How can I make a pair of Lemonpeels?

Idle Moor

New member
I have one very healthy Lemonpeel about 2.5 inches in a 135 fowlr with a 4" Niger trigger and 4" Majestic angel. I have no idea of the sex of the current Lemonpeel. It would be interesting to have a pair of them though, as I enjoy the interactions of the fish as much as the individual fish themselves. How do I make this happen without simply having the new fish destroyed by the old one?
 
you can add a bigger one or a smaller one. As yours is pretty small ,better find one bigger than yours.
I paired one melas pigmy with similar size as yours and I added a bigger fish, after some adaptation time, now they are fine.
Atlantic fireball (C. aurotanatus) pair have almos same size and I introduced at same time, so if possible, get a bigger one to make your pair up... just make sure it is a lemompeel and not a yellow angel ...
 
I would rather add a smaller than a larger new Lemonpeel to reduce risk to existing fish, if I can find one. Good quality lemonpeels have not been very abundant around here lately and it took a while to find the one I have. So there is no concern about the sex of the two fish in question? Will they change to adapt? I believe I've heard of females changing to males but does the conversion go the other way as well? What if I happen to get two males?

I do know a yellow (Herald's) angel when I see one and will be careful to avoid it.
 
As far as the little bit that I think I know.. Small and juv. angels are generally female. As the fish age and become dominate they will make a change to male. It's likely that your fish is a female still; but depending on how long it's been in your tank and in captivity it could possibly be a male. I do not share the same advice as the person above. I believe you should try and find a smaller specimen as it will likely be female and also as far as I'm concered smaller angels are easier to get on prepared foods.
 
I would suggest getting the smallest one you can find. When you are ready to put it in the display tank, I would put it in a little breeder/betta box for at least 24 yours so the 2 can get used to each other.

I used a betta box when I paired up my Potter's,

babypotter15.jpg
 
Use the betta box and off sized specimens. You can actually sex centropyge based on the body shape, but this takes lots of exposure to these guys and dealing with them all the time. Ill try to get a pic of a pair and explain better about how to sex them.
 
Interesting stuff. Now I'm getting enthusiastic about this. The current fish is easily the most assertive fish in the tank, although not outright aggressive as yet. Not to be sexist, lol, but I would have no trouble imagining it being or becoming a male. I am enjoying the two angels a great deal and have been considering adding one or two more, with the option of possibly removing the trigger if things become too crowded for my taste, or if he develops a mean streak.

With regard to possible future angels, or the current tankmates, would the behavior of the Lemonpeels tend to be more, or less aggressive once paired?
 
Agressive toward other fish in general? I don't think "other" fish but; I think you might end up with an issue with other angels. I have very little experience with this, but it stands to my fish logic. Maybe rob or others can chime in.
 
Have you thought about a halfblack angel? They have actually bred the two together and it comes out with some amazing morphs. I also read that lemonpeels and hlafblacks get along the best. This is also inspiring me, I wonder if I could pair my multicolor angel.... Or is it just asking for trouble in a reef tank?.....
 
You know.... centropyge is a harematic family of fishes. In the wild, lemonpeels are found in small groups of 3-5 fish, and commonly coexist with flame angels and halfblacks. If you have some real dense coral growth in your tank it could make for a very natural setting to put several lemon peels in the tank. Just know that even though they live as groups in the wild, they still show outward aggression towards each other just to maintain the balance of things (the alpha male, his female, and the hermaphrodites). If they fight a little bit dont worry--its normal. But you gotta make sure there is a ton of liverock or coral for them to be able to escape from each other's view.
 
Actually my further thoughts last night took a similar path, as another small (centropyge) angel I would love to have is an Eibli. I have of course had concerns about having it in with the Lemonpeel, but now I wonder if that might be a pairing option as they are known be be closely related and hybridize similarly to the halfblack. However I would still like to have the second Lemonpeel as the attraction would be in having these two gorgeous bright yellow fish interacting, but the question I was considering was would the two Lemonpeels and the Eibli possibly form a harem? Or, given the availability of another true Lemonpeel, would the Eibli be ignored as a poor second choice? I'm guessing no one really knows :-).
 
And the trigger is pulled! Well, ok, the trigger is technically still in the tank ... but I bought the juvi lemonpeel that popped up on DD today. It appeared to have just a trace left of it's eyespot. Will be delivered Thurs. Now we shall see ... if we can make this happen: :love1:
 
Oooops. Lol. Be careful what you wish for.

This thing is tiny. The 1 3/8" she was listed at was generous and included the tail. I guess I just didn't realize how small this fish would be.

My plan was to section off a corner of the tank using egg crate for her to live in while the other lemonpeel got used to her being there. I've abandoned that idea for now because it may be possible for her to just fit through the egg crate if she went diagonally. Not sure but it looks close. Instead I've outfitted an overflow box with some pvc fittings and a couple little pcs of rock for shelter and hung it on the side and that's where she currently is. The other lemonpeel looks enormous compared with her, as do the other fish. It has definitely noticed the new one but only looks in from a distance of about 6" away from the box and for only a brief period before swimming away with no obvious thoughts on the matter. She still has obviously traces of her eye spot so I'm not sure how that plays into the decision to kill her, mate with her, or ignore her.

The fish is perfect, of course, coming from DD. Just beautiful.

So what to do? I could test the egg crate in her current overflow box pen to see if she can get through it. If not I could go back to that idea. That could work for a significant amount of time. I suppose it's possible that even if she can get through it then she could use that corner as a refuge, but that may be asking a lot of her intelligence, and luck. Beyond the intraspecies aggression possibility I'm afraid that the 4" niger trigger may decide she is planktonic food and try to sample her. I have no way to know what he would do, and he is fast and crafty and always hungry.

Another tempting option sitting here is a 16 gallon nano tank that was set up about 2 weeks ago and is currently empty of fish. She would be perfect in it until she got a little bigger. Unfortunately as I mentioned it was set up only 2 wks ago with dead base rock and filled with water from the main tank. It may have cycled some but is not "established". I suppose it is no worse than a typical quarantine tank. I have put some small pcs of nicely crusted live rock in there from the main tank now. This could be a good place for her to grow out, but I'm a little concerned about the stability of the small tank. And it wouldn't get me my pair. And I suppose there is the possibility that leaving her alone for too long could prompt her to convert to a male, based on what I've read, but I have no idea how long that might take especially as young as she is.

Or maybe I'm being overly cautious and she would be fine in the main tank.

Well, I'm thinking as I write this so it is not very succint and I apologize. I would welcome your thoughts!!
 
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Sense you don't have a qt set up, which you should.... I suggest removing the trigger and keeping the fish in it's egg crate home for at least a week.
 
Sense you don't have a qt set up, which you should.... I suggest removing the trigger and keeping the fish in it's egg crate home for at least a week.

If the advertising is true then where I got her did a far better job of quarantining than I ever could. That's why I paid what I did for her. I don't want this to become a QT police thread. Thanks for the suggestion tho. I probably could get the trigger out, but would need a place to put it for a period of time. Hmmm. The egg crate option is a good one, if she can't get through it. She should grow fast at her age I'm guessing.
 
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An Orangepeel? This I've never heard of!

So far things are going fairly well I suppose. The little one is still in her box where she is in constant motion running along the sides or picking at the rocks. She ate an unreasonable amount of cyclopeez this evening - I couldn't believe how much. She picks at everything I have put in from Formula 2 to flakes, but the cyclopeez is what she really eats.

Attention from the large Lemonpeel has been minimal but it's there, with occasional brief visits. There is still no obvious aggression shown. The large one typically spreads out his (I am assigning genders here already) fins pretty wide, but not excessively so, while she reacts by clamping hers down tight. I am hoping this is a desireable display of dominance and submission and that these things won't have to be worked out in a messy fashion.

She is definitely small enough to get through egg crate. I may look for some with smaller holes. But for now this arrangement is working.
 
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