Rising Tide Conservation, in collaboration with the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii Pacific University, is pleased to announce the successful aquaculture rearing of the Potter’s angelfish. This species is a pygmy angelfish inhabiting the deeper waters of Hawaii and the Johnson atoll. According to the IUCN, there are no major ecological threats to this species. It is often collected for the aquarium trade but harvest levels are not considered to be impacting the global population. There is no substantial habitat loss in the range of this species. This species has been reared by OI and Rising Tide Conservation as a “Proof of Concept” species. The rearing resulted from egg collecting in a large multispecies marine tank where mixed eggs are routinely collected. Four juvenile Potter’s angelfish resulted from this rearing effort.
Other pygmy angelfish are currently in aquaculture production. The Flame Angelfish Centropyge loricula (Syn: Centropyge loriculus) is one of the most commonly purchased dwarf angelfish for the saltwater aquarium. It is also one of the most colorful of the pygmy angels with an orange base sporting black tiger-stripes and electric blue accents. Aquaculture versions of this species are available in limited qualities from Syd Kraul (https://www.facebook.com/syd.kraul?fref=ts) of Pacific Planktonics, Inc.
