The Golden Angelfish (centropyge Aurantia) is a stunning dwarf angelfish that commands a high price and is fairly difficult to find. The golden angelfish is a difficult angel to keep alive and should only be attempted by those that can properly see to its needs. If you're looking for an easier dwarf angel to keep like the flame angel (centropyge loriculus), the its best you stop reading because the golden angel is normally listed under "experts only". If you still want to try a golden angelfish then read on.

The golden angelfish is a stunning red/bronze all over its body with vertical stripes on its sides. They are collected from Palau, New Guinea and especially around Indonesia where they are most common.

It is a deep water species that is found living at depths as deep as 180 feet. They are priced from the low $100's and aren't all that common on the market. They are usually sold quickly once they're for sale. This is a deep water angelfish so look for any swim bladder damage. It should not have any difficulty maintaining buoyancy and it definitely shouldn't be tilting inexplicably.

Like most of its deep water brethren, the golden angelfish is a painfully shy fish that does not do well in tanks with too much activity or when housed with very aggressive tank mates. It is a passive dwarf angelfish, but that still does not mean it will get along with conspecifics. Two golden angels will fight in an aquarium.

The golden angelfish needs large tanks with plenty of live rock to do well. Provide plenty of shaded areas and caves for shelter. It spends most of its time within shaded areas and is rarely seen out of such areas at all. A 75 gallon established marine aquarium should be the absolute lower limit for this dwarf angelfish. Go for a 150 gallon or larger tank. It must be given time to adapt to our aquarium lights since there is very little light in its habitat.

This is one area where things get pretty tough. It is very difficult to feed a golden angelfish simply because it is so shy. It is difficult to feed what you cannot see. If you cannot get them to accept prepared foods, they will feed off any live rock in the tank.This is the reason i recommended large established aquariums with plenty of live rock. Without enough live rock to feed on they will eventually perish.

This next part assumes it is accepting prepared foods :-

All dwarf angelfish are grazers in the wild. They constantly scan the rock for food items throughout the day, much like surgeonfish. Foods eaten include tiny crustaceans, algae and sometimes even detritus.

In a saltwater aquarium they should be given a balanced diet. A wide range of foods should be given, variety is important. Never feed them a specific type of food for too long. Although there are some hobbyists that feed them new life spectrum pellets for prolonged periods of time with no ill effects. They were all very healthy in fact.

They should be fed a frozen food that has both meat and algae (Formula One, Formula Two), algae and nori sheets as well as a pellet from a reputable brand like New Life Spectrum.

A very good food for dwarf angels is the Pygmy Angel Formula, produced by Ocean Nutrition. In an effort to provide a balanced and nutritious diet, a wide variety of ingredients are used such as kelp, shrimp, vitamins and trace minerals, krill, squid, algae and many others. All these ingredients are mixed up, frozen, then formed into cubes. Unfortunately Pygmy Angel Formula is only available in frozen form.

Personally, i think brine shrimp should never be fed as they don't offer much nutritionally. Frozen adult brine shrimps contain mostly roughage, which is nothing more than fiber. They can fiber just fine from krill or mysis shrimp, both superior foods.

Should you insist on feeding your dwarf angelfish brine shrimp, choose a type that has been enriched beforehand. Enriched brine shrimp are simply artemia that were stuffed with a nutritious food (like spirulina) and then frozen. They are used as vessels housing nutrition.

Newly hatched brine shrimp are a good food, as long as their yolk sacs are not too depleted. Once their yolk sacs are depleted they turn into garbage again.

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