Flame angelfish
| Flame angelfish | ||||||||||||
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Centropyge loricula in the aquarium |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Centropyge loricula | ||||||||||||
| Günther , 1860 |
The Flame Angelfish or Flame Duke Fish ( Centropyge loricula ) is a species from the angelfish family (Pomacanthidae). In older publications before 1998 the species name Centropyge loriculus is often found . Since the genus name is female, the species name must also have a female ending, here -a .
distribution
It is widespread in the Pacific . You can find it off Queensland , Samoa , the Society Islands , Hawaii and Palau , and occasionally in Indonesia . It lives in lagoons and on outer reefs in water depths of 3 to 60 meters. It is most often found at a depth of around 10 meters.
Appearance and social behavior
C. loricula grows to 10 to 12 cm. Male and female animals are difficult to distinguish from one another. In direct comparison, the male has more blue at the end of the dorsal and anal fin. The body also appears overall darker than that of the female. In young animals there is an eye spot at the end of the dorsal fin . Due to its small size, the flame angelfish lives very hidden. You can find him individually, in pairs or in small harem groups with one male and several females. This depends on the nature of the biotope .
nutrition
Flame angelfish feed on algae, small crustaceans, and small sessile invertebrates.
Reproduction
To reproduce, flame angelfish rise in pairs and release eggs and sperm. The eggs are about 0.5 mm in size. The fertilized eggs are buoyant and float in the sea. Larvae hatch from them after 18 to 30 hours. These larvae live pelagic for a few weeks , then they colonize the reef as young fish. In Hawaii there are crosses between C. loricula and C. potteri .
Aquarium keeping
The flame angelfish is a very popular fish in the aquarium hobby because of its eye-catching color and is also easy to care for. He accepts frozen and dry food as substitute food. Occasionally it can happen that flame angelfish pluck at corals and damage them, this differs from animal to animal. In sufficiently large aquariums, keeping C. loricula in pairs is recommended . Spawning has also been observed in the aquarium. The fish have since been bred in Hawaii. Live marine plankton was used as rearing food .
literature
- Frank Schneidewind: Angelfish . Tetra Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-89745-137-9
- Svein A. Fossa, Alf Jacob Nilsen: Coral reef aquarium, volume 3 . Birgit Schmettkamp Verlag, 1995, ISBN 3-928819-14-3
Web links
- The flame angelfish in the marine dictionary
- Centropyge loricula inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Allen, G., Fricke, R., Pyle, R. & Myers, R., 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2014.