Emperor Angelfish- hopefully eventually a pair

H

haydn

New member
With a lot advice and encouragement from Copps (Thanks John, I think) a snap of my latest additions. A small adult coloured 5" Emperor and a changing juvenile of 3". They have been in the tank for 48 hours, they are feeding well and seem to be interacting. The adult is expressing its dominance. So hopefully it will become the male (if it isn't already) and the juvi will remain a female as it changes into an adult.

I'm sorry about the quality of the picture but I don't want to disturb them at the moment.

emppair1.jpg
 
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very cool. i also really like those angels. i was reading though and they are only semi reef compatible but also it says only on in a tank because they will fight with each other.
 
copps said:
Hey you can't do that! You Brits are crazy!:wildone: ;)
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I love the 'can't' word, it always brings out the challenge in me:hmm5:. I think as long as you do a LOT of research, understand how the fish will react to the parameters you are setting, considering they will essentially react in the same way as they would in the wild and you are clear in understanding what you are trying to achieve then many of the accepted norms can be challenged. You must also define an 'exit' stragity to prevent the livestock from getting hurt.

for example with this, I searched the web, books and observed these fish in the wild (I'm a diver) when I was on holiday. i contacted the 'gurus' (including Copps). I gave the shop I bought them from specific instructions on size, etc. (I have to say a big thankyou to the shop!!!), they agreed to allow me to 'introduce' them each other in the shop tanks. So they were comfortable with each other before I put them in my system. I also agreed with the shop that they would take the fish back if there was a problem.

So not (quite!) so crazy!!!:D:D
 
I want to do this so bad, I have a 500 gallon reef and would love to make a pair of emps a centerpiece. The only thing holding me back is I scared for my coral. I put all that money and hardwork into my coral and then the emps would probaly come along and tear it up. Its a hard choice beacause I really like emps.
 
looking good haydn, think i seen ur tank on an uk forum and iirc its very nice, do you still have lots of sp. of chromis and that pair of regal's
 
urbor said:
I want to do this so bad, I have a 500 gallon reef and would love to make a pair of emps a centerpiece. The only thing holding me back is I scared for my coral. I put all that money and hardwork into my coral and then the emps would probaly come along and tear it up. Its a hard choice beacause I really like emps.
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according to my research they should be OK with SPS (which is what I have) Iwouldn't have tried it if I had LPS or softies.

espocrespo said:
looking good haydn, think i seen ur tank on an uk forum and iirc its very nice, do you still have lots of sp. of chromis and that pair of regal's
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Thanks- I have 4 species of Chromis in there. i still have the male regal angelfish but lost the female after a year (I have no idea why) so at the moment I looking for a small female regal to introduce to the male.
 
The fish have been in there for 10 days or so and I noticing a change in behaviour from the adult. It is no longer chasing the juvi if it gets too close, it is 'dominating' it. If the juvi is picking on a bit of LR the adult will come over and 'push' it out of the way and then start picking where the juvi was-if the juvi moves to another area and begins picking the adult will stop what its doing and push the juvi off and start there.

also when I put cockles in their shells as food the juvi will pick at one until the larger angel pushes it off (not aggession just edges it away) the juvi them moves to another cockle and the adult will stop what its doing to move the juvi away.

I think the adult is expressing its dominance, hopefully this will trigger the change to male (assuming it's not already) whilst keeping the juvi down stopping it challenging and (hopefully) keeping it female.

tank0309094.jpg
 
Interesting observations. I would be concerned about the smaller fish getting enough to eat thought.

Good luck.
 
cas said:
Interesting observations. I would be concerned about the smaller fish getting enough to eat thought.

Good luck.
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I put flake and frozen food in twice a day and the smaller fish eats well as the food 'blows' round the tank.
 
very interesting. Couple of questions if you don't mind:
How large is your aquarium and are both imps brand new simultaneous aquisitions?
 
Gary Majchrzak said:
very interesting. Couple of questions if you don't mind:
How large is your aquarium and are both imps brand new simultaneous aquisitions?
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The tank is 2mx1mx1m (2000ltrs) with a 500ltr sump. The imps were sourced at the same time and both were added to my system at the same time-they were put together in the LFS (i spent 4 hours on a saturday afternoon watching them to make sure they didn't fight and hurt each other).
 
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