Care
The Rock Beauty can be very challenging to keep in the home aquarium, due to being a specialised sponge feeder. It is essential that this species is placed into an XXL mature system with an abundance of live rock, where it can continually browse upon its natural fare of sponges, tunicates, zoanthids, and algae. A fishless refugium can also be utilised to grow suitable foodstuffs on small pieces of live rock for your Rock Beauty, and these placed into the main tank on a rotational basis. Specialised sponge-based frozen foods purposely developed for angelfish are available too. Specimens that do not receive the proper diet may appear to be feeding well, but after a few months, will gradually fade away due to lack of proper nutrition. If you can provide a Rock Beauty with a suitable home and diet, be sure to choose a healthy specimen that is neither too small nor too large (3-4" is about the ideal size) as tiny or adult specimens can be reluctant feeders and tend not to cope with the stress of capture and transport quite so well. Very young fish may even try to feed from the slime coat of other fish within the same aquarium, causing them irritation. Check with your dealer that the fish is feeding well on the correct foods (ask to see this) and that it appears bright and inquisitive. The most suitable aquarium for a Rock Beauty will be extra wide as well as lengthy. This will enable you to aquascape the tank with a large quantity of live rock (which will provide ongoing grazing opportunities, and refuges for when the angelfish is resting or if startled) whilst still being able to maintain a good amount of open swimming space. Despite its size, this is a fish that is easily bullied. Tankmates should not be aggressive, and there should be no other angelfish present. Keep only one Rock Beauty per tank. Juvenile specimens are largely yellow with a small black spot towards the top of the rear of the flanks. With age, this dark blotch increases in size, so that adult fish are predominantly black with a yellow head and caudal fin. The outer edges of the dorsal and anal fin will be orange.
Feeding
Absolutely must receive foods containing sponges, such as some of the frozen preparations for angelfish species, and natural fare found on live rock. Should also be offered Mysis shrimp, vitamin-enriched brineshrimp, chopped clam/mussel/cockle/prawn/squid, plus vegetable matter, marine algae, Nori, Spirulina etc. Feed small amounts several times per day.
Breeding
This species has not been bred in captivity. As with other angelfish, Rock Beauties are protogynous hermaphrodites, a form of sequential hermaphroditism where an individual changes from female to male. Breeding harems consist of one male and several females.
