nahacky angel? you decide!

[bergzy]

i have had my little multicolor angel for just over a year now and the more i look at her...the more she doesnt fit a multicolor description. though there will always be a variation on a theme (music term!), her resemblance matches much more close to that of a nahacky.

yeah, yeah...everyone wants the rare fish...i am no different...

but she shares much more in common with a nahacky than a multicolor:

- multicolor body is lighter (yes, some will say they have seen multi's with dark colors as well), nahacky's have a darker upper and lower part of the body.
-the purple crown of the nahacky extens further back than a multi
-the posterior part of the dorsal fin is darker on a nacky than a multi as well.

again, some will say that they have seen all these variations in a multi as well thus negating it to be a nahacky...

BUT:

i have pictures!

my angel in the 180g:

a nahacky taken off the web for info and comparison:

a multicolor taken off the web for comparison:

and no...she is NOT for sale!

 

[unicornis]

Yours look like a typical mutli colour... Just darker in coloration

 

[Bret61081]

all the multi colors ive ever seen were mostly white...i think u got a good deal!!

 

[AquaticFins]

The blue pattern on the head of your fish doesn't extend anywhere near as far back as is typical for a C. nahackyi - the photo of this species you show is somewhat atypical in this regard. The blue pattern typically covers nearly a third of the body length back from the eye.

The two species do overlap in the Johnston Atoll area, so a hybrid is undoubtably possible. Further, the two species (C. multicolor and C. nahackyi) are very closely related - positive identification of some individuals is always going to be tricky.

For what it's worth, I would say the fish is probably a hybrid.

 

[dvmsn]

I have read that the whiteness in a multicolor is a sighn of stress and that they are naturally darker. I think you just have a very happy multi

 

[bergzy]

interesting reading from:
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=BKGAB

it states that the multicolor has a whitish body...thus, it should be safe to say that the definition of a multicolor is a whitish body as opposed to a multicolor with a darker body

the book also states the body of the nahacky is darker than that of a multicolor...thus, where does the border exist to differentiate whether the fish is a 'dark' multicolor or a nahacky.

the book also mentions that the nahacky is similar to the multicolor but more similar to the Centropyge debelius.
http://marenostrum.org/bibliotecadelmar/personajes/debelius/centropyge debelius.jpg

the photo from the book is pretty identical the one i posted...

maybe it's me and my lack of seeing a lot of nahacky's...but i havenet seen one in pictures (ie. from the book [which most would regard as the angel butterfly reference book] or on the internet...let alone live...swimming around in someones tank) with the cap extending a third down its body...nor have i seen a multi (this fish i have seen a few in various sources) with a body as dark as the one in my tank...

the only angel i know that has a larger purple cap is the colini. had one of those but they have a poor survival rate in capitivity...as was the one i had.

a cool thing about living here in southern california is that this is where ALL shipments from every part of the hawaii and indonesia must come through before being dispersed to the rest of the united states. it is probably safe to say that the reefers here get first dibs on most items. i guess it a small benefit for living in the highest priced electricity, housing region and whatever else there is to bleed money out of us...

 

[RGBMatt]

Multicolors can vary in shade depending where they're collected from. Some are very white but others are more of a gray-brown colour.

Multicolors from the Marshalls are quite dark and look just like your picture. Chances are, this is what you've got.

Nahackyi is (so far) endemic to Johnston atoll, where there is zero fish collecting.

 

[Kinetic]

doesn't look like the picture of the multicolor, and looks a lot like the nahackyi. Either way, that's one amazing fish! Rare indeed =)

 

[german_reef]

I do have the same color for my mating pair

 

[bergzy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6891282#post6891282 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by german_reef
I do have the same color for my mating pair

german_reef,

so, would you say that your mated pair are multi's or nahackyi's?