Potters Angel - Facts On The Potters Angel

Scientific Name : Centropyge Potteri

Origin : Hawaii, Johnston Atoll

DIfficulty : Medium to Hard

Minimum Size Tank : At least 50 gallons

Temperament : A bit shy, passive

Temperature : 72 - 82°F

Reef Safe : With caution

Maximum Size : 5 Inches

Diet : Omnivore

The brilliantly colored Potters Angel has orange stripes running down its face and body while further accentuated with dark purple stripes throughout. Centropyge Potteri isn't a very common dwarf angelfish in the trade and is usually snapped up when offered.

Potters angels are endemic to Hawaii. For some reason this fish doesn't do all that well in captivity. There is some difficulty getting them to start feeding.

Price is a bit on the high side, expect to pay between $50 to $60 USD for one of these marine angelfish.

In the wild it is mimicked by the Potters Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon geoffroy).

The Potters Angelfish is a docile and shy dwaf angelfish that rarely causes any trouble for any tank mates. It does not respond well to aggressive bullying and does well mainly in marine aquariums that "quiet".

In a small tank, do not house with aggressive dwarf angelfish like the centropyge multicolor or the flame angel.

Potters Angelfish are slow to adapt to captive life, there are also secretive and shy in their natural environment. There should be an ample amount of dark hiding places for it to seek shelter in while it adjusts to life in a marine aquarium.

A tank no smaller than 50 gallons is the lower limit. But it really does well in larger established tanks with a lot of live rock.

Dwarf angelfish are all grazers in the wild. Throughout the day they scan the rock for food, much like surgeonfish. They feed on small crustaceans, algae of various types and sometimes even detritus.

In a saltwater aquarium they should be given a balanced diet. Foods from many food groups should be given for variety. They should never be fed a single type of food for too long. Although there have been hobbyists that have fed them new life spectrum for long periods of time with no ill effects. They all looked very healthy in fact.

They should be fed a frozen food that has both meat and algae (Formula One, Formula Two), algae and nori sheets as well as a pellet from a reputable brand like New Life Spectrum.

The perfect food for dwarf angels is the Pygmy Angel Formula by Ocean Nutrition. It closely resembles their natural diet in the wild with a whole slew of ingredients that include krill, algae, kelp, shrimp, squid, vitamins and trace minerals plus many others. All these ingredients are mixed up, frozen, then formed into cubes. Unfortunately there is only one form of Pygmy Angel Formula, frozen cubes.

I don't like feeding brine shrimp as they don't offer much nutritionally. Frozen adult brine shrimps contain mostly roughage, which is nothing more than fibre. Fibre can be found from far superior foods such as mysis shrimp or krill.

If you must feed your dwarf angelfish artemia then go for enriched brine shrimp like "spirulina enriched brine shrimp" by Hikari. Enriched brine shrimp are adult brine shrimp that were fed something nutritious prior to freezing. So they're more of a vessel that holds something nutritious.

Newly hatched brine shrimp are also quite nutritious, as long as their yolk sacs are still in place. Once their yolk sacs are depleted they turn into garbage again.

This fish has been bred in captivity by Reef Culture Technologies Hawaii. Like all members of the genus Centropyge, courting takes place at nightfall with the male initiating.

Males will nudge females up the water column until they finally release both eggs and sperm with a flick. The process takes no longer than half a second.

Hobbyists and small scale breeders have not had any success raising this or any other dwarf angelfish. It requires proper larvae food (copepod nauplii) which they do not have access to or cannot breed in sufficient numbers.

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