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Blue AngelfishBermuda Blue Angelfish, Blue Angel, Corn Sugar AngelfishFamily: Pomacanthidae Holacanthus bermudensisPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy William RogersLatest Reader Comment - See More Just got a BlueAngelfish over the holidays. And I've got to say it's one beautiful fish. The prettiest so far that I've owned CHILL The Blue Angel is a most beautiful angelfish found in the waters north of the Caribbean!Blue Angelfish Contents The Blue Angelfish Holacanthus bermudensis is found in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Bermuda and the Bahamas. Thus another common name being the Bermuda Blue Angelfish. They are generally seen in pairs year round, and can be found down to 200 feet (60 m) below the surface. For more Information on keeping saltwater fish see: |
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Taxonomy Holocanthus bermudensis, the blue angelfish, was originally described by Goode in 1876. It has previously been referred to as Holocanthus isabelita and Holocanthus ciliaris bermudensis, which appear in some of the older publications.
Maintenance difficulty: The Blue Angelfish is moderately difficult to keep.
Maintenance: This angelfish survives mainly on sponges so make sure you can get an angel formula with sponge in it. It is important that you feed angelfish all kinds of live, frozen, and prepared formula foods. Best to feed small amounts several times a day. A good formula that can be made at home consists of mussels, shrimp, squid, and spinach.
Habitat: Natural geographic location: Gulf of Mexico, the southern coast of Florida, Bermuda and the Bahamas. The Blue Angelfish is found in shallow waters to depths up to 60 meters (200 ft.)
Natural Foods: Eats mainly sponges with small amounts of algae, tunicates, and corals. A wide variety of sponges is eaten. Juveniles are a cleaner fish that have been known to clean other fish of external parasites. Juveniles are also extremely territorial, probably as a result of their setting up territories as cleaning stations. It is interesting to note that predators and cleaner fish enjoy a sort of "truce" in the cleaners territory.
The Blue Angel is one of seven Holacanthus species. The adult is an attractive blue-brown angel with green hues with its scales edged in yellow. A distinguishing feature of the Blue Angel is its bright blue pectoral fins tipped in yellow and a dark tail fin with a yellow edge. Like other Holacanthus this is a big fish too, they can reach up to 18 inches (45 cm) in length.
This angelfish shares its watery world with another very similar looking angel, the Queen angelfish Holacanthus ciliaris. These two at first glance can easily be mistaken for one another and are often confused. They differ primarily in color pattern. The Queen Angelfish is a blue to blue-green overall with yellow fins, an all yellow tail fin, and some striking blue highlights. The edges of all the fins are a radiant blue, but its most distinctive feature is its brilliant blue 'crown' at the nape. This crown, sitting on its forehead is what led to the common name Queen Angel. The Blue Angelfish does not have this blue crown.
Blue Angelfish x Queen Angelfish cross Photo © Animal-World:
Courtesy Frank Schneidewind
The Queen and the Blue Angelfish commingle in their native waters, and naturally occurring hybrids of these two are not uncommon. The coloration of some hybrids consists of blotches of color very much like the freshwater Koi species. Other hybrids can be completely blue or completely green. At first the were thought to be a separate species, and a description of Holacanthus townsendi was actually based on a hybrid between the Queen and the Blue angelfish.
The picture to the right is a prime example of a hybrid cross. This fish has blue pectoral fins tipped in yellow and a dark tail fin edged in yellow, the characteristic of the Blue Angelfish. But the telltale radiant blue crown of a Queen Angel on its forehead along with the all yellow pectoral fins gives away its true identity.
The juvenile Blue Angel is quite different from that of the adult. Juveniles are dark blue with a yellow tail, a yellow area around the pectoral fins, and brilliant blue vertical bars on the body. Juvenile Queen and Blue angelfish are extremely difficult to tell apart, but the Blue angelfish juvenile will often have more curvature to the vertical bars.
There is some considerable confusion in the trade and hobby regarding hybrids that occur between queen and blue angels. The so-called "Townsend" angelfish, Holacanthus townsendi is a naturally occurring cross between these two; (H. ciliaris x H. bermudensis) not a true species. Also, occasionally the junior synonym (meaning an invalid name) H. isabelita, with a common name of Isabelita Azul, pops up in the literature for both the blue and true queen angelfish species, or some hybrid twixt the two.This is a nomen nudum.
Social Behaviors: Found singly or in pairs, adult Blue angelfish are almost always found as breeding pairs.
Light: Recommended light levels: No special requirements.
Breeding/Reproduction: Adult blue angels are generally found in pairs year round, so it is assumed that the male and the female have a monogamous relationship. Pairs will spawn by slowly rising up in the water column while bringing their bellies close together, and releasing large amounts of eggs and sperm. A female can release anywhere from 25 to 75 thousand eggs each evening. This can total as many as ten million eggs for the duration of the spawning cycle. The eggs are transparent, pelagic, and each contains a single drop of oil to provide buoyancy. The eggs will hatch in 15 to 20 hours. At this point the "pre-larval" angelfish is attached to a large yolk sac, has no functional fins, no eyes, or gut. After about 48 hours the yolk is absorbed during which time the fish develops into true larvae and begins to feed on plankton in the water column. Growth is rapid and 3 to 4 weeks after hatching the fish will reach about 15-20mm and will settle on the bottom.
Breeding, to our knowledge, has not been accomplished in captivity. See Breeding Marine Fish for more information about marine fish breeding in general.
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Blue Angelfish (juvenile) Photo © Animal-World:
Courtesy Frank Schneidewind
Temperature: No special requirements. Normal temperatures for marine fish lies between 75 and 79 degrees.
Minimum Tank Length/Size: A minimum 100 gallon aquarium is recommended.
Water Movement: Weak, Moderate, Strong No special requirements.
Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom No special requirements, in the wild they are a benthic species hanging around the bottom in areas of sponge, coral, and rock.
Availability: This fish is generally rarely available and is expensive.
- Animal-World References: Marine and Reef
- Helmut Debelius, Rudie H. Kuiter, World Atlas of Marine Fishes, Hollywood Import & Export, Inc., 2006
- Scott W. Michael, Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes: Reef Fishes Series , Microcosm Ltd, 2004
- Mark Allen, Roger Steene, Gerald R. Allen, A Guide to Angelfishes and Butterflyfishes , Odyssey Publishing, 1998
- Dr. Warren E. Burgess, Dr. Herbert R. Axelrod, Raymond E. Hunziker III, Dr. Burgess's Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes, T.F.H Publications inc., 1990
- Roger Steene, Gerald R. Allen, Hans A. Baensch, Butterfly and Angelfishes of the World, Volume 1, John Wiley & Sons, 1980
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