Narcosis1

Tools of the trade. Customized inspiration rebreather. A real bad boy!

Not really deep, I am not that experienced or very comfortable on deep night dives.

Yeah, a $10 k fish is not worth putting a needle in.

It takes longer but atleast the fish will be in the best possible condition. I had a Regal Angel that was struggling to decompress he didnt look like he would of made it, serious bloating and unbalanced, so I just released him, I thought about needling but wasnt really worth it.

They are beautiful, I have seen Gems that size but they usually in open areas, very difficult to catch. Big ones easy to get, no problem. When I dive that spot again I will try and take some photos.

My dive team did a and dive and encountered 3 at 113m. They are only found in a marine protected area, no collecting allowed.

Terryz I understand what you mean. For me it's like this. Needling fish should never be done, staged decompression is safe and natural. I have caught Kingis and decompressed them over 2 days and when I pulled them up they are bloated and can't swim properly. Then I drop the deco line back done and start again. Take Peppermints for example, a bunch of them died, I don't know from what but it would be interesting to see how they do if they were brought up over a number of days. Not something I would try, you don't do it right then things can go bad.

Dispar that is correct, I have seen Gem Tangs that have been imported from Mauritius, they do differ to the ones I have caught locally. Recently finding small ones have been a bit difficult, they are around though, but we have huge ones as well, I'm talking huge!

How do you know they swim away safely? Infection takes time to show and is a long process. Needling is very risky, I know certain guys say yes it's fine the fish will recover, etc but this is not always the case. I practice staged decompression, it's natural way, allowing the fish to release the gas build up over a period of time. Much safer.

Yeah they are found extremely deep, when we dive over 60 m we have seen a few new species of fish but when you are that deep decompression is really difficult especially since I do not practice needling. I have no idea how they get them up alive as well, rapid decompression will lead to massive bloating from the internal gases expanding. Not even a recompression chamber would help if they are brought up that quick.

He is yes. Things are going well now, I have a mixture that I made on that they seem to like. I will try and post a video soon.

They are both about 18 cm. Already in the tank and acclimated. Working with different foods now.

Tiger Angel - Apolemichthys Kingi

He is doing well. Long staged decompression. Doing well, no bloating and eating a bit. Will focus on getting him to eat more today.

Enjoy...

Enjoy...

Red Heart King Aquarium

Oh. Nice. Nice to see guys from other forums on here as well.

That is me yes. @aray

Awesome fish in HKG!

And .....................

I have been doing alot of research and have been told by a few people on where to locate them, they do state that they are found deeper than 50 m though and every now and then, seen in shallower depths. It all depends on how much they can be sold for? Logistics, risk and cost don't make it seem suitable for anything less than $ 7k per fish. It currently costs us $ 1200 a day to do a dive deeper than 80 m. That's excluding flights and accommodation. My dive team consists of 10 people.

I would say rarity is based on how many are currently in the aquarium trade. The Debelius Angelfish is found between 46 - 90 m. If 46 m great, its just a normal dive but if its 90 m, a lot more goes into the dive. I would also think that it would be between $ 6-10k. The logistics in getting the Narcosis and Peppermint are difficult as the depth is over 100 m, which makes the risk extremely high, but even at 90 m, risks are still the same.

Am I correct in saying that they are rarer than the Peppermint and Narcosis? So an acceptable price would be $7-9k?

Does anyone know what the last Debelius Angels sold for? Or if they were collected again, what would they sell for?