Not one, but two Peppermint Angelfish

Cobrasvt1999

Cobrasvt1999

Member
So I learned today that my LFS is planning on receiving not one, but two peppermint angels in the coming months! They are already excitedly setting up their own tanks for these fish.

This got me thinking, while I cant deny the peppermint angel is a stunning fish, why does it demand such a high price? why is it so hard to get these fish?

I understand that they are generally deep dwellers, but 50m isnt prohibitively deep, is it? they arnt endangered as far as I can tell? so why the extreme rarity and price in the aquarium hobby?
 
Cobrasvt1999 said:
So I learned today that my LFS is planning on receiving not one, but two peppermint angels in the coming months! They are already excitedly setting up their own tanks for these fish.

This got me thinking, while I cant deny the peppermint angel is a stunning fish, why does it demand such a high price? why is it so hard to get these fish?

I understand that they are generally deep dwellers, but 50m isnt prohibitively deep, is it? they arnt endangered as far as I can tell? so why the extreme rarity and price in the aquarium hobby?
Click to expand...

So i've don't a little research on these guy's but its not much, So 50M is there upper range but can be as deep as 150M! and the collection on them is VERY tough by what I understand they are normally found in reef rubble areas, and end up deep in the rubble! so all in all what I know of them is there is a plethora of these fish in the cooks islands but VERY VERY hard to collect, due to depth, habitat, and tendencies!
 
also check out these guys I've heard a pair goes for around 30k+ but they are pretty cool fish! Genicanthus personatus or masked angel!
 
mikem101 said:
So i've don't a little research on these guy's but its not much, So 50M is there upper range but can be as deep as 150M! and the collection on them is VERY tough by what I understand they are normally found in reef rubble areas, and end up deep in the rubble! so all in all what I know of them is there is a plethora of these fish in the cooks islands but VERY VERY hard to collect, due to depth, habitat, and tendencies!
Click to expand...

So price in this case is determined by difficulty in harvest rather than any restrictions from population or government then?
 
Cobrasvt1999 said:
So price in this case is determined by difficulty in harvest rather than any restrictions from population or government then?
Click to expand...

as far as I've found yes, there population is very well sustained in the wild! and I haven't read of any strict government restrictions on theses guys, doesn't mean that's not the case but I've never came across that in my reading!
 
My understanding is that in order to catch one at that depth you need a rebreather dive team and not many people know how to or can't. Special skill I guess that I know nothing about. And I have heard that they are actually quite rare to find because of the depth.
 
JaySchulz said:
My understanding is that in order to catch one at that depth you need a rebreather dive team and not many people know how to or can't. Special skill I guess that I know nothing about. And I have heard that they are actually quite rare to find because of the depth.
Click to expand...

That is correct, you need a rebreather to dive down that far plus the inherited risks of diving that deep for extended periods of time.
 
I don't think anyone really knows whether they are rare in the wild or not ..... but they are very difficult to collect thus the exorbitant price. Similar to the zebra or gem tangs; maybe not inherently rare, but limited and remote geography makes collection tricky.
 
top shelf said:
That is correct, you need a rebreather to dive down that far plus the inherited risks of diving that deep for extended periods of time.
Click to expand...

Almost makes me want to learn how to dive like that myself for the price that can be gotten from one of those guys.... :rollface:
 
Cobrasvt1999 said:
So I learned today that my LFS is planning on receiving not one, but two peppermint angels in the coming months! They are already excitedly setting up their own tanks for these fish.
Click to expand...

Are there really that many salt water hobbyists in Alaska, that a LFS can afford to waste that much $ on 2 fish that don't seem to have a great survival record?
 
Rufus I believe caught a bunch of the last go around. They are difficult due to their depth and location.
I believe their inability to want to feed leads to poor survivability in the home aquaria. I believe only a few out of the 10-15ish collected survived.
 
I wonder why Live Aquaria doesn't spring for some? Imagine the price on Divers Den! They'd have to think long and hard about offering the guarantee on that one...
 
FYI, 50 meters (over 150ft) is extremely deep for an average dive. The limit for recreational dives is 140ft. And without getting out my dive tables, the time limit at 140ft is only a few minutes. Which is not a lot of time to collect any fish. If you stay too long and don't do a proper decompression ascent you're gonna kill yourself quick!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Also Re-breathers are not for deep dives, they are used to scrub CO2 and extend bottom times and to extend subsequent dive times. Tri-mix and special deep water certifications are needed to collect many of these fish. And that with the inherent dangers of decompression sickness drives the prices up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
brett559 said:
Jay, I don't know you, and you seem like a nice guy. But your wife/GF (assuming that's who that is in your profile pic) is too good for you...
Click to expand...



Haha psh what you mean? I'm a hot commodity.


I just showed my wife this. She got a kick out of it and she said thank you and she knows.


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