Juvenile Lamarck's Angelfish - Copyright www.jjphoto.dk

The fish species Genicanthus lamarck is known under several different common names in English, including Lamarck's angelfish, Lamarck angelfish, Blackstriped angelfish, Black striped angelfish, and Freckletail lyretail angelfish.

Genicanthus lamarck has not been evaluated for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Geographical range, habitat and habits

Lamarck's angelfish inhabit the Indo-West Pacific. Its range stretches from the Indo-Malayan waters, eastwards to Vanuatu, northwards up to southern Japan, and southwards down to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. It has been reported from the waters of Australia, Cambodia, China (including Taiwan), Guam, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, Vanuatu, and Vietnam.

Lamarck's angelfish is found in shallow reef crests and deep reefs adjacent to steep slopes. It lives in harems consisting of 3-7 fishes and can also be seen in feeding aggregations. This species feed in mid-water.

Size and appearance

The largest scientifically measured Lamarck's angelfish was 25.0 cm / 9.8 in.

The Lamarck angelfish is white with three black stripes on each side. The dorsal fin is decorated with a broad submarginal black band, while the caudal fin sports black spotting.

The female fish has white pelvic fins and the dorsal and ventral edges are decorated with a broad black band. The male fish has black pelvic fins and a few irregular bands radiate from his eyes. You can find more information about sexing Lamarck angelfish in the breeding section of this article.

Lamarck's angelfish care

It is not advisable to keep this species in an aquarium smaller than 70 gallons /
The aquarium where you house your Lamarck's angelfish must contain a lot of hiding spots. This species prefers to stay hidden until it is time to feed and depriving it of suitable hiding spots will not make it less shy; it will actually make it spend even more time desperately trying to conceal itself. With and abundance of suitable hiding spots in the aquarium, the fish will feel much safer and dare to venture out more often.

Lamarck's angelfish may chase small and friendly species like fire gobies and fairy wrasses, and is therefore best kept with fish of its own size or larger, or species that won’t tolerate any bullying. Unlike many other angelfish species, Lamarck's angelfish is known to leave other angels alone in the aquarium. This species can be kept in pairs as well as in groups, but keeping more than one male Lamarck's angelfish is not a good idea unless you have a very large and cleverly decorated aquarium.

Lamarck's angelfish is considered reef safe. It will leave the invertebrates alone, including corals and clams.

The recommended water temperature when keeping Lamarck's angelfish is 72-78° F/ 22-25.5° C. The specific gravity should be in the 1.020-1.025 range and the pH-value between 8.1 and 8.4.

Feeding Lamarck's angelfish

In the wild, this species feed on zooplankton in mid-water. It is important to give it a varied diet in the aquarium but you don’t have to feed it zooplankton; various types of meaty food is known to work well. You can for instance make your own formula by mixing seafoods like shrimps, squid, mussels, clams etcetera with each other and adding some vegetables, e.g. spinach or green peas. Adding algae to the diet is recommended, e.g. fresh and marine algae + spirulina. Lamarck's angelfish will also like angelfish preparations and live food such as brine shrimp and mysid shrimp.

Feed your fish many small servings thorough the day instead of just one or two big meals.

Breeding Lamarck's angelfish

Unlike many other angelfish species, Lamarck's angelfish is quite easy to sex. For quite a long time, the male and female fish were actually believed to be two separate species. The female fish has white pelvic fins and the dorsal and ventral edges are decorated with a broad black band. The male fish has black pelvic fins and a few irregular bands radiate from his eyes. There is a yellow spot on his forehead and his caudal fin is longer and pointier.

Lamarck angelfish is an egg scattering species.

As far as we know, Lamarck angelfish has not been bred in aquariums.

Adult Genicanthus lamarack, Lamarck's Angelfish - Picture by:IluvMyGoldBarb

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