Centropyge Multicolor : Facts On The Deepwater Centropyge Multicolor

Species Name : Centropyge Multicolor

Origin : Hawaii, Christmas Islands, Marshal Islands

DIfficulty : Medium

Minimum Tanks Size : 50 gallons

Temperament : Semi-Aggressive

Temperature : 72 - 82°F

Reef Safe : With caution

Maximum Size : Slightly more than 4 inches

Diet : Omnivore

The multicolor angelfish (Centropyge Multicolor) is a deep water angel collected at depths from 50 feet and deeper. It was probably named after the multitude of colors present on its body. Its body is white while its chest has a patch mixed with yellow, orange and red. It has blue dorsal and anal fins while its tail is yellow. The multicolor angel's most striking feature is its crown, a small patch of neon blue and purple lines.

Due to the fact it lives in deeper waters, the multicolor angel is an uncommon offering and therefore commands a high price. Expect to pay upwards of $120 USD for one.

While a few deep water dwarf angelfish tend to fare poorly in captivity, such is not the case with this angel. Once acclimated it is a very hardy angelfish.

Being a deep water specimen means looking out for swim bladder problems. Bringing them up to the surface too fast will result in a swollen swim bladder, so marine angelfish collectors poke it with a needle to alleviate the problem.

If done incorrectly it can severly damage the swim bladder. Signs of a damaged swim bladder include :-

• Inability to maintain a leveled bouyancy
• Tilting left, right, up or down.
  

Once a multicolor angel settles into your saltwater aquarium and starts to stake out its territory it will become a bully. Among all the dwarf angelfish i've kept, this angel along with the brazilian flameback angelfish have been the most aggressive, boisterous marine angelfish i've ever had the pleasure to keep.

Small fish along with conspecifics will be targeted. Nothing too hostile, just quick, short chases to show them who's boss. If you want one of these fishes make sure you have ample room for all your fishes.

Centropyge Multicolor is considered a medium sized dwarf angelfish. They area usually sold at sizes ranging from 2.5 to 4 inches. They should be housed in a saltwater aquarium no less than 50 gallons, a 75 gallon or larger tank is ideal.

Provide plenty of live rock for it to seek shelter because you must remember that there's not a whole lot of light down at deeper levels of the sea. It must be given time to acclimate to captive lighting intensities. However, once acclimated (as mentioned above) they seem fearless. Case in point, my multicolor mated pair video to the right.

Angelfish from the genus centropyge are all grazers in the wild. They constantly scan the rock for food items throughout the day, much like surgeonfish. They feed on small crustaceans, algae of various types and sometimes even detritus.

They should be given a balanced diet in a saltwater aquarium. A wide range of foods should be given, variety is important. Never feed them a specific type of food for too long. Although there have been people that have fed them new life spectrum pellets for months at a time with no ill effects. They were all very healthy in fact.

A good pellet like those by New ife Spectrum should be offered aong with algae/nori sheets plus a balanced frozen food (Formula One, Formula Two).

Ocean Nutrition produces the perfect food for dwarf angels, Pygmy Angel Formula. In an effort to provide a balanced and nutritious diet, a wide variety of ingredients are used such as kelp, shrimp, vitamins and trace minerals, krill, squid, algae and many others. The cubes are frozen after these ingredients have been mixed into it. Unfortunately Pygmy Angel Formula is only available in frozen form.

I am not a fan of brine shrimp as nutritionally, they're garbage. Frozen adult artemia contain mostly roughage, which is nothing more than fibre. They can fibre just fine from krill or mysis shrimp, both superior foods.

Enriched brine shrimp should be chosen for your dwarf angelfish if you insist on feeding artemia. Enriched brine shrimp are simply artemia that were stuffed with a nutritious food (like spirulina) and then frozen. They are used as vessels housing nutrition.

As long as their yolk sacs are still intact, newly hatched brine shrimp are a nutritious food to offer. They turn back into garbage once their yolk sacs have been used up.

I've successfully paired two multicolor angels within a 15 gallon quarantine before. However, i've had no illusions as to actually raising their larvae. For the hobbyists such as myself such a task is near impossible. I lacked the food required for such an endeavour. And the food is the most important element when raising dwarf angelfish.

I've added a video of two centropyge argi spawning in an aquarium to illustrate just how they go about it. Spawning usually takes place right after the sun sets with the male initiating the courting ritual. It will take a few tries but eventually the male will nudge the female up into the water column as they position themselves to release both sperm and eggs simultaneously.

This fish has been raised to Reef Culture Technologies which was located in Hawaii. They have since closed their doors and saltwater angelfish lovers are eagerly awaiting their re-opening. They have stated that no angels will be produced for the year 2009. Perhaps next year?

Cherub Pygmy Angelfish - Centropyge Argi

Coral Beauty Angelfish - Centropyge Bispinosus

Eibli Angelfish - Centropyge Eibli

Fishers Angelfish - Centropyge Fisheri
Flameback Angelfish(African) - Centropyge Acanthops
Flameback Angelfish(Brazilian) - Centropyge Aurantonotus
Golden Angelfish - Centropyge Aurantia
Heralds Angelfish - Centropyge Heraldi
Lemonpeel Angelfish - Centropyge Flavissima
Multibarred Angelfish - Centropyge Multifasciata
Multicolor Angelfish - Centropyge Multicolor
Potters Angelfish - Centropyge Potteri