[dcook]

angels
I'm considering purchasing for my 210 reef.

1)Zebra Angelfish (Genicanthus melanospilus) male maybe two females undecided

which do i want
Indo-Pacific or fiji ???

2) Blueface Angelfish (Euxiphipops xanthometopon)
Indo-Pacific or Sri Lanka???

[Ninong]

Hi dcook,

Originally Posted by dcook

angels
I'm considering purchasing for my 210 reef.

1)Zebra Angelfish (Genicanthus melanospilus) male maybe two females undecided

You probably mean Genicanthus caudovittatus, right? Genicanthus melanospilus is not a valid name.

All of the angelfish in the Genicanthus genus are ideal reef aquarium inhabitants. If you purchase a male and two females, I suggest adding them all at the same time. For a 210-gal tank, I believe a male and a female or two females might be better. If the tank were much larger, it wouldn't make as much difference.

If you purchase two females, there is a good chance that one will progress to male. This is never certain in home aquariums with this genus. In fact, there have been several reported instances of males reverting to female.

which do i want
Indo-Pacific or fiji ???

I'm not sure I understand your question. Isn't Fiji part of the Indo-Pacific? On the other hand, if this is something you picked up from a vendor's website, then it's possible that they are distinguishing between specimens collected in Fiji and specimens collected elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific. I don't know if this is the case in this instance but maybe that's what they're getting at.

Why does that matter? Well, there are two possibilities. The first possibility is that the same species varies geographically. For example, Cirrhilabrus scottorum specimens from Australia don't look like C. scottorum from the Cook Islands. And the ones from Fiji are slightly different still. I don't believe that is the case with G. caudovittatus, which brings us to the second possibility. That is that fish collected from one particular area have a reputation for being of better quality than fish collected from the other area. For example, we know that fish from Australia are collected responsibly. On the other hand, fish collected from Indonesia or the Philippines may have been collected using cyanide. That still goes on, believe it or not.

When you notice a substantial price difference for the exact same species collected from two different areas, it's usually because the cheaper fish is coming from an area that is known to sometimes have problems. You will never find a vendor advertising the origin as the Philippines or Indonesia. Instead they will say Indo-Pacific. They only break it down to a specific location if they're bragging about the location. For example, Regal Angels from the Red Sea will cost you more than Regal Angels from the "Indo-Pacific."

2) Blueface Angelfish (Euxiphipops xanthometopon)
Indo-Pacific or Sri Lanka???

The correct name here is Pomacanthus xanthometopon, the yellow-faced angelfish. Another English common name for this fish is the blue-faced angelfish. Common names are so much fun. Euxiphipops xanthometopon is not valid.

This fish, in my opinion, is not a good choice for a 210-gal reef aquarium. Very few of the large angels are truly reef-aquarium safe. This particular species has been known to nip soft corals and clam mantles. It's risky for a reef tank and it's maximum adult size of 15" is a bit large for a 210-gal tank.

How about a regal angelfish? Pygoplites diacanthus is a much safer bet for a reef aquarium and it's maximum adult size is only 10". Get one from the Red Sea.