I will try to get proof but why does everyone think there are only 2 in captivity? There are only 2 known in captivity you guys mean. Some people just don't feel the need I guess to say look at my fish. I know there is one in NYC, the guy has all expensive fish and I remember he had one back in the 90's as well. Two different fish but both peppermints, he never did tell me where they came from, but only from a friend he says.
Paracentropyge boylei "Peppermint Angel" & Centropyge abei "Abe's Angel" - Waikiki
- Thread starter BeanMachine
- Start date
geaux xman
New member
sorry for going off topic, but does anyone in the U.S have a Genicanthus Personatus?
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7QVVWlUIlbY?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
BeanMachine
Active member
I believe Lawrence here in Socal has a Masked Angel in QT right now. Here are a couple from the aquarium I took.
BeanMachine
Active member
I realized what I thought was a masked angel was a masked swallowtail angel. Yeah woops...
alton
Well-known member
One of our local members took pictures a few weeks ago and the fish looked great.
E.intheC
Active member
That's good news.
Also, I wasnt in any way implying that the Waikiki aquarium was unable to care for the fish. Just noting that I saw a few spots.
humaguy
Premium Member
yes, a juvi made it hof last fall...hof is about an hour from me and i had the chance to see it a few times before it went to the owner...the guy who bought it did so sight unseen and apparently has one of the most insane collections of fish anywhere in the country...
humaguy
Premium Member
yes, pretty sure that is the one I saw at hof...
BeanMachine
Active member
Those personatus are so beautiful thanks for posting the video.
copps
Premium Member
The Waikiki Aquarium really is an amazing aquarium for anyone in this hobby... just $7 to enter... no flipping dolphins or Shamu, but they do have one of the rarest Pacific fish collections in the world and some beautiful reef systems... The aquarium is over a hundred years old... third oldest in the US... not only that, but so many amazing names in this hobby have worked there... from the first director Frederick Potter, then second Spencer Tinker, to modern names like Bruce Carlson, Karen Brittain, Charles Delbeek, and most recently Rick Klobuchar. This place is a gem... I could go on and on... here's a neat article pertinent to the topic of this thread written by Charles Delbeek...
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2006/12/aafeature
As has been mentioned, there are only two captive peppermints alive in the world...
The two known Centropyge boylei in captivity are not known based on people saying "look at my fish". To understand how we KNOW there are only two in captivity you need to understand a bit about where we KNOW Centropyge boylei to exist. Before the recent exploration by Rich Pyle at Moorea, Centropyge boylei was known not just from one island... but from one DROPOFF at Rarotonga, Cook Islands. This location is right off where famed fish collector and original discoverer of the peppermint Chip Boyle lives. Chip and Rich are the only two people to have collected peppermints offered to the trade, and the one collected by Rich that went to Waikiki is the first in over ten years. Chip Boyle's fish collecting outfit in Rarotonga collected them VERY sparsely and tracked all the fish. It's been well known for years the specimen in Japan is the only to have survived... this one was collected small and was put on the cover of Angelfishes of the World now full grown in captivity.
It is impossible to prove the NONexistance of something of course, but this New York specimen you talk about would have to have originated somewhere... if so it would most likely have been the only place they were known in the world... Rarotonga... and not from Chip Boyle's station. Possible? Anything is... Probable? No way... Going to collect these fish there would be a MAJOR operation... there are VERY few diver collectors in the world that could successfully do it at that depth... ask freedive43... he's one of them. Add to that even if you had the gear you'd need a local source of oxygen... and Chip Boyle is the only source at Rarotonga... he supplies the hospital even!
I could go on and on... but it's so technical in every way... the diving is technical... the collection is technical... the decompression is technical... the tanking of it is technical... the transport around the world it just doesn't make sense...
It would be entirely more possible, but still almost entirely improbable, for this to happen with a species like Genicanthus personatus... endemic to Hawaii where there are many fish collectors and it is not unheard of for this normally very deep species to be found shallow, like the one Matt Ross caught at 100 feet collecting on Oahu... segue to next quote...
Yes, this is the one that went to House of Fins... before it went to HoF it was already sold to the local Greenwich, CT service customer of theirs... yes he has a nice fish collection but unfortunately doesn't know these fish like many of us do... they are more conversation pieces for him it seems... but who can blame him... few have the passion of anyone reading this far into a thread like this...
I can say that I too own a Genicanthus personatus... one of just four ever captive raised... this fish was gifted to me by the great Karen Brittain, the second person ever to have successfully spawned and raised angelfish in captivity and only to do Genicanthus. She raised just one to a good size, which she named Genibabe... the one she gifted to me, which passed away younger, we named Dry Rot... here's a shot I took of it, with key for size comparison (my buddy in HI drives a Nissan, the same key I had years ago I put next to many of my fish...
Hey... you didn't say LIVE personatus! :celeb1:
The specimen that went to HoF is only one of three collected in the main Hawaiian Islands since 2007 that I know of... the first being the one Rufus Kimura (freedive43) caught in 2007 while I was coincidentally piloting his bought on Oahu... the angelfish Gods shined down on us that day! This was at that time the first masked angel caught in the MHI in at least 10 years... I wrote about it in this thread... but the photos are gone...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1234494
Rufus and Jesse since then got a tiny juvie... any others since then Rufus?
The specimen from 2007 (and the subsequent little one they caught) went to Koji Wada from Blue Harbor in Osaka... segue to next quote... but first one of the shots I took of it in the livewell
Yes... Koji Wada is the owner... for those going to MACNA Koji always attends... and will be in Dallas next month. I've been to Japan a number of times... this winter Koji and I will be diving a number of spots in Southern Japan together... Here's a shot of us in Kyoto... a trip we took exclusively to track down the personatus caught in 2007 (okay... some touristy stuff too)... alive and well when I saw it years later (amongst many other incredible specimens in that house, including the only multicolor/bispinosa hybrid I've seen, and a stud Centropyge debelius).
Copps
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2006/12/aafeature
As has been mentioned, there are only two captive peppermints alive in the world...
The two known Centropyge boylei in captivity are not known based on people saying "look at my fish". To understand how we KNOW there are only two in captivity you need to understand a bit about where we KNOW Centropyge boylei to exist. Before the recent exploration by Rich Pyle at Moorea, Centropyge boylei was known not just from one island... but from one DROPOFF at Rarotonga, Cook Islands. This location is right off where famed fish collector and original discoverer of the peppermint Chip Boyle lives. Chip and Rich are the only two people to have collected peppermints offered to the trade, and the one collected by Rich that went to Waikiki is the first in over ten years. Chip Boyle's fish collecting outfit in Rarotonga collected them VERY sparsely and tracked all the fish. It's been well known for years the specimen in Japan is the only to have survived... this one was collected small and was put on the cover of Angelfishes of the World now full grown in captivity.
It is impossible to prove the NONexistance of something of course, but this New York specimen you talk about would have to have originated somewhere... if so it would most likely have been the only place they were known in the world... Rarotonga... and not from Chip Boyle's station. Possible? Anything is... Probable? No way... Going to collect these fish there would be a MAJOR operation... there are VERY few diver collectors in the world that could successfully do it at that depth... ask freedive43... he's one of them. Add to that even if you had the gear you'd need a local source of oxygen... and Chip Boyle is the only source at Rarotonga... he supplies the hospital even!
I could go on and on... but it's so technical in every way... the diving is technical... the collection is technical... the decompression is technical... the tanking of it is technical... the transport around the world it just doesn't make sense...
It would be entirely more possible, but still almost entirely improbable, for this to happen with a species like Genicanthus personatus... endemic to Hawaii where there are many fish collectors and it is not unheard of for this normally very deep species to be found shallow, like the one Matt Ross caught at 100 feet collecting on Oahu... segue to next quote...
Yes, this is the one that went to House of Fins... before it went to HoF it was already sold to the local Greenwich, CT service customer of theirs... yes he has a nice fish collection but unfortunately doesn't know these fish like many of us do... they are more conversation pieces for him it seems... but who can blame him... few have the passion of anyone reading this far into a thread like this...
I can say that I too own a Genicanthus personatus... one of just four ever captive raised... this fish was gifted to me by the great Karen Brittain, the second person ever to have successfully spawned and raised angelfish in captivity and only to do Genicanthus. She raised just one to a good size, which she named Genibabe... the one she gifted to me, which passed away younger, we named Dry Rot... here's a shot I took of it, with key for size comparison (my buddy in HI drives a Nissan, the same key I had years ago I put next to many of my fish...
Hey... you didn't say LIVE personatus! :celeb1:
The specimen that went to HoF is only one of three collected in the main Hawaiian Islands since 2007 that I know of... the first being the one Rufus Kimura (freedive43) caught in 2007 while I was coincidentally piloting his bought on Oahu... the angelfish Gods shined down on us that day! This was at that time the first masked angel caught in the MHI in at least 10 years... I wrote about it in this thread... but the photos are gone...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1234494
Rufus and Jesse since then got a tiny juvie... any others since then Rufus?
The specimen from 2007 (and the subsequent little one they caught) went to Koji Wada from Blue Harbor in Osaka... segue to next quote... but first one of the shots I took of it in the livewell
Yes... Koji Wada is the owner... for those going to MACNA Koji always attends... and will be in Dallas next month. I've been to Japan a number of times... this winter Koji and I will be diving a number of spots in Southern Japan together...
Here's a shot of us in Kyoto... a trip we took exclusively to track down the personatus caught in 2007 (okay... some touristy stuff too)... alive and well when I saw it years later (amongst many other incredible specimens in that house, including the only multicolor/bispinosa hybrid I've seen, and a stud Centropyge debelius).
Copps
