It’s been a very rich year for cool new, aberrant and hybrid angelfish and this offspring cross between an emperor angelfish and annularis angelfish is a very special fish indeed. Hybridization among angelfish can be common in some places, especially among the pygmy species of Centropyge, but the large angelfish hybrids are much more rare and impressive.
Of all the Pomacanthus species, the koran angelfish is perhaps the most promiscuous, while the emperor angelfish is the most conservative. That is to say, there are a lot more hybrids of Pomacanthus semicirculatus than of P. imperator. This is precisely why we are very excited to share with you some fresh pictures of one of the only known hybrids between the emperor angelfish, and the blue-ringed or annularis angelfish.
Up until now the only known specimen of a hybrid between these two species was an accidentally captive bred specimen from Bali Aquarich. The saga of Mr. Su’s first and only emperor hybrid angelfish was very well documented and the last we heard he finally parted ways with his special pomacanthus hybrid to an avid collector in Hong Kong.
Interestingly the new hybrid emperor x annularis also comes to us from Bali, but it was a wild collected fish. Better yet, since it’s already a subadult size we can even better see the unique and striking blend of the yellow and blue lines of the emperor angelfish, and the broader more metallic blue stripes of the annularis angelfish.
The resulting color and pattern of the new emperor x annularis hybrid makes for an exceptionally striking fish, especially since it involves two very common large species of marine angelfish. In some ways the blue and yellow striped motif of the emperor angelfish is well represented, but it’s hung on the larger canvas body size and frame of the annularis angelfish, with a higher body and a better developed pointed dorsal fin.
Luckily for us, like the leopard multibar angelfish, the new exceptionally beautiful emperor hybrid angelfish also went to prolific angelfish collector, Jimmy Ma. Over the years Mr. Ma has shard with us some amazing pictures of very rare angelfish hybrids and those years of practice have clearly paid off because these pictures are virtually perfect.
The hybrid angelfish x annularis angelfish has been in captivity for about a week now and it’s doing as well as you would expect for a nice well adjusted marine aquarium fish. We look forward to seeing more of this and Jimmy’s other amazing angelfish specimens in the future and at this rate, we expect to see more Pomacanthid treasures in the near future.
