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Coral Beauty Centropyge bispinosus
Care: Quite easy to keep. Very hardy and generally good eaters, taking all manner of offered foods and grazing on hair algae on live rock. As with any saltwater fish, it is best to feed small amounts of varied foodstuffs several times a day. It is important that you feed angelfish all kinds of live, frozen, and prepared formula foods. Habitat: South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tahiti, Philippines & Fiji regions. Social: They usually are found singly or in small groups. The Coral Beauty Angel is a medium maintenance fish and may act semi-aggressively toward other fish. It doesn't get along with other dwarf angels. Keep with caution in a reef aquarium as it may eat/nip sessile invertebrates. Sex: Male generally larger. Lighting: Nothing specific but blue light preferred for deep water environment. Breeding: Captive spawning has been known to take place, but success rates are unknown. Temperature: No special requirements. Normal temps for marine fish lie between 75 and 79 degrees. The Coral Beauty is an attractive fish that varies in its intensity of coloration depending on where it was collected in the wild. It is a relatively peaceful fish that does very little or no harm to invertebrates, although it may be inclined to occasionally peck at tubeworms or coral polyps. It is generally resistant to disease and grows to a maximum of 4 inches. It should be kept in a reef tank where it can browse on algae growing on the live rock. Keep it with many rock crevices to hide in, because the more there are, the more secure it will feel and the more it will come out into the open. Its scientific name comes from having only 2 spines on the preopercle. The yellow pectoral and pelvic fins, usually orange body (body colour is very variable) and lack of a large oval dark spot just behind the upper gill opening distinguish the coral beauty from the similar dusky cherub. Most coral beauties have a bluish blotch behind the slightly oblique body bars, but this is lower than the dark oval spot on the dusky cherub, and the bars are not obscured by the blotch.
On the subject of breeding I did manage to find the following piece of information on the internet: The Coral Beauty’s spawning happens about an hour before the lights turn off, their timing is phenomenal. The male begins to circle the tank and begins challenging some of the larger fish in the tank, here he challenges my female Cinnamon Clown. The female Coral Beauty begins to become receptive to the dashing movements of the male. The male clamps his fins at times as he swims by her. Then the two meet at the top of the aquarium by a powerhead, The male rubs his nose into her side as she expands her fins in a flashy display, and then they dash off. They go through this false spawn (courting session) many times before the actual spawn. In a split second the eggs are released.
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