I saw my first Resplendent on a frozen fish food package and it was love at first site. Since that time I have had about six of them, some only survive a short while, others did quite well. The most recent male I have had for about 5 years, during which time he spawned with two different females.

About five years ago Resplendents became very scarce. Having only had one surviving male at that time I found a Fish Wholesaler who had imported a number of them, but since he was the last known person able to bring them into the country, they were $ 300.00. I was able to purchase one and placed her in the tank with the established male, that was 1995.

Oh what a site ! These beauties quickly became familiar with each other and within about 60 days began to go through the courting rituals. Over the next year they spawned in the reef tank almost nightly.

In the 1999 Annual Marine Fish and Reef USA magazine Alf Nilsen wrote about his last surviving Resplendent Angel and said " until it disappeared without a trace in January 1998. This was probably the very last Centropyge Resplendens in captivity in the world, ". Well Alf, sorry to hear about the loss of such a rare fish but that must make the one in my tank truly THE last know C. resplendens in captivity.

In the fall of 1999 and the summer of 2000 I had received two e-mails, one from England about a German fish collector and the other a 'business person' out of Colorado, that there had been a couple of shipments of Resplendents that had been collected. Turns out the collector and the 'business person'  were selling 95% of these angels to customers in Japan....for $ 750.00 each !!! Way too expensive for my blood. In the fall of 2000 the 'business person' handled another shipment of 100, and again the majority he sold to Japan. 

Why are the Resplendent Angels so rare ? They come from only one part of the world, the Ascension Islands. Located half way between South America and Africa, this island is inhabited by British military personnel, and Telegraph Companies, and not much eles. At this time there are still plenty of these aquatic beauties, but it has become very difficult to get collectors on the island, and far more difficult to get them off the island. I attempted to make arrangements myself to have some more collected but I could not get a reply from the Administer of the Island. So for the moment the Resplendent Angel is considered a rare fish. A real prize to be treasured.

For more information visit....

Dwarf Angel, Pygmy Angels, Centropyge
 

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