Angelfish people-Pairs of angels.

[Kahuna Tuna]

Here is a question for all the angelfish keepers out there. I'm looking to set up my 180 as an SPS tank and have decided to keep a large (not a genicanthus or a dwarf) angel as my centerpiece fish. Here is a list of species I am considering; flagfin, goldflake, meredithi, scribbled, bluestripe, majestic, or blueface. Does anyone out there keep any of these fish in pairs? Is a 180 big enough for a pair of any large angels? I am leaning towards the fish that stay under 10 inches full grown. I have seen pairs of scribbled and meridithi offered for sale on occasion and was wondering if anybody has had any luck pairing up any angels in the aquarium. TIA.

 

[Redfish]

I have seen locally, a pair of Meredithi in the same 225 gallon tank. Male is about 8-inches, female about 6-7-inches. They have been in the tank about 8 months and seem to be fine.

I would just as soon not have the female though. She is ugly.

Why not Regals? I have a pair in my 225. I bought what I believed was a male at about 4-5 inches and then bought the absolute smallest Regal I could find (2.5-3 inches). They co-exist peacefully. The smaller of the two fish has been doing a fine little jig in front of the bigger fish in the evenings. That makes me think I have the sexes backwards possibly.

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

Why not Regals?

I knew this one was coming. Great fish regals, I am doing a coral sea biotype with this tank and I know the grey chested regals from this region dont do nearly as well as the Red Sea/ Indian fish. I have also thought about possibly doing Red Sea regals in this setup anyway. How long have your regals been together? Any tricks to getting a pairing?

A pair of Meridithi seems like a very real possibility as well, the females eventually turn out nice and the males are spectacular fish. I like that this species and the regals stay smaller, seems more likely to adapt to a 180.

 

[Redfish]

The regals have been together now about six months. I think any true pairing is just plain luck, particularly with fish that do not have any substantial male/female distinction. Just try to buy them small and hope.

I would like one more smaller angel in the 225. I may add a meredithi male or scribbled male at some point. I have been holding out hope of finding something a little more high end.

 

[Peter Schmiedel]

IMHO they are all to way big for a 180 - even kept single. In my own experience narvarchus did not work out in my 320 as a pair. Considering the huge territories these bigger fish have we should focus on smaller angle fish. I would suggest G.wantanabei

 

[snorvich]

Genicanthus species might work but you are still pushing a 180 gallon tank unless they are nearly the only fish. Be sure and introduce them together as they will not easily allow an addition later on and they are tough fish.

 

[LargeAngels]

KT: Quality flagfins can work as pairs or a small harem if you add them as different sizes. Surprisingly flagfins are very calm to each other when kept in groups (IME.) But I can't tell you how reef safe they are.

 

[Outerbank]

Those flagfins look great!

 

[t0mmy108]

i added another regal to my 180 and the old one nearly killed the new guy. they were the same size. I had to take out the old one and put him in the sump until the new one settles in. Should I attemp to put the old one back in about a month? This was my first attempt at keeping two of the same angels in the same tank.

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

KT: Quality flagfins can work as pairs or a small harem if you add them as different sizes. Surprisingly flagfins are very calm to each other when kept in groups (IME.) But I can't tell you how reef safe they are.

Now thats what I'm talking about. I hear what you folks are saying about the tank being too small, that is one reason I was leaning towards smaller angels. Great pic LA. Any suggestions on getting good flagfins?

I was going to use an eggcrate divider in the tank when trying to pair up my angels if any fighting broke out.

 

[moonpod]

Kahuna, Dave Botwin aka 02manyfish, has several juvi goldflakes in his 300+ sps tank. They are still juvis, but IME quality goldflakes are easier to find than flagfins. Granted they tend to be a bit pricier.

 

[LargeAngels]

KT: Fortunately I got most of mine locally and was able to watch them eat and keep an eye on them for a while. I did get an awesome tiny little juvi, no blue lips yet, from Reefhotspot.com. All the fish I got from them ate right away. Fat specimens and a wide variety of foods. Most of them seem to really go for mysis shrimp, brine shrimp and spectrum pellets.

 

[Julio]

I would get a pri of genicanthus in yoru tank, these angels are totally reef safe and add a lot of personality to a tank.

 

[Kahuna Tuna]

They are still juvis, but IME quality goldflakes are easier to find than flagfins. Granted they tend to be a bit pricier.

Moonpod- I would love to have a pair of goldflakes! If you have a connection for good quality angels and you want to share I'm all ears. I am also willing to pay top dollar for the touchier angels like flagfins if they are healthy and come from the right collection areas. I was leaning towards the "smaller" large angels (flagfins, goldflakes, meredithi) and IMO these need even less room than the Genicanthus. I haven't completely ruled out the Geni's either (I like the watanabei) but I find they simply dont have the personality of other angels IMO. I dont have any corals yet and if I could get the right angels or group of angels I could live with a FO if I had to.

 

[moonpod]

I'll let you know. I got a buddy that does the 104th st thing. Goldflakes and flagfins from "safe" locales right? I'll let 'em know. He mostly does little fish (percs, mystery wrasse, etc...) left to his own devices, but when prodded looks at larger things.