Scientific Name : Centropyge Loriculus

Origin : Hawaii, Christmas Islands, Marshall Islands, Cook Islands

DIfficulty : Easy to Medium. Depends on the health and condition of the specimen

Minimum Size Tank : At least 50 gallons

Temperament : Semi-Aggressive

Temperature : 72 - 82°F

Reef Safe : With caution

Maximum Size : 4 Inches

Diet : Omnivore

The Flame Angel (Centropyge Loriculus) is undoubtedly the most beautiful of the centropyge family. This page is a tribute to this wonderful species and it chronicles my past attempts at pairing them. For a guide on the flame angelfish please visitthis guide on the Flame Angelfish.

The flame angelfish, along with the Yellow Tang, Blue Tang and the percula clownfish are probably the most recognizable marine fishes in the marine aquarium hobby today.

Personally, this was one of three fishes that got me into this great hobby. The year was 1998 and i was in some LFS in Oklahoma City called Josie's pets n reptiles or something. I was buying a baby california king snake, so while i was waiting to be served i walked over to their fish section. I saw three fishes there that made me look seriously into getting a marine aquarium. They were the Royal Gramma, the Blue Damselfish and the Flame Angel.

2 weeks later i bought my first tank, a 27 gallon hex that came with an undergravel filter (yep). Went over to the LFS and picked up some instant ocean, a heater, a salinity meter, a penguin pump and a penguin biowheel. Didn't know a thing about cycling, disease or parasites. They told me "run the tank for the week and you're ready for fish!". LOL.

My first flame angel was dead within a week. Quit the hobby eventually in 2000 and that was that.

Fast forward to the year 2008 and i started the hobby again. Still obssessed with dwarf angelfish i set out to find all i can about pairing centropyge. The first pair i wanted, was a flame angel pair. The one video that helped me immensely was the first video on your right. The pair in question is the stereotypical classic flame angel pair. The male is bigger and has a very elongated and pointy dorsal and anal fins with a lot of blue coloration on them, which is decent indicator that this angel is a male. No guarantee's of course. Females anal and dorsal fins aren't as long and aren't as pointed.

And then, i came across this pair in the video. Can you tell who's the female and who's the male? I couln't just by looking at their dorsal and anal fins. So i abandoned that technique of determining gender and kept it very simple. I went with size. I purchased large flame angels and attempted to pair them with very small ones. And it worked. I formed one pair, but they fell to parasites shortly after pairing.

Pissed off at losing my first pair i immediately began looking for suitable flame angels for another pairing project. Couldn't find any. What i managed to get was a 3.5 inch Centropyge Multicolor along with a 1.5 inch specimen. Yea, thats what i ended up with in the end.....

Yep.....a multicolor pair :) Kinda strange considering how insistent i was in getting a flame angel pair.

But there you have it. I'm sure i'll try and pair Flames again sometime in the near future. Just as soon as i sell my multicolor pair ;)

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