Black Nox Angelfish

General information

The Black Nox Angelfish is uniformly black over its entire body. The Black Nox Angelfish should be the only dwarf angelfish in the tank. It is not a good reef dweller and may eat soft coral polyps, clam mantles, and zoanthids.

Midnight Angelfishes are omnivores like the other species of angelfishes. It mostly feeds on algae. Tank feeding should include spirulina algae, marine algae, mysis shrimp with other fleshy organism such as brine or krill, and live rocks with algae for grazing. It should be fed 2 to 3 times a day to maintain a healthy immune system.

Centropyge species like the Black Nox Angelfish are protogynous fishes. They start their life cycle as unsexed individuals and begin adult life as females. Differentiation in sex (female to male) will occur to the larger and more dominant individual within a group. Therefore, male Black Nox Angelfishes are usually bigger in size than the female counterpart, and has no distinguishable color differences between gender.

Captive breeding for this species has not been done yet. However, in the wild this species are usually seen together singly or in pairs. The male will visit the home of the females at dusk to mate and it may spawn with one or multiple females per night. This species spawn their gametes (eggs and sperm) externally for fertilization. The fertilized eggs will not be protected by either parent. Once spawning is done, the male will then move on to its next partner.

C. nox is prone to parasitic and protozoan diseases such as White Spot Disease or Crypt (Cryptocaryon irritans), which is exhibited as a constant scratching and white dots all over the body, and Velvet Disease (Oodinium ocellatum) which gives a peppery coating on the fish's body.

It can also be affected by Vibrio bacteria, which is a very fast acting bacteria that can kill the angelfish within days. It usually starts as an internal infection followed by Dropsy, Popeye, Bleeding or Red Streaks on the skin.

Black Nox angelfishes can also be affected by physical ailments resulting from incompatible water conditions and tankmates. When very stressed, the angelfishes tend to hover in the upper corner of the tank.

Centropyge nox are widely distributed coral-rich areas of the outer reefs in the western Pacific from the Ryukus Island in Japan to Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, the Great Barrier Reef, New Caledonia and Micronesia.

Black Nox angelfishes are considered to be one of the less aggressive angelfishes. In natural environments it can sometimes be seen in pairs and harems, but in the confinements of the aquarium it should be noted that it is the only angelfish present in the tank, unless a mated pair is acquired and/or other peaceful Centropyge are present.

Tankmates of C. nox should be peaceful to semi-agressive in nature and not a direct competitor for food. It should also be noted that Black Nox Angelfishes can be found nipping on soft coral polyps, clam mantles, and zoanthids but does not bother invertebrates such as shrimps, snails, and crabs if well fed.

Black Nox Angelfish should be kept in a reef-aquarium tank or fish only tank with a size of 50 to 100 gallons if intending to keep 1 or 2 individuals. The fish takes a minimum of 30 minutes to 3 hours to acclimatize in its new tank condition. Since it is an essentialy shy species, it should be placed in a spacious mature reef-aquarium system provided with plenty of live rocks and hiding places. When adding into a well-established reef aquarium, it should be added last and are introduced simultaneously if adding more than 1 individual.