Flame Angel - Centropyge loriculus

[fishfreek]

[center:b6bf5c7408]Flame Angel[/center:b6bf5c7408]
[center:b6bf5c7408]Centropyge loriculus[/center:b6bf5c7408]


Origin: Tropical Central to Western Pacific
Size: 3-4” adult size
Min Tank Size: 30 Gal
Temp: 76-80F
Specific Gravity: 1.020-1.025
PH: 8.1-8.4

The flame angel is argumentatively one of the most beautiful of the dwarf angel species. Thankfully this fish is also one of the most hearty of the dwarf angels. The flame angel is bright red with a orange/yellow base to its body. It has a few black vertical stripes with some purple at the ends of the top and bottom caudal fins.

Be very cautious of an extremely bright specimen. This could be a sign that the fish was caught using cyanide. Cyanide use can cause unrecoverable health/appetite problems and often times the fish will only survive for a few days/weeks after the capture.

The flame angel should be kept in an aquarium where there is a fair amount of live rock; the angel can then swim in and around the rocks.
While this fish is rather peaceful it should not be kept with fish of similar body/coloration. The flame angel should be kept singularly in a system unless the tank is very large (100+ gal) and has ample hiding places where each angel fish can establish its territory. Due to their size, dwarf angels are natural food sources for large predator fish like lions, triggers and groupers. They should not be kept in aquariums that also keep these predator fish.

The diet of the flame angel is similar to that of other dwarf angels. The staple of its diet should be marine algae supplemented with more meaty foods like prepared squid, fish, scallops, clams, etc. The flame angel shares the undesirable trait of potentially developing a taste for the soft polyps of corals. If the flame angel is to be kept in a reef aquarium, be sure to keep an eye on this fish. Should it begin to nip at your corals you will need to either remove the corals or remove this fish.



Sources:
The Conscientious Marine Aqurists by Robert Fenner
http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/loriculus.html
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...=21&pCatId=444

Great pic of the Flame Angel... Good article also

[Ladykrup]

I thought I had a flame angel, that is what they called him at the store! But mine is all dark purple with an orange streak over his face and back. Is he a flame angel too? He doesn't look at all like this one - mine is sort of Halloween looking, the purple is almost black!

[moonraker]

might be the flameback angel, centropyge aurantonotus.

[jester]

so i can forget about him because i have no live rock correct?I wanted to get him from the lfs but the guys keeps trying to get me to get a coral beauty instead maybe that is y

[fishfreek]

The live rock is mostly used for cover as this is simular to their natural habatat. These angels are more shy than many people like.

[BONESTOCK]

ladyfrup...sounds like a Pygmy Angel.

[BONESTOCK]

actually ...it must be the flameback angel....

[wrkalot]

We have a flame angel in a FO no LR set up and so far so good (aquired 3-23-04). We do have a lot of dead coral and other rocks giving him plenty of hiding spots. It's fun to watch him weave in and out of the rocks... he seems quite content so far...

[phantomsk8er5]

could I put my flame angle in my 12 g nano for a while? or is that to small?

[flatzboy]

What other fish do you have in there?

[philly]

to small. the bio load of the angels are too big

what about a 20 gallon?

[fishfreek]

a 20 would be to small IMO expecially if you have the two clowns like you say in your sig.

[unplugged_55]

in my opinion, thats a bit small
but to each his own

[Social_d87]

Could i put one with two black and white clown fish in a 29gal

[mike47517]

nice profile and pic

[Tony Gill]

Nice profile. As for Ladykrup's species, there are a three species with that sort of coloration: Centropyge acanthops (African Pygmy Angelfish) from the western Indian Ocean; C. resplendens (Resplendent Pygmy Angelfish) from Ascension Island in the Atlantic; and C. aurantonota (Flameback Pygmy Angelfish) from the southern Caribbean. I would guess the latter is the most likely.

Tony

[Gubernaculum86]

I have had 2 flame angels in the past and both have died within a week. I have a 55 gal FOWLR and at the time the tank only contained 2 banggai cardinals.
They both went through the same basic process. Both started out looking fine, swimming around cautiously checking out the tank, it took them both a couple of days to get settled and both appeared to be eating around the 3rd day of adding them to the tank. I was feeding them frozen mysis and had algae clipped to the side of the tank for them. A couple of days later they would start spending alot of time at the surface and wouldn't eat. Around the 7th day they were both dead. This has happened on 2 separate occasions.
I went back to the LFS with a water sample and told them what had happened and they were very perplexed. The water tested after both deaths was fine.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - less than 10
And ph of 8.2

I was wondering if I was doing something wrong or if it could be the LFS. I would hate for it to happen again. I always feel so bad when my fish die and they are kind of expensive.

[Tazman282]

I have had a flame angel for about a month now and recently the flame has been messing with the only two other fish in the tank, two false perculas. I don't see any damage to them but definitley pestering them and now they remain in the top of the water column. Any suggestions.