Every once in a while, the ocean presents us with something different. Sometimes it's two fish hybridizing and producing an offspring that we rarely see. On much more rare occasions, nature produces us a genetic anomaly that results in something gorgeous and different. In some cases, this is a totally unique aberration, in other cases, it can be an early step in the process of speciation! Today is one of the days where something unique has found its way here.
Asfur Angels are a common fish in their home range, along the western edge of the Indian Ocean up into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Obviously, this is about as far from North America as you can get and on top of this, much of the region suffers from frequent instability. This all culminates in us not seeing see Asfur Angels here nearly as much as we'd like. What we see even less, is the white variant. Most Asfur Angels are black with a splash of iridescent blue on their foreheads and a large yellow swath on their side with a matching tail. It is a gorgeous fish that photography never seems to do justice to. The White Asfur trades out the yellow for porcelain white making them even more stark, and incredibly, even more rare.
When feeding your White Asfur, you need to realize that all Pomacanthus genus fish are grazers in the wild; nibbling on nearly everything in their path as they swim along. Watching one eat on the reef would lead one to the conclusion that they mostly consume sponges and tunicates, but studies on their diet have shown that White Asfurs also eat a wide variety small invertebrate living on and in those sponges. Even with this “picky” wild diet, all Asfurs are usually easy to feed, (which is not always the case with other large Angels). Diet variety is one of the most important aspects of keeping any Marine Angelfish and it should be a focus for the hobbyist who chooses to keep one. They are perfect candidates for Nutramar's Shots which are stuck to rocks or glass low in the tank which allows the Angel to graze on it in a natural way. We use the Algae and Color Boost Shot and Pellets when feeding the Asfurs, and they also get a mix of thawed foods including Gamma mysis, Chopped Mussel, Chopped Prawn, Brine + Spirulina, Brine + Omega 3, Vegetarian Diet and a favorite, Cockle-in-Shell. Here we feed twice a day to spread out their intake which helps mimic them getting food throughout the day. You could feed them as many times a day as you wanted, as long as it was the same amount of food total. For example, if we fed 10 grams of food in one meal per day, we'd give them the whole 10 grams. Conversely, if you had five feedings, each meal would have to be two grams.
Asfur Angels are a common fish in their home range, along the western edge of the Indian Ocean up into the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Obviously, this is about as far from North America as you can get and on top of this, much of the region suffers from frequent instability. This all culminates in us not seeing see Asfur Angels here nearly as much as we'd like. What we see even less, is the white variant. Most Asfur Angels are black with a splash of iridescent blue on their foreheads and a large yellow swath on their side with a matching tail. It is a gorgeous fish that photography never seems to do justice to. The White Asfur trades out the yellow for porcelain white making them even more stark, and incredibly, even more rare.
When feeding your White Asfur, you need to realize that all Pomacanthus genus fish are grazers in the wild; nibbling on nearly everything in their path as they swim along. Watching one eat on the reef would lead one to the conclusion that they mostly consume sponges and tunicates, but studies on their diet have shown that White Asfurs also eat a wide variety small invertebrate living on and in those sponges. Even with this “picky” wild diet, all Asfurs are usually easy to feed, (which is not always the case with other large Angels). Diet variety is one of the most important aspects of keeping any Marine Angelfish and it should be a focus for the hobbyist who chooses to keep one. They are perfect candidates for Nutramar's Shots which are stuck to rocks or glass low in the tank which allows the Angel to graze on it in a natural way. We use the Algae and Color Boost Shot and Pellets when feeding the Asfurs, and they also get a mix of thawed foods including Gamma mysis, Chopped Mussel, Chopped Prawn, Brine + Spirulina, Brine + Omega 3, Vegetarian Diet and a favorite, Cockle-in-Shell. Here we feed twice a day to spread out their intake which helps mimic them getting food throughout the day. You could feed them as many times a day as you wanted, as long as it was the same amount of food total. For example, if we fed 10 grams of food in one meal per day, we'd give them the whole 10 grams. Conversely, if you had five feedings, each meal would have to be two grams.
