Flame Angelfish

Care

With bright red colouration matched by an outgoing personality, this fish has always been popular with reef keepers. Although found from shallow reef crests to a depth of 60 metres across a wide area of the Pacific, the brightest specimens tend to originate from Hawaii and a few remote islands. Like most dwarf angels, these fish spend much of the day grazing the reef for algae and encrusting invertebrates, a behaviour that extends to the aquarium and the reason why they prefer more mature set ups. Occasionally this browsing may include sampling corals and individuals vary in their suitability for reef aquaria.

Dwarf angels are generally assertive fish and are capable of standing up for themselves in most fish communities. The least problematic combinations of fish come from mixing them with dissimilar tank mates and combining them with other dwarf angels can be problematic unless certain measures are taken. As they're protogynous, all young individuals are potentially female, and animals of equal size are likely to clash over hierarchy with dominant individuals becoming male. For this reason, it's best to keep them singly or in pairs or groups where a significant size difference makes dominance straightforward with minimal fighting. This also applies when attempting to house different species of Centropyge together and generally speaking, it's always best to add smaller individuals to established ones. This mimics the natural state where young fish settle out the plankton and into existing communities of territorial fishes. The greater the difference in size, the less aggression will be displayed although solitary fish will often be overstimulated if they've been kept alone for an extended period. Ritualised display postures appease aggression in the more dominant fish, but close supervision may be needed and keeping multiple dwarf angels is best attempted in large aquaria with plenty of rockwork. Buying existing pairs or groups is easier, as the stressful first date scenario can be avoided.

 

Feeding

Should be offered a varied diet based on a quality dried food as well as other meaty fare such as vitamin/Spirulina-enriched brineshrimp, Mysis shrimp, special sponge-based Angelfish preparations, and finely chopped krill/squid/cockle/mussel. Feed small amounts 3 times per day.

Breeding

As with many captive reef fish, spawning is the easy part! Rearing the young is extremely difficult in the home environment due to the difficulties of larval rearing. Commercially bred youngsters are available and this trend is set to continue as technology and husbandry improve.