve as “cleaners” and feed on the parasites of larger fish at cleaning stations. Although in home aquariums, aquarists have been successful in providing the Queen Angelfish a diet of meaty and algae based foods
Distribution
Queen Angelfish inhabit reefs and are common near Florida, the Bahamas, and the Gulf of Mexico. It is rarely seen in the Bermuda Triangle and as far south as Brazil.
In the Aquarium
Although, the Queen Angelfish is considered to be moderate in difficulty to keep in captivity, it is ill-suited for the inexperienced aquarist. They are an aggressive species that require a large aquarium. Most aquarists recommend a minimum tank size anywhere from 150 on up to 180 gallons. The Queen Angelfish will harrass other fish without discrimination, particularly new additions to the aquarium. It should be the last fish added to any system. It is not a reef safe fish, and larger specimens may nip at or consume corals, particularly stony or soft ones, and ornamental invertebrates.
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Text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
Posted by gerard on October 22, 2008 under Saltwater Fish |
The royal angelfish, Pygoplites diacanthus, is a species of marine angelfish of the family Pomacanthidae, the only member of the genus Pygoplites. It is found in tropical Indo-Pacific oceans from Red Sea and East Africa to the Tuamoto Islands, north to Ryukyu and Ogasawara islands, south to the Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia, at depths down to 48 m. Its length is up to 25 cm.
The royal angelfish occurs in coral-rich areas of lagoon and seaward reefs, often found in the vicinity of caves. It feeds on sponges and tunicates. It is solitary or in pairs, or in groups.
Coloration of the royal angelfish is sides with alternating dark-edged bluish white and orange stripes which narrow and angle backward in dorsal fin, the posterior portion of the dorsal fin black with close-set blue dots, the posterior portion of anal fin with alternating yellow and blue bands running parallel to body contour, and the caudal fin yellow. Juveniles have a large ocellated dark spot on the basal portion of the soft dorsal fin.
In the aquarium
Although it is frequently exported through the aquarium trade it rarely survives in the aquarium.
Usually specimens abused during shipment, more likely caught by drugging, will refuse to eat anything, including live fare.
However, given the right environment, specifically with smaller and docile tankmates like gobies and dwarf angels, it will start feeding within days when fed brine shrimp, brine shrimp plus flakes, and further progressing to regular frozen foods and a certain brand of cichlid pellets which this species seem to crave.
With a hostile environment with fellow large angels, puffers, and triggers, and certain clowns, it will almost certainly fail to acclimate and slowly die of starvation due to its shyness to start feeding.
Survivability of feeding specimens seem to equal to the other Pomacanthids.
Fresh water dips may be required to rid newly arrived specimens of flukes and ick which this species is especially prone to.
The prior myth that only yellow-bellied variations from Sri Lanka and the Red Sea will survive points to the fact that species from the Philippines and Indonesia are often abused when collected.
