Mango Angel Care Guide
Centropyge shepardi is a western Pacific dwarf angelfish from the Marianas with an apricot-orange body and blue fin margins in males.
Compiled by Aquairi from published sources · Published · Updated
Overview
Centropyge shepardi, Shepard's or mango angelfish, is a dwarf angel of the family Pomacanthidae. Its body ranges from nearly red to light apricot, with males showing a vivid blue margin on the soft dorsal and anal fins and variable dark barring. It reaches about 9 cm total length.
Taxonomy
- Family: Pomacanthidae
- Genus: Centropyge
- Scientific name: Centropyge shepardi
Habitat
Restricted to the western Pacific in the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and the Ogasawara Islands of southern Japan, with recent records at Yoron and Okinoerabu Islands. It occurs on exposed outer reef slopes and occasionally lagoon reefs with mixed live and dead coral at depths of about 10-56 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: 12-14 cm
- Lifespan: 8-15 years
Diet
Mainly herbivorous, with algae forming most of its diet. In aquaria it needs a mature tank with microalgae for grazing plus marine algae and prepared foods.
Reef compatibility
Reef compatibility is variable; as with other Centropyge it may nip coral polyps and clam mantles. A mature tank with abundant grazing helps. Maintain specific gravity 1.024-1.026 and dKH 8-12.
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 forms harems of three to seven individuals and is a broadcast spawner, spawning at dusk with eggs hatching in about two to three days.
Conservation status
IUCN Red List: Least Concern. It is rare and expensive in the aquarium trade.
Centropyge shepardi (Mango Angel) Breeding Guide
Overview
Centropyge shepardi has a restricted western Pacific range covering the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and the Ogasawara Islands of southern Japan. It reaches about 9 cm at depths of roughly 10 to 56 m and is mainly herbivorous, with algae dominating its diet. Like the rest of the genus, it is not bred by hobbyists.
Sexing
As a protogynous dwarf angel, the species starts life as female, and the dominant female in a group changes to male if the male is lost. Functional sex is dictated by social rank, so there is no dependable way to sex juveniles by appearance.
Spawning Behavior & Trigger
Centropyge shepardi lives in harems of three to seven individuals. Reproduction follows the genus pattern: the male courts each female through the late afternoon, and at dusk a female ascends into the water column with the male nuzzling her vent before releasing pelagic eggs near the top of the rise. The eggs float upward on an oil droplet into surface plankton.
Egg & Fry Care
Eggs in this genus are transparent, spherical and about 0.6-0.7 mm across. Larvae hatch tiny, use up the yolk sac within roughly three days, and then require extremely small first foods such as copepod nauplii because rotifers are too large for the first-feeding mouth. There is no parental care, and rearing larvae is the principal obstacle to captive production.
Common Challenges
- Pelagic eggs disperse on release and cannot be collected from a display.
- First-feeding larvae need live copepod nauplii rather than rotifers.
- Maintaining a stable harem in aquaria is hampered by dominance conflicts.
- Captive offspring exist only via commercial or research larviculture.