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3. LiveAquaria Deep Dive into the Peppermint Angelfish

LiveAquaria Deep Dive into the Peppermint Angelfish

• Aug 14, 2019
• Web Aggrigator
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This episode showcases the "The Holy Grail"/unicorn of the marine angelfish, the Peppermint Angelfish (Paracentropyge boylei). Native to the Eastern Central Pacific, a recent addition to the hobby introduced by Charles (Chip) Boyle, Richard Pyles and Jack Randall who officially described the species in 1992. Due to the species deep water and nature and preference, their availability is extremely limited. Peppermint Angelfish can range from 300-400' at such great depths. It takes the expertise of a highly-skilled diver equipped with rebreathing diving gear.

Once harvested this deepwater species needs special handling to reach its slow ascent to the surface, just like divers fish too also need to decompress before going topside. Havings said all that we wanted to make sure we properly aquascaped the Peppermint Angels new habitat to match its natural environment as much as possible.

The first step was to provide cooler water temperatures, how this is a deep water fish. We installed a chiller in the aquarium to achieve a temperature of 72.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Then we provided cave-like structures for the Angel that would provide shelter and security. Also important was the lower lighting environment, so we decreased the intensity of the light. Lastly, we provided tank mates that would not be too aggressive towards the Angel. We stocked the aquarium with a harem of beautiful Ventralis Anthias fish with are also from the Cook Islands, and that was harvested on the same dive expedition as the Peppermint Angelfish.

Over the past eight weeks, we have slowly increased the temperature to 74.5 degrees Fahrenheit and slowly increased the lighting intensity. While not a rare fish in its natural habitat. The Peppermint Angelfish is rare in the aquarium trade, there have only been a few specimens that have been brought to market in the United States. Fortunately, LiveAquaria was able to obtain one back in May, over the past two months, we have been vigilantly feeding and observing the magnificent member of the Pomacanthidae family. Our entire team was enactus to assist a feeding response upon the angelfish arrival, and quickly, the tiny fish settled in and started to nip at the antennas of trochus snails. Seeing that eased the tension as we knew this fish was in top health.

It did take some time and experimentation as a variety of food and particle sizes was offered throughout each day to elicit a positive feeding response. We initially loaded the aquarium with a variety of copepods as a natural food source as well as supplementing with enriched frozen-thawed fairest such as brine shrimp, Mismisus shrimp, Calanus, Angel Formula, and small fish eggs. Within a few days, the Angelfish started to sample both frozen and live brine shrimp. Since then, both the Angel's appetite and palet have expanded, and we are excited to say that the Peppermint Angelfish is feeding on a variety of food with gusto.

This is an angelfish for the efficinato or expert who truly appreciates his provenance, potential, and rarity in the aquarium trade. Our hopes are that eventually this beautiful angelfish will eventually be paired up with another Peppermint angelfish for breeding purposes, which align with LiveAquarias mottos of offering sustainably raised aquatic life that is aquacultured or responsibly harvested.