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It's probably because the angel was there first. He thinks he's the prime fish now, so he likes to give all new fish the "Who's your boss?" treatment. This involves chasing, flashy flank displays, and nipping.

He never really bothers the midas blenny, because the midas was the first fish in the tank. Nobody gives the midas a second look.

EDIT: Just to note, a lot of sources say that Centropyge argi (the cherub angel) is pretty aggressive too. It's similar to C. acanthops, except it comes from a different area and does not have the dorsal stripe. I'm not sure how C. aurantonotus (Brazilian flameback, almost identical to the African flameback) acts, nor do I know about C. resplendens. They all look somewhat close to each other. I'd say it is possible they could be related, except they're found in different regions.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Centropyge resplendens, the Resplendent Angelfish, was the first species reported to live in groups, and is actually considered to be better kept in groups in the marine aquarium if possible than singly. It's more avowedly social than most other CCentropyge Angels, which themselves live in groups of one kind or another in the wild, although with larger territories.

The BIG problem with Centropyge resplendens at the moment is availability. It's endemic to Ascension Island, and consequently, is almost as difficult to obtain as Centropyge hotumatua, the Rapa Nui Pygmy Angel. Ascension Island is in the middle of nowhere as far as air and shipping routes are concerned, and it's principal activity is as a British military base. With, of course, the inevitable 'shared usage' by the United States. Though it has a nice airfield capable of taking decent sized cargo planes, your average commercial operator is going to feel a tad queasy about landing at an airfield that's used for, among other things, refuelling stops for B-2s. Plus, the Royal Navy has a big presence there as a stopping off point for ships heading to the Falkland Islands (remember that nice war we had with Argentina in 1982? ) and the airfield is also designated as an emergency Shuttle landing field should the need arise. Consequently, anyone wishing to collect Centropyge resplendens is going to find the operation has its "interesting" moments ...

As a result, if you can find any specimens of Centropyge resplendens now, which is pretty unlikely given the near-impossibility of getting collectors there in the current global security climate (after all, the military aren't going to want any old Tom, Díck or Harry wandering around a top secret air base and listening post) they'll cost a king's ransom. Once upon a time, they were supplied by a Royal Navy diver who happened to be a marine fishkeeper himself, but that little arrangement has since ceased, and now, Resplendent Angels, if you can find them, will fetch price tags that will cause your bank manager to explode on the spot. Even when they were available in some numbers, they were expensive (here in the UK they were around £200 each) but now, their prices are in low Earth orbit, and anyone who has one in their home aquarium is sitting on a £2,000 fish.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

The only place I know of to ever get them is Frank Baensch at RCT Hawaii. He breeds them and quite a few other rare and non-rare angels. http://rcthawaii.com/angel/6.htm

Definitely a beautiful species though. Shame they haven't spread off Ascension island. They're common enough there, and are found in large numbers.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Just checked the prices on that page.

Centropyge resplendens - $785 per fish.
Centropyge interruptus - $650 per fish.

That's for tiny juveniles.

Ouch.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Yeah, but they're captive-bred and will be more likely to themselves breed in captivity, perhaps one day leading to a continuous supply of tank-raised angels. RCT is one of a kind, and is the only operation producing most of these angels (many of which are rare species).

The hawks seem to be doing okay, but there are still issues with the male's swimming and the angelfish chasing them around. I got the male hawk to perch on my hand and arm when I did algae, so that was cool. He also ate a bunch of mysis, but the female wasn't around when I fed and missed it. Next time I'll be sure she can see the food.

Some pics of the male:






I'm still kinda worried about him. You can see in the last shot there are a few things that look like parasites on his body. I didn't see them yesterday. Hawkfish are pretty resilient and can shrug off most infections, but I'm still concerned. At this point the best I can do is try to keep him well fed and happy, and hopefully he will fight them off on his own. I'm a little worried about the other fish and especially the tang. I really hope they don't catch anything.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Hmm, having to squint hard to see some of those details ... getting old y'see

His colour is good and strong though. I agree your Tang is going to be a BIG worry if the odd features you've highlighted turn out to be transmissible parasites ... and a rare one such as Ctenochaetus tominiensis would be a PAINFUL hit if you lost it ...

However, the fact that he's eating is a big plus.

I suppose borrowing a friend's Cleaner Wrasse for a week is out of the question?

By the way, I've just checked the old Graham F. Cox book in the hunt for something that will treat external parasites without copper baing a worry ... after ll you're keeping inverts too. Admittedly this book dates from the 70s, but the author knew his stuff even back then, and kept a good few difficult fishes alive at a time when even public aquaria were struggiling with them ... anyway, the light bulb went on over the head, and something you might want to check for on this Hakwfish is a parasite called Benedenia. These are triangular external parasites, which orient themselves in such a fashion that the apex of the triangle points toward the tail of the fish.

In his piece on the Emperor Angelfish, Cox says:

Benedenia is a commonly seen infection among newly imported specimens, or those kept in less than ideally pure water. This is easily cured if the animal is promptly transferred to exceptionally clean water and treated with Cuprazin or Sodium Sulphamethazine - dosage: 1 teaspoonful of solution to 10 gallons (45 litres) of water. If the latter treatment is used, the fish should be transferred to fresh [i.e., new] sea water five days after the disappearance of symptoms, to avoid massive kidney damage that might otherwise result.

That's on pages 69-70 by the way.

I suspect that here in the UK< Sodium Sulphamethazine is another of those substances you have to obtain a veterinary prescription for ... don't know about it's status in the US. Check it out - it's a non-copper med that could be useful against a range of other external marine fish parasites without needing copper. I'd research this med before use though ...



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I can't say that I know what those things are on the hawk, but I'll look into it. I know we do have one type of copper-free parasite med at work, so I'll consider buying it tomorrow. I feel bad for the male, he's just not acting like he should.

On the not-so-bad side, I got a pic of the female:

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Excellent news! The female hawk ate some Spectrum Marine pellets (the really small ones), and each of the hawks ate a live ghost shrimp. Good to see that they have their appetites. Once enough time goes by, they should recognize me as their feeder and become pretty bold.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Fingers crossed for you and the fish Sirbooks, because they are LOVELY specimens ... one or two of those photos are candidates for addition to the species profile

Er, DO we have a species profile for it? If not, you'd better put one up!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Double post.

Now that the Flame Hawk profile is up, you can add some of these photographs to the profile!

I took the liberty of applying some gamma correction to a couple of the dark looking ones (some digital cameras have a strange idea as to what constitutes correct exposure levels - I know mine does sometimes!) and the results are stunning. I can mail the gamma corrected ones to you if you like, then you can use them. Gamma correction is a quick and relatively effective way of compensating for over- or under-exposure of an image, and is one of the nice features that is built into Microsoft Photo Editor.

About your conjecure that you mentioned in PM concerning colour differences - it wouldn't be that the female has a broader black dorsal stripe would it?

Oh, if you've got access to Microsoft Photo Editor yourself (it's included with Microsoft Office as standard - if you have Office installed, dig out your installation CD and if Photo Editor isn't already there, tell the installer to include it as an update), use the following:

Image->Balance

Then slide the "Gamma" slider until the exposure level is correct.

I'm sure there's a way of doing this in PhotoShop also, but that's a MUCH more complex package. To compensate for over- or under-exposure, you have to muck about with additional layers and changing blending modes, and right now I can't remember the details (sigh). If I dig them out of my documentation section I'll provide the details of achieving the same effect in PhotoShop.

I think these pics are excellent illustrations of the species, and if I were you, I'd add them to the site to!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I caught the male and plopped him in the sump, turned off the skimmer and return pump, added a pump (A Rio) for circulation, and have started treating him with Ick Attack. I really hope he pulls through. It's like he doesn't care about life anymore. When I saw him in the tank this morning, he was just sitting on the sand looking miserable. He didn't give me any trouble catching him, either. Hopefully he'll make it. I shouldn't have taken the risk and bought them where I did.

Yeah, I'm wondering if the females have more black on the dorsal fin and at the eyes. It seems like something simple to come up with, but I have not seen anyone else mention a way to sex hawkfish by color, except possibly the longnose.

I'll do the picture stuff later when I have time. I am pretty busy at the moment.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

If he's eating, that's a good sign. Are you fortifying the food for the Hawkfish with vitamin supplements? That'll help if you are.

If he's stopped eating, then it's time to worry. However, if the parasite load gets knocked on the head quickly, there's still a chance. Only trouble is of course, while your other Hawkfish is separated from the male, it might start the transition to becoming a male itself, which will complicate matters. Even though it's risky, it might be an idea to keep the two together during treatment.

Once again, fingers crossed that he pulls through.

If you have a fellow aquarist within easy reach who can let you borrow a Cleaner Wrasse for a week, that might help also. Of course, that's a big 'if', but when you have something expensive and prized to save, you tend to want to pull out the stops to try and save it. Mind you, I tend to act like that even with 'bread and butter' freshwater fishes, let alone expensive rarities. With marine fishes, I'd probably go to the trouble of setting up my own histology lab!




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Well, it died while I was at work or school today. I caught him too late. Bummed. I was foolish to buy from that store, even if I used to work there and even if they had the hawks on sale. I can get a replacement male from work (he's healthy again and in great shape). I will wait at least a week or so, just to be sure nothing else goes wrong.

I'm aware of the possibility that the female hawk could become male, but it is small enough that I doubt it will happen soon.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Little update:

Got the male, and both he and the female are in great health. They eat like pigs, and otherwise behave like hawkfish should. The male will even stick his face out of the water in hopes that food will fall in. Very endearing little guy.

The only bad news is that he doesn't like the female. Initially he chased her every time she was in sight, even though she tried to be nice. He's cut down on this behavior somewhat, though for now he still has the handle "Wife Beater".

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Does he wear a tank top?

They might continue to settle down and the male might just be telling her this is now his tank. Glad you got a healthy one. Good luck with 'em.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

"Does he wear a tank top?"

No, but it looks like he's growing his dorsal into a mullet.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Another pic of the female:


And here's one of the male hawk:

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."