Queen angel

[Dirk Diggler]

i purchased a juvenile queen back in October 2005 and since then my queen has grown to about 4 in. Ive been wondering for awhile now if my queen looked different from others who have had experience with this fish. My queen has an overall yellow-gold appearance and shows no signs of having that bluish yellow appearance that ive seen in so many pics. Here are some pics from 2005-present. Let me know what you think and if my queen will still change into the bluish colors as it matures. Your input is much appreciated!

Oct.2005

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/9747/pict1330kj6.jpg

http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/4410/pict1335kj3.jpg

Sept.2006
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/1799/pict1742dg8.jpg

http://img235.imageshack.us/img235/344/queen706wj4.jpg

[Pete]

There is much variation based upon locality of collection. Keep in mind that they will continue to change colors as they age. That being said, diet has alot to do with colors or lack thereof. The area collected from is a major factor in blue versus more yellow queens. Brazilian area queens are much more blue than the northern carribean queens. Yours looks like it is the latter. Common off the coast of Florida. I've had numerous queens in the past, and they were all beautiful whether yellow or blue. To answer youre question, yes that is a normal looking queen.

[SDguy]

IME, I personally have never seen a queen angel, grown from a juvenile in captivity, develop the blue you are refering to. All adult queens grown from juveniles that I have ever seen were yellow like yours. Is it possible all these fish I have seen were collected from a certain area...I suppose, though over a period of 15 years, I doubt it. Is it diet related? Maybe. Lighting?

[Dirk Diggler]

Very interesting information everyone! Its good to know where my fish comes from. I never knew that the collection site contributes to the various color variations (in queen angels that is). This is probably why my angel has more yellow! I too believe that diet contributes to the colors of a fish. Heres a couple of pics of the more bluish queens that i was referring to.
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3938/5cancuncuevonesjpegtb1.jpg

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/4261/220050425100923ds4.jpg

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/7053/220050425101101mk3.jpg

[SDguy]

Again, pics from the wild. I would love to see a pic of a queen grown from juvi to adult in captivity that developed that same blue.

[Dirk Diggler]

if anyone has raised a juvenile queen to adult please post pics for comparison. thanks.

[Pete]

I've had juvenile queens develop into the blues posted above, the color though was noticeable even as a juvenile at about 3". Queens from different areas are colored differently, any diver whos traversed the globe will tell you that. This is also true with many other fish. Could it be diet is different at that particular locale? sure. Another example is the Hawaiian dragon moray and the same species found off the shores of Japan typically called a Japanese variant. They are are the same eel but markedly different in coloration. This naturally occurs throughout the planet especially with fish and reptiles. Of course poor/change of nutrition will fade all of those beautiful colors.

[mattsilvester]

Yes, I have seen a couple of queens raised from juvanile to adult - and they all went on to develop the blue tint as seen above.

I think bomber (from the infamous star board reef thread) grew his on from juv. There are a couple of folks that frequent the FO forum too.

In addition to the explanations above, there is also the possibility that it is not a true "H. Ciliaris". It is not a blue angelfish H. bermudensis, as it would appear she has a strong "crown" - but it may be a hybrid, the so called "H. townsendi".

Unfortunately, I did not save pics of friends home-grown-queen's.
Sorry..... HTH

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8157088#post8157088 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mattsilvester
In addition to the explanations above, there is also the possibility that it is not a true "H. Ciliaris". It is not a blue angelfish H. bermudensis, as it would appear she has a strong "crown" - but it may be a hybrid, the so called "H. townsendi".


I thought that too, looking at the limited amount of blue pinstriping above and below the tail, and on the gillcover.

[johnnybravo234]

Blue or not, shes a beauty

[Dirk Diggler]

well ive done some searching on the web for queen angels and basically found majority of the juvenile and adult raised queens to be more bluish. It just so happens that mine was the more yellow one. I did find a pic of a different owner having the same color variation as mine.

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/4205/attachment2ag5.jpg

Here is another different pic of an adult that im thinking mine will more resemble as it matures

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8705/113004zo5.jpg

The only thing i noticed from looking at various queen angel pics is the consistency of the blue marking at the base of the pectoral fin which mine lacks. Thought that was interesting.

http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/6233/queen706vv6.jpg

[JamesJR]

Dirk Digger Nice pictures you posted. I wanted to comment that the queen angel, Holacanthus Cliaris very commonly hybridizes with the Blue angel, Holacanthus isabellita to produce a variety of different appearances that are sometimes very difficult to distinguish based on appearance.

[JamesJR]

sorry the blue angel is holacanthus bermudensis... minor note

[Dirk Diggler]

thanks for the comment james. here are more pics of different color variations of queens.
this queen right here is strinkingly blue with very little yellow:
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2108/bluequeenangelsn3.jpg

these next two are the hybrid angels that some of you guys mentioned earlier with a cross between the queen and blue angel. even the hybrids have unique color variations!
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/7659/queen08gw4.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8072/townshendangelku5.jpg

[JamesJR]

Beautiful fish. In Michael;s angelfish books he had pictures of hybrids that I would never have guessed were hybrids. These pictures are much better because you can see the characteristics of both fishes/

[mattsilvester]

indeed those pics in michael's book are worth loking at .... page 285 onwards.

[JamesJR]

Great book but I am still learning about angels to this day.

[Chasmodes]

Dirk, I think that your queen angel is stunning. The yellow variant appeals to me more than the "normal" coloration because the yellow ones just aren't that common. I'm jealous:D I'd be curious to see what he looks like a year from now. Great fish!

[Dirk Diggler]

Thanks hyposoblennius! ill definately update my queen pics as the months go by. i just noticed this week that the tip of the cheek spines of my queen are starting to show a bit of blue. its nothing major but something thats interesting to follow as it matures.