Some recent catches.... Old Woman Angelfish

[Digiman]

Do you have pics of 3cm marleyi?

I would love to see some juvi marleyi pics. Cant find them on the net.

[yellowtang]

It's indeed strange to have a angel fish named " old woman".

Such a beauty should be called " Angelababy" ( beautiful Chinese actress).

It's nice to know the story behind it.

Cheers,

YT

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Narcosis1]

I agree but how long did it take them to learn how to properly collect the Bandit angels? It will happen over time but due to the strict export restrictions in South Africa, the Kingi's are collected for personal tanks, when they are collected. From what I have heard, Taiwan is still very interested in the Kingi's.

Yeah there are a few that I know of that are in reefers tanks, the problem comes when you catch them, if you do not decompress them properly you gonna have any luck. It takes times to bring them up, if you use a needle, anything can happen. A lot of the time that they are brought up they don't eat and die of starvation. Not many people do have them though so its not something that I can tell you.

Lol, Come to SA and we can do a dive to spot some. They are rare which makes them awesome, but I think its the same thing with the Conspic Angels, if you stay in New Caledonia you see them a lot, so the novelty is no longer there, its a common fish.

Will see if I can find one of the Marley quick. Got it.

Old Woman Angels get there name from the way the angels look when they are adults, Big and grey!

[Narcosis1]

I agree but how long did it take them to learn how to properly collect the Bandit angels? It will happen over time but due to the strict export restrictions in South Africa, the Kingi's are collected for personal tanks, when they are collected. From what I have heard, Taiwan is still very interested in the Kingi's.

Yeah there are a few that I know of that are in reefers tanks, the problem comes when you catch them, if you do not decompress them properly you gonna have any luck. It takes times to bring them up, if you use a needle, anything can happen. A lot of the time that they are brought up they don't eat and die of starvation. Not many people do have them though so its not something that I can tell you.

Lol, Come to SA and we can do a dive to spot some. They are rare which makes them awesome, but I think its the same thing with the Conspic Angels, if you stay in New Caledonia you see them a lot, so the novelty is no longer there, its a common fish.

Will see if I can find one of the Marley quick. Got it.

Old Woman Angels get there name from the way the angels look when they are adults, Big and grey!

[yikai]

Wow!!! Tiny markeyi!!! Is blackburni common too?

[Digiman]

Wow! That marleyi is so small that if you tell me its a hoefleri or robustus juvenile i would believe it too. The adult features are not developed yet.

Taiwanese will still be able to absorb a couple of batches of kingi. But reefers are already discussing on their forum that these fish is very challenging and one of them who tried and failed twice has said he will stop.

It will remain my dream to see and own a small kingi one day. However I don't mind a big one if it ever comes a day when healthy kingi can be readily available just like how healthy bandits now is.

Old woman angelfish is a drab fish at adulthood. Its color and pattern is very unique, but too drab for my liking.

If i have a huge tank, i would buy an old woman. It is a hardy and unique fish, and not overly expensive like kingi.

[Narcosis1]

Not sure on how common they are but caught one a few weeks back.

Its difficult to tell what it is at that size but definitely marley.

I agree, I think they will try a few more and then give up entirely. Same with the Peppermints. Its alot of money to loose! You will see a juvenile kingi every now and then and its not for long, they are quick and always in crevices on the reef but I am trying to get one. Hopefully soon, lol. Try and go out on a rebreather for 2 hours trying to get them

They are drab and it doesnt make it any easier that they get so big but they are beautiful juveniles. We caught 3 small adults also but they are not nice at all.

[Narcosis1]

Not sure on how common they are but caught one a few weeks back.

Its difficult to tell what it is at that size but definitely marley.

I agree, I think they will try a few more and then give up entirely. Same with the Peppermints. Its alot of money to loose! You will see a juvenile kingi every now and then and its not for long, they are quick and always in crevices on the reef but I am trying to get one. Hopefully soon, lol. Try and go out on a rebreather for 2 hours trying to get them

They are drab and it doesnt make it any easier that they get so big but they are beautiful juveniles. We caught 3 small adults also but they are not nice at all.

[Narcosis1]

Not sure on how common they are but caught one a few weeks back.

Its difficult to tell what it is at that size but definitely marley.

I agree, I think they will try a few more and then give up entirely. Same with the Peppermints. Its alot of money to loose! You will see a juvenile kingi every now and then and its not for long, they are quick and always in crevices on the reef but I am trying to get one. Hopefully soon, lol. Try and go out on a rebreather for 2 hours trying to get them

They are drab and it doesnt make it any easier that they get so big but they are beautiful juveniles. We caught 3 small adults also but they are not nice at all.

[iskay]

Will see if I can find one of the Marley quick. Got it.variable softies.jpg

That's a cutie!

[Narcosis1]

They are. Sometimes its difficult to see them... Until you look closer and then its time to snag them.

[yikai]

Blackburns are nice. I'm not too much a fan of kingi as well. There have been recorded photos of hybrids between trimaculatus and kingi In the wild. Do you have any recollection of this hybrid in S.A?

[Narcosis1]

Personally I have never seen a hybrid myself. I did see a picture a while back of a hybrid but it was massive. We have some awesome fish in South Africa!

[Digiman]

Personally I have never seen a hybrid myself. I did see a picture a while back of a hybrid but it was massive. We have some awesome fish in South Africa!

This is the giant you are referring to.

It's really huge.

Do you know if it was released back to the wild?

Or it is now on display at South African Public Aquarium as mentioned in ReefBuilder?

[petrel]

i would love to own this fish someday. Wow.

[Narcosis1]

That is the one, I have no idea where it is. I will do some research to find out where it is now.

I personally don't think that it is too appealling. They are extremely big and colours lack.

[petrel]

if it is not endangered, & does not look like a regular Apolemichthys Kingi, i have a strong feeling... Many rare fish lover from Asia watching over this forum is ready to go into action. some guys would be willing to pay double the price to get it over if there at any slim chance. Digiman would you agree?

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/links/154809/0

[Narcosis1]

Lol, you like rare fish? I don't know about that, I have seen a number of posts by sponsors offering rare fish and people don't seem that interested. At $8k, realistically, how many people can afford that fish and be willing to take the risk?

[Digiman]

if it is not endangered, & does not look like a regular Apolemichthys Kingi, i have a strong feeling... Many rare fish lover from Asia watching over this forum is ready to go into action. some guys would be willing to pay double the price to get it over if there at any slim chance. Digiman would you agree?

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/links/154809/0

I agree to a certain extent. Indeed asia has a huge market for angelfish.

However XXL sized angels like this are not popular in every country.

Singapore and even Japan do not like big fishes in general. HK on the other hand has a huge demand for big angels and usually big hybrids and aberrants will go to them first. HK reefers pay top price for such giant and rare hybrids.

Myself i do not like big fishes, partly due to my small home living space i can't afford to have a big tank to keep big fishes. Personally i also find smaller sized and young fish easier to keep and adapt to captive environment.

It's more rewarding to keep a smaller specimen. As such i thought that XXL kingi hybrid would be better off released back to the wild then to be sent to a shop. Keeping in public aquarium would be a good option too, under big display where people around the world get to enjoy. A win-win situation.

[Digiman]

By the way Narcosis1, out of curiosity do the locals in SA eat old woman angelfish?

I have been discussing with lemon that old woman grow huge and fat, and swarms in big numbers, it should qualify as a foodfish!

[Narcosis1]

What is considered XXL in Singapore? How many cm?

I have seen that Japan and Singapore like smaller angels, recently saw small Queen Angels arriving at one of the sponsors. Smaller fish are nicer, bigger fish are boisterous and just not attractive. Tiger Angels and Old Woman get really big and juveniles are hard to come by, I dont think a juvenile will see the market for a long long time. Decompression on a small kingi is too stressful and needs to be done over days from that depth.

I am trying to find out now where it went, the hybrid kingi.

Lol, no Old Woman are not considered food fish. We have snoek, hake, tuna and other food fish available. No need to eat beautiful reef fish.

[Digiman]

In my own definition, anything larger than 8" (20cm) is considered XXL.

I will not keep a fish bigger than 5" (13cm) because my tank is small.

Old woman is a reef fish, but not a beautiful one.

Small old woman is rare? There were quite a number available through Japan and Taiwan couple months back. In fact the big ones were less commonly seen in the trade than the small old woman.

Small kingi, of course, is so rare that it will always remain a dream for many. Finding one in a tidepool will be like striking a lottery!

[Narcosis1]

Now 20 cm is fairly big, but the Kingi's that I have caught are all in the region of 12 - 16cm. I do not like big fish, the care requirements are so much more.

Old Woman juveniles are lovely. Not really rare but difficult to catch as they have similarities to other angels which makes it difficult to identify from a distance. I caught 3 Adult Old Woman and the sizes were 10 - 15cm. Which is a decent size.

Small kingi's are available, they are either very deep or they are extremely hidden. If you have the patience and stick it out you can probably catch one but it is gonna take you a long time and alot of a stress! Lol. But its not really realistic at this moment, they are not seen a lot and if they are its very quick.

[yikai]

Yes! That is the kingi x trimac hybrid. There are more images of wild one from Scott michael's book. Rhomboides looks delicious! But fearing ciguatera poisoning in large angels, I may not eat it.while I don't find it particularly striking, one must admit it is a fascinating species. One that differs greatly in behavior from all others in its genus. The triangle pattern is cute too.

[Narcosis1]

It would be an expensive meal if we were eating Old Woman and possibly risky as well.

I will keep an eye out on my future dives, maybe (hopefully) I see one.

We dont have many rare species in South Africa, we have the Tiger Angel, Marley Butterfly, Old Woman Angel and Fourline Hogfish.

But must of them do not really appeal to me.