Juvenile Tiger Angelfish Lands at De Jong Marinelife

There are several species of angelfish that many in the aquarium trade would label as THE “holy grail” angel. The short list includes the masked angelfish (Genicanthus personatus), peppermint angelfish (Paracentropyge boylei), Abe’s angelfish (Centropyge abei), and a few more. And while each of those species is supremely rare and insanely beautiful in their own right, but they all fall short of the absolute king of the angelfish, the tiger angelfish (Apolemichthys kingi).

Named for its tiger-like stripes that only get more elaborate with age, A. kingi is one of those fish that virtually never gets collected in the wild and therefore is almost never seen in the aquarium trade. I think one or two of them have ever made it into captivity, putting its rarity right up there with the most elusive of aquarium fish. Thankfully, De Jong Marinelife has somehow gotten their mitts on a beautiful juvenile tiger, as well as a peppermint angelfish, and they’ve been oh so generous with the news. A few videos and an images has been loaded up their Facebook page, and we’ve just been salivating over the imagery.

While we may not get the opportunity to see the fish in person, as De Jong Marinelife is located in the Netherlands and, let’s face it, my wife would shoot me for traveling to Europe to see one fish, the tiger angel will be on display at Interzoo at the end of the month.

Until then, we’ll just have to satisfy our rare angel cravings with these videos posted below.