New Fish!!!!!

her fins are getting longer :-)

Nice! It is actually a townsend angel though, a cross from a blue and queen. Still beautiful none the less. I'd consider most corals gone though. I had mostly softies/shrooms etc and my queen definitely had a part in eating them (as did my french and passer). These angels really aren't that hard to keep, but definitely supplement them with sponges, at least foods with sponges in them. Be careful off aggression, my queen was quite the bully and blues/townsends have the same attitude! Also plan for an upgrade! These angels get HUGE! I'd love to try another one but I need a +400g to hold one for life.

I've checked before and it's definitely a queen. I respect your opinion though. This is my second one. I had both since they were juvi's. They rarely get 18" in captivity. Tank is 96" long. Plenty of swimming room.

for reference:

QueenA

The queens in the the reference don't look like yours? I may not know a lot about corals and definitely don't claim to know it all or even a lot, but one thing I do know a decent amount about is angels, especially holocanthus. Angels are my passion and reason for being in this hobby. The first dead give away your angel has blue in it is the colors, the body colors and the lack of blue in certain areas and green the queen has. The second is the bars, they're straight, like a blues, while a queens are curved. Also the bars not only are they straight, they're white while a queens are blue. The queen traits are obviously the crown and it has subtle hues of the orange in the caudal fins.

Do you know where your fish was collected? I bet is was in the caribbean. A lot of the angels coming into the trade from there have been a mix of blue/queen. At some point in time, in the family tree of your fish, a queen and blue hybridized. Blues are found from the caribbean north, queens from the caribbean south. Most collection comes from the caribbean which yields the most townsend angels, unfortunately collectors pass them off as queens to obviously make more money. That is why you pay more for a brazilian queen, they aren't a better quality or color of queen, but rather just a true pure un-hybridized queen. Not to say those queens don't exist in the caribbean, because they most certainly do, but its a gamble when getting one especially a juvi from a collector from there. My next queen will be from brazil, just so I can be sure its a true 100% queen.

Have you discussed this with anyone else or just wikipedia? I would recommend contacting the member copps on reefcentral.com, he is an angelfish guru. He will be able to tell you exactly what that fish is better then anyone else I am sure. Regardless, its still a gorgeous fish, I think blues are amazing looking and townsends more amazing taking traits from both fish.

If you tank is 180g and 8ft long, I am assuming its only 18" wide? You will need a bigger tank eventually for the fish then, it will never reach +18" I agree but a 12" holocanthus angel is way too big for a 180g.