Identification:
Scientific Name: Genicanthus melanospilos (Bleeker, 1857).
Other Common Names: Japanese Swallowtail, Blackspot, Blackspot Lyretail, Spotbreast, and Zebra Angelfish.
This is one of a few angelfishes that can easily be identified by sex as male or female, because of their differences in appearance. The male is marked with thin, dark vertical bands that cover the body from the head to where the dorsal and anal fins end, followed by a yellow banded area at the base of the tail, and thus named a Zebra Angelfish.
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Personal Notes From Your Guides:
Dateline 07/23/2011: In the four years we have had our beautiful female Swallowtail Angelfish in our 92g reef tank it has never bothered any of the different types of soft and stony corals and other sessile invertebrates we have kept in this aquarium. It has been a peaceful and friendly fish, communing well with all its tank mates, which to date includes a Naso Tang, Yellow Tang, Hippo or Pacific Blue Tang, Firefish Goby, and Red Saddleback or Fire Clownfish. We love this angelfish, and have been considered obtaining a mate for her.
Dateline 12/30/07: This angelfish has shown no further signs of interest in the clam, nor any of the corals we have put in the aquarium to date.
Dateline 11/04/07: Everything we have read says the Japanese Swallowtail Angelfish is invertebrate safe, so we got a female as a starter fish for our new 92 gallon reef tank. However, we saw her nip at a 3 inch T. Crocea clam today. This may have been due to the aquarium being algae free at this stage, and with nothing to pick at this fish was just checking things out, or might have just been going after something drifting by or that had landed on the clam's mantle.
The first two fish in our tank, the Angel and a Yellow Tang, we had been feeding them 2 times a day, but somewhat sparingly as not to pollute the system, which had recently finished cycling. We have slightly increased the amount of foods being offered per feeding (all water parameters are fine since) to see if this will help satisfy this fish's rather voracious appetite, and are keeping a close watch on its behavior around the clam.
~ Debbie and Stan Hauter
