Housing two emperors together

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02tts

New member
My LFS has a beautiful large show quality emperor, he's probably 10-12". He's $360.

Two questions:

1. How does that price sound for a show quality emperor?
2. I have another emperor in the tank now, he's adult in colors and about 5-6", much smaller. The tank is 500g. Would housing the two be an issue?


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Housing two emperors together

brett559 said:
I have no idea. But if you do decide to do it, post a video. My dream fish....AND YOU'D HAVE TWO!!!
Click to expand...



Haha.
Sure thing will do - he is a beauty.

I have him on hold and supposed to pick up tomorrow but we'll see. Still doing some research on whether housing these two will be an issue. I'm also concerned about adding such a large fish and whether that would have any huge impact on the biological filtration factor...


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I'm by no means an expert and definitely don't know the answer, but my "guess" would be that it might be okay at the beginning since the new one is much larger then the current one but once the bigger one settles in you might have issues! maybe better chances if they end up being of different sex.
 
lagatbezan said:
I'm by no means an expert and definitely don't know the answer, but my "guess" would be that it might be okay at the beginning since the new one is much larger then the current one but once the bigger one settles in you might have issues! maybe better chances if they end up being of different sex.
Click to expand...



You really think the bigger one will go after the smaller one? I mean it's twice the size length wise and he's thick, well fed.


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02tts said:
1. How does that price sound for a show quality emperor?
Click to expand...
For a foot long emperor in good health I would say the price is very reasonable.

02tts said:
2. I have another emperor in the tank now, he's adult in colors and about 5-6", much smaller. The tank is 500g. Would housing the two be an issue?
Click to expand...

It depends...
If your current emperor is a male it will very likely end in disaster, if it's a female you could get a pair.

Can you get some pictures of them in the side profile?

Do you know where both are from? There are at least two subspecies, one from the Indian Ocean and one from the Pacific. The differences are analog to the differences of Regal Angels:
- Indian ocean (right): more orange-yellow and a round end of the dorsal fin
- Pacific (left): more bluish-gray-green and the dorsal fin ends in a streamer

imperator-comparison.jpg
 
Housing two emperors together

ThRoewer said:
For a foot long emperor in good health I would say the price is very reasonable.







It depends...

If your current emperor is a male it will very likely end in disaster, if it's a female you could get a pair.



Can you get some pictures of them in the side profile?



Do you know where both are from? There are at least two subspecies, one from the Indian Ocean and one from the Pacific. The differences are analog to the differences of Regal Angels:

- Indian ocean (right): more orange-yellow and a round end of the dorsal fin

- Pacific (left): more bluish-gray-green and the dorsal fin ends in a streamer



imperator-comparison.jpg
Click to expand...



Both are from the pacific.

Is there a way to tell male/female apart?

Don't think I'm going to risk it if both are male, it's a non brainer who would win.

Edit: I take that back, the one I have is Indian Ocean and I believe (will have to double check) the other one is from the pacific.

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I have no first hand experience with Emperor Angels, only with Regals. Though the general morphological differences should be the same:
- Body shape: males have usually a more elongated body than females.
- Operculum spine: males have usually a larger spine, though I doubt the difference will be as extreme as with Regals.

With the Pacific subspecies I would assume that the streamer length may also be different between males and females.
 
Emperors get more bolder and aggressive the larger they get. All my fish stay out of my adult emperors way and he chases everyone away except the powder blue who somehow puts him in his place even though she is much smaller lool. Honestly IMHO within a short period of time the one you have will grow to the same size as the one you are considering. Maybe look at different type of angel species. With that size tank it would be nice to have a nice mixture of different species.
 
Actually, I would rather add a changing juvenile from the same region as the current if you want to get a pair.
 
ThRoewer said:
Actually, I would rather add a changing juvenile from the same region as the current if you want to get a pair.
Click to expand...

+1 I have little first hand experience with this particular fish but generally adding juvi's would tend to be more successful then to add a large adult. The adult will be more likely to be aggressive toward smaller occupants.
Thats not to say that you could get lucky and they end up being a great pair, or being able to live side by side, but your chances are greatly reduced as the fish ages and matures I think,

If you do get it, I would make sure you have another tank available to move one of them to if it gets to heated in the main tank
 
Thanks everyone. After reading some of the feedback I have decided to pass on this big guy, will be looking adding other angel species instead. Thanks again everyone.


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Imperators are sexable, males mask around the mouth is more of a blue/grey, while female masks are closer to a light grey/white.
 
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