A Potter's pair.

S

Servillius

New member
I would dearly love to keep a pair of these as the centerpiece of my tank. I've kept angels before with much success, but never tried to get a pair of dwarfs. I would greatly appreciate any advice available. How do I get a good pair, can I get them to pair if they don't start out that way, anything else I should know?
 
The trick is to find a juvenile or female. That can involve regular trips to the Houston LFS's to see if they got one in. I've never had a Potter's, but I believe they like a well established non-sterile tank with lots of hiding places. And an owner who's not afraid of a few diatoms ;) What size is your tank? Do you have lots of rock work?
 
I can pair up pretty much any dwarf angel. Just takes practice. Potters are actually one of the easiest to pair or TRIO. PM me if you have any questions about it!
 
Sniff... reminds me of my first pair of angels. They were Potters. I've had them for about two years. One night one of them jumped out of the tank and a few weeks later the second one disappeared into nowhere.

Been keeping C. multicolor since then. But I'm always tempted to try Potters again. Can you really TRIO them???
 
Angel*Fish said:
The trick is to find a juvenile or female. That can involve regular trips to the Houston LFS's to see if they got one in. I've never had a Potter's, but I believe they like a well established non-sterile tank with lots of hiding places. And an owner who's not afraid of a few diatoms ;) What size is your tank? Do you have lots of rock work?
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These days I find I spend most of my time and money at CityPets. I'll talk to them and have them keep a lookout for me.

Is this similar to the size trick for clowns? Just match a larger one with one or two juveniles and they'll get along?
 
Been there, done that :D

It's much harder to find female or juvi Centropyges. I believe they are collected less in part because they hide more, stay closer to the rocks. - at least that's true of the juveniles. There was a study done, I believe Potter's were used - the male can change back to female if needed, but in an aquarium setting, he is likely to be killed first.

Potters can be sexed, though the differences are subtle and since there is variation in fish, it makes it harder. Here's a thread with pics http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1488602&page=2
You might want to contact those guys since they have some experience specifically with Potters.

When you're sure you have a female/juvi, you can just put that fish in with a male, but if there is any uncertainly then it's best to try them together in smaller tank for several weeks. I don't mean a sterile quarantine, you should put some rocks in there.

Males are supposed to have more deep blue/purple coloring on their sides than the female.

It is true in the sense that if you can get a teeny one and pair it with a bigger, things will be fine. But even with percula clowns you can't just put a larger female with a smaller female and hope things will work out. It's just that juveniles are so readily available.
 
I have had 2 pairs over the years -- one came as a pair from the Diver's Den section of LA -- lost them when I had to have emergency back surgery and my main pump ran dry while in the hospital.

The second pair I just paired up an existing (( larger )) potter's with a small juvi. They got along great, and were showing pre-spawning behavior before I lost the larger one out of the blue -- still have the "juvi"

I just kept the juvi in a breeder box for a couple of days to let them get used to each other (( have a better box now ))

babypotter13.jpg
 
Toddrtrex said:
I have had 2 pairs over the years -- one came as a pair from the Diver's Den section of LA -- lost them when I had to have emergency back surgery and my main pump ran dry while in the hospital.

The second pair I just paired up an existing (( larger )) potter's with a small juvi. They got along great, and were showing pre-spawning behavior before I lost the larger one out of the blue -- still have the "juvi"

I just kept the juvi in a breeder box for a couple of days to let them get used to each other (( have a better box now ))
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I read your thread and was very sorry to hear of the losses. Your pairs were lovely and your advice will be put to good use. The support is quite appreciated.
 
I was able to pair two up as individuals from a LFS. They were of similar size, so duked it out for about a day. One fish got torn up pretty bad, but once order is established they were inseparable. This was earlier last year, so the pair has been together for almost a year now.
 
Servillius, If you really want a healthy pair of potters then be on the phone with Divers Den the moment they email you that the fish are available. They will ost likely sell instantly.
 
really like these fish and would like to add them at some point. right now i have a very unhappy asfur in my sump because it took all of 2 minutes for him to start eating a nice brain coral that i added as i continue mt rebuild.
 
travismcgee said:
really like these fish and would like to add them at some point. right now i have a very unhappy asfur in my sump because it took all of 2 minutes for him to start eating a nice brain coral that i added as i continue mt rebuild.
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Are you serious? Since when are Pomacanthus considered reef safe fish? It's not as if the fish did something unexpected. You have a very unhappy fish because you didn't bother to research it before you got it. What a shame. I find your attitude perplexing.
 
I would like a Resplendent pair. Anyone have a pair?

and +1 to the above post. I would give the fish to a better home.
 
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