List 10 rare Angelfish off the top of your head and this fish will probably feature, the Cocos Pygmy Angelfish, Centropyge joculator. Also known by its specific name, the Joculator Angel occurs only on the Cocos (Keeling,) Islands and Christmas Island in the Eastern Indian Ocean, two Australian territories 980km apart, with Cocos being situated in between Australia and Sri Lanka and Christmas Island lying south of Java, Indonesia. To the lay, non-reef keeper the half-yellow, half-blue dwarf angelfish is just a Bicolor Angel, but to the saltwater fish collector and dedicated reefer, the Joculator is hot stuff, and just about one of the hottest (but not stupidly priced,) angelfish available. Centropyge joculator differs from Centropyge bicolor in adult size, 9cm vs 15cm, the blue ring around the eye vs the blue bar on the nape, and the rounded dorsal and anal fins of C.joculator vs the pointed ones on C.bicolor. Male C.joculator do develop slightly more pointed fins than females, but still nothing like that of C.bicolor
Joculator angels can be found either singly or in harems over rubble slopes and dropoffs as deep as 70m, although they’re most common at depths over 15m, according to Scott Michael. There are two ways to buy now too, wild, like this specimen featured here from Advanced Aquarium Consultancy in the UK, or captive-bred from Bali Aquarich. If you have the budget for two, these uncommon dwarf angels can be surprisingly accommodating when it comes to spawning. Sanjay Joshi had them spawn in his tank and De Jong Marinelife videoed their broodstock pair spawning in September 2022. Mr. Su of Bali Aquarich has even crossed them with Centropyge multicolor, producing fertile offspring and second-generation hybrids. The fish featured in the photos is, unsurprisingly, already sold, as we’ve only a few of these touch down in the UK in the last 15 years. That makes it a rarer European import than Tiger Angels or Japanese Pygmy Angelfish, Centropyge interruptus. It was purchased from AAC by a private collector, for £1360/$1650.
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