C. resplendens and C. fisheri- Mom and Dad of the Hawaiian resplendent angel + others

[rmougey]

I'll confirm.... had to move my C. declivus to my FOWLR after it developed a liking for some of my corals. Worked for a litte while, but I haven't seen many kept long term in a reef.

-Rob

[Angel*Fish]

Originally posted by copps

Being the fish medium, I just have to share that in this photo one of the fish, I can't make out which, was thinking, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."

[Hifiguy]

OK so I have a question.

Can a mere mortal like myself obtain a pair of Centropyge interruptus? My LFS has one now but it is over 1k for a single and well my wife would drown me in my tank if I spent 2k on 2 fish.

IS it possible to get these guys and if so what are we talking price wise.

If its easier you can respond to me through a PM.

Thanks
Shaun

[nbd13]

Shaun- You can obtain a male pretty easily, but the going price if $800-1,100 right not.

From what I understand females are very rarely imported. Like 90% of the ones that come in are males. I heard this from a good source.

Also, you cannot go over 78 degree long term with these guys. The only way you can keep them over 78 is if they are captive breed, but Frank (from RCT Hawaii) is taking a short break. He was the only one raising them.

So long story short, you will have to spend $2k to get a 2 interruptus....but you will probably end up with 2 males and not a pair .

Nick

[Treg]

Sad but true.

Actually the recent few I have seen online have all been over $1,100 even. Between $1,200-$1,400. (And yes, All male.)

More than I think I would personally pay for a some what not-so-rare, wild caught, adult fish...

[Philwd]

Hi Shaun,
I saw the interruptus soon after they unbagged it. Sweet. I talked with Skip at length about it and it's care. I mentioned they need cooler waters but what I had read was stay below 80. I don't know if it's something I can swing or not. I'm so tempted. But I would have trouble keeping my tank at 78. If I only had a better idea if Frank will be back in the next couple years...

[nbd13]

Just FYI, the 78 degree max temp for wild specimens came from Frank directly .

He will be back in a few years and better than ever .

Nick

[Hifiguy]

I have a feeling I will be waiting for Franks return.

Shaun

[nbd13]

Even when he comes back, I am sure the price will be $650-700+ for a single one.

Maybe they will go down in price a little because they are becoming more common, but I doubt it.

Nick

[ROBZ2]

Originally posted by copps
Anyway, I'm preparing my 180 for the introduction of the interruptus... I'll have the chiller within a month. I'm pondering getting him a couple of wild females to play with, but we'll see... The only angels I have in the 180 now are my trio of regals which you could see in the below photo lined up in formation... The other angels I've moved to my large frag system awaiting a fish only I'm doing... The captive bred lemonpeel/ coral beauty pair will also go in there... Here's a couple shots of the 180... aken by my buddy who's a professional photographer, paid for with frags Some of the fish are hiding as we shut the pumps off, and the last one is an actinic shot... If I had to decide between fish and corals it would be tough!







Anyway, I'm heading back out to Hawaii this fall and hope to meet up with Frank again, and maybe Rich Pyle, which would be sweet!

Again it's great to be able to share these experiences with you guys and in return hear yours... what a great hobby (although it's more of a lifestyle )

Copps

Wow!!! John the 180 looks spectacular!!! what a great job bud! looks like another TOTM , I'm gonna have to stop by for a visit soon.

~Robie

[copps]

I'm back from a couple of weeks in South America and am happy to say all is well, including each of the seven dwarfs .

Originally posted by triggerfish1976
Copps,

Great full tank shots. Most of the praise you get is for the fish that you maintain but I must say that you have one of the nicest overall tanks (fish and SPS) on RC. It is almost Japanese tank like (very minimalistic and clean) and I can only hope to have a tank that looks as good as yours someday.

Thanks bud... I like to keep my glass scraped clean of algae... even the back. Some people say it isn't natural, but everytime I see reefs in the wild there is never a coralline encrusted wall behind them... The black back gives the illusion that you're looking over the other side of the reef, not at a wall... Things have grown in quite a bit since this pic and I'll update soon with more photos... I am just as serious about my corals as I am my fish, but I find myself in this forum more than the coral ones for one reason or another...

Originally posted by Hattie B
Pffttt.. The corals of course and you could gift me a couple of those fish.

And I decided if I could keep any I would keep the D. arcuatus.
although of course I can't...

D. arcuatus is actually now officially known as Apolemichthys arcuatus. I've had mine for what will be a year in April and I'm looking into getting a second smaller one. Like conspiculatus angels the pricing goes up on these as they get smaller, but they've become more attainable. Most of these go to Japan, and they like the smaller ones not only due to their ability to adapt, but because of their generally smaller systems which brings the price up even more. Wholesale prices for the "skunks", the little <2" guys, is similar to retail pricing for larger individuals...

Originally posted by fishsoldseprtly
John, I myself had a school of Apogon cyanosoma and after a while they killed each other as well. I was pretty surprised to see that.

Well its nice to see that you have all those angels from Frank. I was actually speaking to Charles D. just a couple of weeks ago and we actually brought you up and we talked a little bit about you helping with the fundraiser for the new set up for the Waikiki Aquarium. We also brought up that my LFS gets a lot of rare fish and the owner asked me if I wanted a Resplended x Fisheri Hybrid, and I asked him where he was getting these because I only knew of one guy that actually breeds these guys.

I encourage all clubs out there to do what we did. I had the idea for an auction and donated some corals to it. We hoped to raise $500 to get recognized on the donor wall, and the final amount ended up being $1995! Chip in guys!

It was no secret that Frank wholesales many of his fish to Quality Marine, which is where Liveaquaria gets their fish from and so has the hybrids available. Any LFS can get them. There are two available still at LA, and Frank's done selling them, so unless some magically grow up in my refugium these are the last you'll probably ever see for sale!

Originally posted by slojmn
John, I saw those butterflies in Scott's book as well as the Tinkeri's and liked both. I wonder how these guys compare to the Tinkeri's? Clearly the pyramid's look to be pretty reef safe in your tank, not sure about the Tinkeri's though. Would love to be able to keep some sweet butterflies in a reef.

BTW, Congrats on TOTM over in your neck of the woods .

Thanks Alicia. I've heard varying reports about the tinkeri complex (a subgenus of Chaetodon called Roa) regarding their "reef-safeness". I've not kept them in my reef, so I cannot comment. One of the things that is commonly mistaken though is that many of the "reefsafe" butterflies and angels will prey on sick, stressed, or dieing corals and many people blame the fish. It reminds me of when people would come into the LFS I worked at in high school saying their pleco ate their fish, when in reality their fish died and their pleco was opportunistically feeding on the body in the morning... This is VERY common and so I always take comments of "nonreef-safeness" with a grain of salt...

Check out this Tinker's hybrid recently caught in Hawaii... I believe it's crossed with C. ephippium and is the first record of this cross...

Originally posted by Philwd
If I only had a better idea if Frank will be back in the next couple years...

Not even he is sure when exactly he'll be back, but rest assured he will be back, or he won't hear the end of it from me!

There is no doubt the price has creeped up on the interruptus partially because Frank is not producing captive ones anymore. They are regularly available from a few of the major wholesaler's in LA, so if you have a good reputation with your LFS you could get a much better deal than the prices being talked about above.

On the topic of Hawaii, I'm working on acquiring Pseudanthias hawaiiensis. I saw these in person back in October when I dove Niihau, the furthest NW island of the main Hawaiian Islands. They were originally classified as a subspecies of P. ventralis, but they apparently adapt well if collected correctly. I saw these at around 130 feet as the divemaster banged on her tank to get me up from the depths They're gorgeous and occur much deeper in the other islands. I put a shot of the site also. They were scattered in the ledges shown... I also saw many bandit angels there...







Lastly, for those of you near the DC area, I'm giving a talk at our local club meeting on rare angels in March. More info can be found in this RC thread...

Oh and Robie... welcome back bud! See you soon!

Copps

[slojmn]

John,
Glad you are back and all is safe and sound with the tanks .
Those are some really gorgeous shots.

[copps]

Thanks Alicia! The funny (or not so funny) story is that that morning in the hotel my housing broke for my camera, so I was bummed. I was speaking with one of the divemasters on the steam to Niihau and he gave me his rig to use! What a guy he was... We met for coffee the next day so he could give me the images... Here's a couple of the bandits I shot...





The effects of diving at that depth chasing those guys appear to have narced me a bit, as I found it a good idea to get shots of the whitetips between my fingers of the shaka to show they were Hawaiian


Also seen were Hawaiian monk seals. I saw three of the only about 1000 or so left, as their population continues to decline despite no hunting... There's just too many people in Hawaii, but luckily Niihau only has about 200 natives living on it and outsiders cannot set foot on the island (but we could dive it)

[slojmn]

Ooohhh John, to cool. I have a number of shots of a baby monk seal, I named him Friar, hanging out about 6 steps from my hotel room while visiting Kauai last year. They are the cutest shots. I was only a few feet from him quietly snapping some shots as he settled in for a day of napping. When I returned later in the day he was gone. That shark picture is a classic. You are soooo brave...or out of your mind

[IanInDC]

I want to know when we nominate Copps' 180 for TOTM here on RC? It's amazing and even better when you see it in person.

I say if Steve Nash can beat Kobe and LeBron for the MVP twice, then Copps can win TOTM with two separate tanks!

[Project Reef]

Originally posted by IanInDC
I want to know when we nominate Copps' 180 for TOTM here on RC?

He definitely deserves it. Fill out the form!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/newthr...ad&forumid=189

You can also send ReefKeeping editor Skipper an email or PM.



ROBBBB WHERE ARE YOU!

[copps]

Too brave Alicia? Those things are like puppy dogs, unless you have an open flesh wound... You have to keep a sense of humor when diving... I like the one where you turn off your partner's air or cut their hose... or slip a T-bone in their BC before doing a shark dive... Here's a giant face eating Linkia that almost took me out in Micronesia...


Ian, regardless of how much you kiss up, you're not getting more free frags... In reality thanks bud... It would be nice to hear my wife say again "Do you win money for that?" if I got RC TOTM again...

Happy Friday again all... much is in the works here in the way of angelfish and I'll updated in this thread when I have news...

PR- thanks man! The 180 looks even better than since those shots were taken... Robie and are are probably going to get together either Sunday or next week... Robie's discreetly getting back into the hobby, and while his tank isn't even set up you could pencil him in for a TOTM in a couple of years...

[Curtis1158]

The first pictures on the thread of the C. Resplendens are amazing. How is the fish doing? Any chance the can coexist with a flame angel? I'm thinking not. Amazing colors. Any info would be appreciated.

[IanInDC]

I'm not doing for the free frags, Copps... I'm doing it for the *love.*

And the frags.

[nbd13]

Curtis1158- What size is your tank? I have had multiple centropyge species together with no problem. I have a 275 gallon tank and do not have any problems. I think it is more than possible if you tank is large enough.

Although, the problem will be getting a C.Resplendens, you know these are protected right? They are only found around one island and they are protected from collection in this area unfortunatly .

The funny thing is they are collected illegally from time to time, but they all go to Japan. I mean all of them go to Japan where they sell for a ton of money. I do not think I have seen anyone in the USA with one except John.

I would love to have one or a pair myself, but do not see this happening in the net few years .

I guess I will just have to be jealous of John for a few years, haha . John, maybe you can loan me the fish for a year or two, I could pay "rent" of some sorts for him, lol .

Nick

[Curtis1158]

Nick,
Good info. Did not know any of that. I have a 75 peacefeul tank. Do not want to rock the boat. Have 160 Lbs of LV. Plenty of hiding places. After I rearranged the rock, yellow tang stop chasing the flame angel. Not sure I have enough room another small angel, but sure love to colors. Love the flame angel though. Good fish.

Thanks again. Steve

[copps]

Thanks for checking in there Nick...

Yeah resplendens, and all marine life, are protected from export from the island. While they are extremely common around the island, they are only found there, so perhaps it's a good policy. There is now limited civilian travel there with the British military, and anyone can travel to Ascension. There is even one small motel there, but not much else. My wife and I love exotic travel, but trips like that will have to wait until my now 18 month old son could be my dive buddy, when we could hit Ascension and maybe Easter Island to see the C. hotumatua... The wife would go nuts on those islands

Jens Kallmeyer, a Belgian hobbyist, travelled there back in '04 as mentioned above and got some amazing shots, and even collected a few for observation in tanks on the island, but none were brought off of the island due to the restrictions... Here are a few of his shots in the wild, and these are copyrighted to him... Amazing though! They were in groups of up to 200!

[jmaneyapanda]

Hey copps- Hows it going? See the Sabres brawl the other night? Awesome, huh? Anyway, I just wanted to add my two cents on the Resplendants. You know how I feel about conservation. These pygmies are only found off this island, nowhere else. So, while the pictures shown do show a notable density, this densitty is extremely localized, and cannot be extrapolated to higher numbers. So, although 200 may have been seen at a sitting, it by no maens, makes these fish plentiful.

Sorry to hijack.

[copps]

Hey Jeremy... not a hijack at all!

I agree completely... I said "they are extremely common around the island, they are only found there, so perhaps it's a good policy."

There are pygmies with even much smaller distributions, like C. nahackyi at Johnston Island...

[RGBMatt]

Originally posted by copps
Check out this Tinker's hybrid recently caught in Hawaii... I believe it's crossed with C. ephippium and is the first record of this cross...

That fish looks like it's a Tinker's/4-spot hybrid (C. quadrimaculatus). The light spots on the sides and the blue edges on the fins are from that species.

Nice picture - where did it come from?