Eibl's Angel Care Guide
Centropyge eibli is a grey dwarf angelfish with rusty bars and a black tail from the eastern Indian Ocean, mimicked by a surgeonfish.
Compiled by Aquairi from published sources · Published · Updated
Overview
Centropyge eibli, Eibl's angelfish, is a dwarf angel of the family Pomacanthidae. It is greyish with thin wavy rust-coloured vertical bars, an orange eye-ring and a black caudal peduncle and tail with a bright blue rear margin. It reaches about 15 cm total length.
Taxonomy
- Family: Pomacanthidae
- Genus: Centropyge
- Scientific name: Centropyge eibli
Habitat
Found in the eastern Indian Ocean from the Maldives and Sri Lanka to northwestern Australia and Indonesia. It inhabits areas of dense coral growth in lagoons and seaward reefs at depths of about 3-25 m.
Tank requirements
- Minimum tank volume: 300 L
- Temperature: 24-26 °C
- pH: 8.1-8.4
- Specific gravity: 1.024-1.026
- dKH: 8-12
- Adult size: 12-15 cm
- Lifespan: 8-15 years
Diet
Feeds mainly on algae. In captivity it needs a mature tank with microalgae for grazing supplemented with marine algae and prepared angelfish foods.
Reef compatibility
Reef compatibility is variable; primarily an algae grazer, it is often kept in reef tanks but may nip coral polyps and clam mantles. Maintain specific gravity 1.024-1.026 and dKH 8-12. It is considered hardy.
Compatibility
Semi-aggressive, especially toward other dwarf angels; avoid keeping multiple Centropyge in one tank and avoid aggressive damsels. Suitable tankmates include tangs, clownfish, wrasses and gobies.
Breeding
It lives in small harems of one male and several females and is a protogynous hermaphrodite; the dominant female changes to male if the male disappears. Juveniles of the surgeonfish Acanthurus tristis mimic this species.
Conservation status
IUCN Red List: Least Concern.
Centropyge eibli (Eibli's Angel) Breeding Guide
Overview
Centropyge eibli is a dwarf angelfish of the eastern Indian Ocean, ranging from the Maldives and Sri Lanka to north-western Australia and east to Flores in Indonesia. It reaches about 15 cm and grazes mainly on algae. Its colour pattern is closely matched by the juvenile Indian Ocean mimic surgeonfish Acanthurus tristis. Like other members of its genus, it is not bred by hobbyists; commercial and research larviculture is the only route to captive offspring.
Sexing
Centropyge eibli is a protogynous hermaphrodite: individuals mature as females, and the dominant female changes sex to male if the resident male disappears. There is no reliable external way to sex juveniles; functional sex is determined by social rank within the harem rather than by fixed colour differences.
Spawning Behavior & Trigger
In the wild the species lives in small harems of one male and several females. Across the genus, courtship begins in the late afternoon and culminates at dusk: the male performs lateral displays to each female, then a female ascends into the water column with the male nuzzling her vent. Hundreds of pelagic eggs are released near the top of the ascent. An oil globule in each egg carries it up to plankton-rich surface water.
Egg & Fry Care
Centropyge eggs are transparent, spherical and pelagic, on the order of 0.6-0.7 mm across in studied congeners. Larvae hatch tiny, resorb the yolk sac within roughly three days, and must then begin feeding on extremely small prey such as copepod nauplii; standard rotifers are too large for the minute first-feeding mouth. There is no parental care, and rearing the larvae is the principal obstacle to captive production.
Common Challenges
- Pelagic eggs disperse immediately and are not laid on a substrate, so they cannot be collected in a display tank.
- First-feeding larvae are too small for rotifers and require live copepod nauplii.
- Aggression between conspecific dwarf angels complicates forming a stable pair or harem.
- Producing offspring has only been achieved in dedicated commercial or research larviculture facilities.