Centropyge joculator trio

[copps]

Well, after a long wait about six weeks ago I received my trio of Centropyge joculator! These guys are only found at Christmas Island and the Cocos-Keeling Islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Christmas Island is a National Park, but there is very limited collection of these guys at Cocos-Keeling. The fishery there is managed well by the Australian government and despite them being common there, they are collected in very limited numbers. I helped my LFS (Blue Ribbon Koi and Marine) bring many of these in in two shipments. Many of these went out to friends and other angelfish nuts here on RC, and we were able to get sizes appropriate to pair the fish up. The sizes came in from about 3/4" all the way up to about 3.5 inches. What beauties! I of course took advantage of the opportunity and took many photos of all of the specimens. Seeing any Centropyge that small is cool, but it was a real pleasure to see such a rare angelfish at a tiny size... I purchased three of the smallest for myself, including THE smallest of the bunch at between 3/4" and 1"... but don't tell him that! He's a feisty little guy and has held his own with the other two that are between 1" and 1 1/4". Here's the shot of "Inch" as I call him... I never name my fish but this guy is just too cute!


I quarantined my trio separately for about a month, and all went well aside from one of the larger ones injuring his eye one night. He was reclusive for a couple of days but has fully recovered. Unfortunately he's just about lost the eye, but it looks like he will lead a normal life despite that. Interestingly, when I introduced the three together in a 20 gallon, the one eyed one was the most feisty and most dominant. I was upset at first when he lost the eye, but am interested now to see the fish grow and develop. His interaction appears normal since the few days after he adapted to losing the eye... Anyway, here's shots of the trio... my three all still have their ocelli!


This shot shows the one with the damaged eye, with Inch in the middle!


This is a shot of one of the medium sized individuals at about 1 1/2" and just losing the ocellus...


And one of the large guys at about 3.5 inches...


To see these guys in person under tank lighting is very striking... they are a gorgeous fish that do not photograph as well as they look in person... and what a strong species. They adapt well and quickly and come from a collector with years of experience and a chain along the way that knows how to treat them... so for those looking to invest in them they do much better than many other rare wild caught Centropyge, like Centropyge interruptus for instance. The variation between specimens was quite remarkable too considering they all come from the same small island chain... this little guy showed orange instead of yellow and the blue part of the body ran to the front of the dorsal fin...


While these were pricey, we got them for much less than they've sold for online recently. Regardless of species though, I encourage people to try pairs or harems of any dwarf angel species they enjoy! How cool are these!? Happy Friday to all!

Copps

[Hormigaquatica]

Very cool copps, congrats! I will retract my "bicolor with a black eye' statement from a previous thread
How many of them ended up making it to the US?

[copps]

Come on man... if you're going to mock them you have to do better than the old expensive bicolor joke! In a thousand years that joke will still be going around... When you see them in person though you could see the difference... the blue edging around the eye and dorsal and anal fin glows...

[edwing206]

Those are cool! I really want a pair but I can't afford them. Guess I'll get a pair of cherubs.

[copps]

Thanks Ed... Centropyge argi are an awesome fish too! The nice thing is that they stay small (part of the dwarf dwarf angels) and are accessible at small sizes making them easy to pair or group in a harem...

[edwing206]

I'll get a pair soon hopefully.

Back on track now, LA has a Centropyge joculator for 1200 bucks.

[copps]

Yeah that's the one that I referred to above available online... much more than I paid but Liveaquaria is a great company and Kevin knows his fish well at that Diver's Den facility... I also did not get a two week guarantee! That is the first one offered online in a couple of years and is pretty much a full grown specimen...

[jmaneyapanda]

what tank are they going into John? In other words, what corals are you willing to sacrifice?

[copps]

Right now they're in a 20 long growing out... for all they know they're like a large angel in a 500 gallon! These are too tiny to put in any of my large displays at the moment... the little guy is literally as large as my thumbnail... Many of these have gone into reefs though and they have been well behaved relative to other dwarfs... Also the nice thing about having multiple systems is that if a coral gets picked on you could just move it... When dwarfs go bad though it's not the complete destruction you see from large angels going bad, so you get some warning... Anyway, I turn 30 on Sunday and am having a 280 gallon delivered that I'm making a fish only for my birthday that will be mostly butterflies with some angels and other things... God bless my wife for allowing this and my 2 year old better grow quickly to help with tank maintenance!

[CarlC]

They are just stunning!!

Carl

[jmaneyapanda]

Does your wife want to take on a second husband?

[copps]

Not yet... but she does love this new trio of C. bicolor!

[DeltecRules]

:::::::::: Drooling ::::::::::::::::: I want one!!!!

[sidog1]

Copps, these sure are some beautiful fish. Maybe one day I'll get one...

[Treg]

Originally posted by copps
Not yet... but she does love this new trio of C. bicolor!

[Sanjay]

Hey John;

My fish are doing great in the 500G tank, and very visible now. The smaller one has now lost its occelus, and interestingly the front half is not yellow but orange - very different from the larger one that is yellow. The color difference is very noticable even when the 2 are not near each other. I dont remember the coloration being that different when I got them.

They are still hard to photograph in the big tank.

sanjay.

[copps]

Thanks again guys...

Sanjay, after that shot of the radiant wrasse in your thread you are on the hook for a good shot of the jocs!

Here are two shots I took of yours when you picked them up... the smaller one was maybe 1.5 inches and the larger just over 2 maybe? I guess the smaller guy already knows there are no predators in your tank so he dropped the ocellus?





Keep us updated...

[gasman059]

very very puuuuurdy

[invincible569]

john, very nice pictures and specimens! I've always loved the joculator. It's one of the best dwarf's you could get your hands on. I was surprised to find this thread after I just recently posted about some hotu's on my blog. You can see the pics and read about it here. Let me know if your trio of joc's act the same as the hotu's.

http://invincible569.squarespace.com/

[Sanjay]

I guess I was wrong about the smaller one loosing its ocellus.

Here are a couple of pics of the smaller one





and one of the bigger one.



You can clearly see the difference in the face - the smaller one has more orange in the face.

sanjay.

[mile sq. reefer]

Beautiful joculators, you always have some serious stock. Is the damage to the one joc's eye permanent?

[copps]

Originally posted by invincible569
john, very nice pictures and specimens! I've always loved the joculator. It's one of the best dwarf's you could get your hands on. I was surprised to find this thread after I just recently posted about some hotu's on my blog. You can see the pics and read about it here. Let me know if your trio of joc's act the same as the hotu's.

http://invincible569.squarespace.com/

Hey Ed, wonderful site! It's amazing the similarities in appearance between hot tomatoes and jocs, despite their distribution being oceans apart. I was offered a pair of these last year, but I passed because of the requirements for very cool water. Frank out in Hawaii had three of them when I was there last year, and when power died on Oahu from the earthquake his system ran on generators. The chillers were not backed up and one of the hotus died as a result. I left for Micronesia from Hawaii 17 hours or so before the quake hit . The remaining two he offered to me, but he's found that long term this species needs to be kept at 72 or below... ideally in the high 60s... therefore it's not much of a viable species to work with as even the offspring would require cool water. The fish is not illegal to have, but rather collection at Easter Island is now banned apparently. The fish is found at other islands, but none that would export. It's a shame... it's a beautiful fish. If I was single without a wife or son I would have setup a cold system just for them, but you know how that goes... I'll definately keep you updated though... Many of the ones sold by the LFS I helped went out as pairs (like Sanjay's!), and hopefully people will chime in with their experiences too...

Sanjay, finally some nice shots! I've heard that the orange can be brought out by feeding beta carotene in the food... maybe if we feed enough we could make our own hotumatuas!


mile sq. reefer, thanks... the damage was permanent to the eye, but again the fish has adjusted and is doing fine until now. Luckily there are no predators in its tank...

[edwing206]

How did the eye get damaged?

[copps]

I have no clue... I had these little guys isolated alone in little "breeder nets" with PVC and some pieces of rubble. I noticed one day that one was very reclusive, yet still ate. A few days later it was out and about with the eye damage. I'm pretty sure it must have gotten torn on a piece of rubble possibly... whatever it was caused from is water under the bridge though and the fish has adapted fine... Oh well... I'm pretty sure this is the first joculator trio lead by a one eyed specimen...

[edwing206]

Good to know he's gonna be fine.