Fishes of Ascension Island

[Peter Schmiedel]

If you ever wanted to see how the holy grail Centropyge resplendens lives in the wild, you should check this website. These are these UW pictures by dive buddy Jens Kallmeyer took during our trip in November 2004.

It is the only page I translated so far - sorry for the rest, but I just have no time.

[Jerry W]

Pretty impressive. Thanks for posting that. I was surprised to see such a large group of the angels, thinking harems were smaller. Great to see pics of these fish in their natural surrounds.

[Ljam]

200 angels in one group how interesting is that. Thanks for posting Peter its always great to read your threads

cheers Liam

[Tarasco1]

Those are great dive pics, thanks for sharing Peter! It's amazing how the prey and predator practically live on top of each other.

[Peter Schmiedel]

.. and just imagine the value the predator eats every night

Here is a closeup of the replendens:

[snookcatcher]

what is so special about the resplemdens angel? their price?

[Peter Schmiedel]

Hi Perry

IMO a lot:

1. They are reefsafe because they dont even know corals
2. They are small and colorfull which makes them a perfect candidate for keeping a group in a reef tank
3. They live in large groups and are therefore interessting study objects
4. They feed much more on plankton then any other member of the genus
5. I dont care about the price and I would never buy a fish for 900.- even one who is nuts like me has dead lines

The pic above shows a ca. 4cm small female which spawned a day after the pic was taken.

[Jeremy Blaze]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing!

[Jeremy Blaze]

Did your friend collect anything?

[Mark]

They are also cool because they are endemic to that island.

2. They are small and colorfull which makes them a perfect candidate for keeping a group in a reef tank

According to Scott Michael, they are extremely aggresive towards each other, and even other fish. He mentioned having one persistently attack a Queen Triggerfish. I have no experience with this fish, but just pulling what I read in Scott's most recent book on Angelfish and Butterflyfish. I wouldn't be surprised by his comments though. There are so many fish that appear to socialize in the wild, but will act aggressively towards each other in an aquarium.

[Jeremy Blaze]

Also you must always remember, that fish are individuals and will have their own 'personality' to an extent.

I am not trying to say Scott Michael is wrong, just that this may be the actions of one fish. I could be wrong, he may have expirenced this aggresion from more than one specimen.

I just want people to not say fish are this way or that based on one fish.


And remember, fish don't read books. So they do not always do as the books say they do.

[Quatro]

Awesome Pics Peter!

I find it very interesting that their habitat consists only of algae and rock rubble. I wonder how they would respond in our reef aquaria, jam packed with corals from all over the world. This leads me to my question...

Does anyone have any of these beauties in their aquaria? Could you comment on their behavior or perhaps share some pics? :>

Much appreciated,
~Harry

[Peter Schmiedel]

Originally posted by Jeremy Blaze
Did your friend collect anything?

We did not as it is not allowed to take live stock form the island. And as you can only get there via Royal Air Force we did not take the risk

[Peter Schmiedel]

Originally posted by Mark
[According to Scott Michael, they are extremely aggresive towards each other, and even other fish. [/B]

Hi Mark,

I really respect Scott and will buy his books when I will be in CA in 4 weeks, but in this point he is absolutly wrong!

We keept some on the island in a tank during our stay and there was no aggression at all. If you see the UW pic's and know how they live it does really not make sence. They really live in this colonies and seem not to chnage their stone pile against another one. Of course long term research is need to verify that. I dont thing Scott sah the fish in the natural habitat. Before us that last person who had a sientific background / approach was Robert Lubbock !!) in 1979.

I am not sure if it is to see on our pic's, but they share the stone piles with uncountable other fish as Paranthias, Chromis and Stegastes. We could not see any agression level towards them either.

Based on our personal expierence thsi fish is a model citizen for our tanks. A shame that they are that high prices as breading fish. I would love to add 10-15 to my main tank.

I will contact Scott and try to find out on what he based this information. Can you give me the book name and the page where he published it, or even the coorect quote?

[Mark]

Hi Peter,

I am not implying that Scott is right. I just thought his observations may prove interesting to you. I am most impressed by your pics. This fish has been my holy grail since the day I first saw a pic back in 1990. I even keep a Chrysiptera starcki and regard it as my 'poor-mans-resplendent'.

Your dive photos are a real treat for me. I hope the captive breeding efforts reduce the price some, because I hope to own one in the near future.

The book I referenced is:

Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes: Plus ten more Aquarium fish families with expert Captive Care Advice for the Marine Aquarist (Reef Fishes Series Book 3)

ISBN: 1890087696

by Scott W. Michael (Photographer), Fred Bavendam (Photographer), John P. Hoover (Photographer), Rudie H. Kuiter (Photographer), John E. Randall (Photographer), Roger Steene (Photographer), Takamasa Tonozuka (Photographer)

[Vili_Shark]

My friend in HK was importing this fish from their natural habitat till like a couple of years ago, he hept them in one tank.
He says they are very agressive and even attacked Joculator angels who are quite agressive pygmies themselves, the Cocos were 2.5 times the size of the Resplendens.
He says they were completely safe with each other though.

[Vili_Shark]

Hi Mark
Do ya mean the info on page 248?

[Mark]

Haven't checked the page number.

[toonces]

man, that is so cool.

that would make a really neat setup. instead of doing the typical full on sps reef, do a rubble tank with some macro and micro algae growth, respelendent angels, soldierfish, morays....totally doable and a neat, unusual tank.

thanks for sharing peter!