Spawning, early development, and first feeding in the lemonpeel angelfish Centropyge flavissimus

The present study investigates, for the first time, critical processes in early life history in captive rearing of the lemonpeel angelfish Centropyge flavissimus. Video recordings of courtship behaviors in the 300 L spawning tank showed several courtship behaviors to be similar to those described for wild fish, but courtship activities associated with harem maintenance were not observed in the captive fish. Typical courtship activity was seen on every day of observation, but gamete release occurred on only 7 of 10 observation days. The reason for the lack of gamete release was not obvious. Tank spawning began when temperature and photoperiod conditions were changed to spring and reached a maximum peak (in terms of egg number) during the summer, when the temperature was 28 °C. Egg production and fertilization rate remained relatively constant day to day and spawning continued for months at a time as long as temperature and photoperiod were maintained at optimum levels. Once the embryo hatched (15 h post fertilization) and the yolk sac stage was reabsorbed (48 h post hatching), larvae were ready to feed. Cultured Parvocalanus sp. nauplii or size-sieved wild zooplankton were suitable first food. Proper environmental conditions included rearing the larvae at 28 °C. This study provides the first data on the influence of temperature and first food offered on larval survival in the lemonpeel angelfish.