Japanese Swallowtail - Genicanthus melanospilos
Picture taken April 2007, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Nikkor 18-70mm DX lens

Purchased April 2007.

I've been wanting to add an Angelfish to my reef tank for a while now. However almost all of them have a reputation of nipping at corals or clam mantels.

Then I read about a few species of Angelfish that are planktivores and will not bother corals or clams. They are literally the idea reef safe angelfish. The drawback is that they are not as brilliantly colored as other angelfish.

This is a female Swallowtail. The males are white with dark vertical stripes giving it a common name of Zebra Angel.

Japanese Swallowtail - Genicanthus melanospilos
Picture taken April 2007, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Nikkor 18-70mm DX lens, Flash

I was surprised how quickly this fish adapted to live in captivity. Within a few days this started to eat my home made frozen slush mix, flake food, algae flakes, and even pellet foods.

Japanese Swallowtail - Genicanthus melanospilos
Picture taken April 2007, Nikon D70 Digital SLR, Nikkor 18-70mm DX lens, Flash

The Swallowtail is on open water fish which stays out and above my reef structure. This function is often called a dither fish which helps the smaller fish feel calm and also come out in the open. Since adding this fish, the majority of the fish are all out.