Singapore fish store Iwarna Aquafarm is showing off a stunning hybrid angelfish that we believe to be a cross between the Griffis Angelfish, Apolemichthys griffisi, and a Goldflake/Griffis hybrid (A.xanthopunctatus x A.griffisi). The Apolemichthys genus includes many beautiful and highly sought-after species including the Tiger Angel, Goldflake Angel, Bandit Angel, and the Griffis Angel. And we confess to only seeing a small handful of Griffis Angels imported over the past twenty years. But this fish isn’t just a Griffis Angel, it isn’t even a Goldflake/Griffis hybrid like we’ve covered before. It’s a Griffis/Goldflake x Griffis Angel, i.e., one of its parents is a true Griffis angel, and the other parent is a Goldflake Griffis hybrid. It’s been backcrossed.
A history of Apolemichthys Angelfish hybrids
Apolemichthys hybrids do sometimes occur in nature when their ranges overlap, and prior to commercial angelfish aquaculture, authors Helmut Debelius, Hiroyuki Tanaka, and Rudie Kuiter documented hybrids naturally occurring hybrids of Flagfin/Cream, Flagfin/Tiger, and more in their book on Angelfishes. ReefBuilders has also covered hybrids between Goldflake/Griffis, Goldflake/Flagfin, Yellow Ear/Griffis, Tiger/Flagfin, and Flagfin/Cream, some aquacultured, and some wild, and although at first glance we suspected Iwarna’s fish to be a Goldflake/Griffis hybrid, it didn’t fit with the aesthetic of previous Goldflake/Griffis hybrids we’ve featured before, either wild or aquacultured. It was prettier too…
Our visual search continued to try and find a match, our best guest being Flagfin/Griffis, especially with the yellow body, blue mask, and black anal fin stripe of the Flagfin, and the dorsal fin stripe of a Griffis. We have reached out to Iwarna for details of the fish’s parentage, if it was wild caught or aquacultured, and its price, but we haven’t heard back yet. We have since found a much better match, however, and one that makes a whole lot more sense.
Angelfish breeding supremos Bali Aquarich in Indonesia are producing a whole load of captive-bred angelfish species right now, from Goldflakes to Emperors and Majestics, including Goldflake hybrids. Our search took us back to retailer Jersey Corals who advertised virtual exact matches in August 2023, Quality Marine showed off a visual match in September 2023, and Biota has a visual and descriptive match for them too. The pictured fish is a Bali Aquarich hybrid angel, but it’s a hybrid backcross – a hybrid of a hybrid – and it has a name. It’s been named the Golden Nebula Angelfish.
The Golden Nebula Angelfish
“The Golden Nebula Angelfish hybrid is so unique, it takes a while to explain its parentage – Apolemichthys griffisi x (A. xanthopunctatus x A. griffisi)” Biota says on their website. ”It’s a Griffis Backcross Hybrid Angelfish, and it has the best traits from each of its parent species. One parent is a Griffisi Angelfish, and the other parent is a Goldflake-Griffisi Hybrid Angelfish.”
“Only one batch of the Golden Nebula Angelfish will be produced, so the availability of this fish is extremely limited. Every individual has different black spotting and patterning with the same bright yellow background. There are not many of these in the entire world so these truly are an incredibly rare fish. The three parent species are some of the “more reef safe” fish in the industry, but use caution when keeping them in a reef tank, and keep them well-fed.”
We’ve heard of hybrids being impossible to replicate after one of the parent fish passes away, so we wonder if this is also the case with the single batch of Golden Nebula angels, or if for some reason they just weren’t commercially viable. In terms of color and markings, however, the Golden Nebula is an improvement on an original Goldflake/Griffis cross. It’s beautiful, the remaining fish will be highly sought after worldwide, and if they ever become available again, let us know!
