Would you like a fish that recognizes you when you come to the glass?
One that will eat out of your hands?
Do you have a reasonably large tank - maybe something in the 150 gallon range?
Then a Bluespotted Angelfish might be a great fish for your reef tank!
Hi guys and girls, I’m ReefMan, and this week it’s all about Chaetodontoplus caeruleopunctatus,
The Bluespotted Angelfish.
This is a fish that shows up infrequently in the hobby, but it shouldn’t be too hard
to find if you keep your eyes out for it.
They’re generally greyish blue, with a lighter head - which might have some yellow to it.
They have a striking yellow tail, and we can’t forget the brilliant dusting of bright blue
specks all over their body.
In fact, it’s these blue spots that give the fish its common name.
First described in 1976 from a specimen collected in the Philippines, the Bluespotted angelfish
has at times been thought to be a naturally occurring hybrid.
This fish grows to about 8” or so in size, and will be very active throughout the entirety
of your reef tank.
In the wild these fish are found throughout the western pacific ocean amongst coral reefs.
It will appreciate normal reef tank temperatures in the high 70s up to the very low 80s fahrenheit.
Interestingly, the fish that was collected back in the 70s?
It was actually collected from the reef in 1972 for the aquarium trade.
Researchers noticed it for sale in Tokyo in 1972, but it wasn’t until 1976 that the
new species was described.
If you want to check out the species description, it’s linked down below.
The blue spots against a uniformly darker background are descriptive for this species,
a coloration shared by no other Chato-donto-plus species.
In the wild it eats mostly sponges and tunicates.
I feed a variety of foods, and it eats everything I offer.
It has teeth on both the top and bottom jaw, and in adult specimens you can even see them
if you look carefully.
Mine has never bitten me, but I am sure it can draw blood if it tried given its ability
to tear through food so easily.
I worry a little when I feed it by hand, I’m sure one day a mistake will happen.
This is a fish that gets very excited about food.
Mine enjoys all sorts of frozen foods, and particularly likes fresh nori.
It also gets frozen mysis, chopped clams, and prepared frozen foods like Rod’s Reef.
My bluespotted angelfish gets so excited about food that it often splashes water out of the
tank in its effort to grab it from the surface of the water.
I worry about plugs and equipment getting wet, as this is a relatively large fish and
it can splash quite a bit of water at times.
The Bluespotted angelfish can be aggressive and territorial to new fish, so it might be
best to put other more calm fish into the tank first.
Of course, I didn’t do this in my tank, but by taping a mirror to the glass I’m
able to distract my Bluespotted Angelfish and Achilles tang for a few days while new
additions settle in.
It ignores much smaller fish like damsels, clownfish, even pygmy angelfish - but it was
quite interested in my Copperband Angelfish.
The mirror trick worked perfectly, and I hope that it works for you as well.
This is a fish that can nip at coral, including Acropora, though it’s never bothered my
fleshy large polyp corals.
Before my tank crash, I had a big green Acropora colony that grew like a weed - and I often
saw little chunks taken out of it growing tips.
Nothing that seemed to really hurt the coral, but something worth noting.
If you’ve packed your reef tank with prized acros, keep this in mind.
You might get some help making frags!
The Bluespotted angelfish is generally a pretty hardy fish, given reasonably good reef aquarium
water parameters.
My fish has grown with me over the past 6 years or so from 3 or 4 inches in size to
the fully grown adult I have now at around 7 or 8 inches in length.
In a testament to both the fish’s ability to handle stress and the support of the reef
community, I actually shipped this fish to the wrong address in an entirely different
state.
It spent a week or so in a local reefer’s sump, and then took a several hours long car
ride to where I was able to finally pick it up.
If you have a medium to large sized reef tank, and you want an attractive angelfish with
lots of personality that won’t grow too huge - the Bluespotted angelfish might be
just the fish for you!
That about does it for this species profile though, we’ve covered general care, tank
size requirements, feeding, and the behavior of the Bluespotted angelfish.
I hope you enjoyed the video!
Stay safe, have a fantastic day!
Bye!