<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13109164#post13109164 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by myerst2
By the way nice Bandit. John. What medications or steps are you using if any to help aid in the healing of the dorsal of the bandit? Good news my new Hawaiian Dragon finally took some tuna off of a feeding stick this afternoon.
Also. Do they have any idea of the population size of C. Boylei and how far their range is? Also any new ideas of what is making these angels so difficult to keep in captivity? Is it lack of experience? Improper diet? I assume they feed on sponge as large portion of their diet? Or is it improper de-compression? If I was coming up from that deep and had the bends I would say the hell with the fish and worry about my health. That C. Narcosis isn't named Narcosis because the diver was trying to be funny, he was dead serious!!!!! Tim
In regards to the bandit, I did nothing other than standard procedure for new arrival in QT (half a dose of Cupramine in 1.015)... After seeing the fish in the photo from the diver after it was collected, I knew it was one of two things... either an old bite on the fin INTO the body a bit so that the fin wouldn't grow back, or that it had recently split its fin and it was on its way to growing back... I really thought it was the former, and so did the diver, so I was happy to see it start filling in and growing back... either of the two situations would not require other treatment though... but usually for wounds now I treat with 100% nitrofurazone... it works well and, almost more importantly to me, is relatively easy on the filter bed...
In regards to Centropyge boylei and C. narcosis, their population size at that depth much be fairly dense, judging from how long the guys dived at that depth and how narced they were when they caught multiple specimens...
In regards to their range, C. boylei is still only known from Rarotonga, but is almost certainly found elsewhere... C. narcosis is only documented also from Rarotonga, but last October in Hawaii I spent some time with Rich Pyle and he had just got an e-mail from a guy diving a rebreather in Rangiroa in the Tuamotu Islands (about 1000 miles away from Rarotonga!). In the e-mail there was a photo asking what this little yellow angel was... it was narcosis! This was the first specimen documented outside of Rarotonga!
In regards to their care... there are a few reasons I believe... the one peppermint I have verified alive in the world today in captivity was collected small and is kept cold in a dedicated setup... keys to success?
1. A properly collected specimen.
2. The fish is kept cool throughout transport. I spoek with Charles Delbeek about the C. abei he received... the fish was held at a wholesalers in warm water and in a short period of time it was not feeding and got very thin... As soon as the temp was dropped it turned around.
3. The Centropyge genus does not feed on sponges like some of the larger genera... they are mainly detritus and algae eaters... My honest opinion on diet is that it is not THAT critical... I've kept C. multifasciata (the closest known relative of the peppermint) for over three years now... I think the issues people had feeding these fish years ago when they were last available stemmed from temperature and perhaps a fish that had problems decompressing... I don't think it's coincidence that the one surviving now is kept cool and was collected small (small fish decompress much better as their air bladders hold less)...
Just some thoughts...
Copps
I would take one of those guys. 
