How to 'pair' Majestic Angelfish(Pomacanthus navarchus)

H

haydn

New member
Having lost my battle against majanos I have stripped my tank and I am currently re-building.

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And as is usual when you are up to your elbows in 7 year old mucky coral sand you start thinking about the good parts of the re-build. I like angelfish and I like them in pairs/groups.

So now the question- I have always liked the Majestic Angel, I have kept them singularly before in the system but never tried to add more than one. Is it possible to sex them (for example the gill spines on the Regal are an indicator) do Majestic's show any outward signs. Has anyone successfully kept more than one in a reef system, if so how did you add them- both at the same time, was one smaller than the other, was there initial aggression or was it love at first sight.

The tank BTW is 2000ltrs 480UK galls(not sure what that is in US gallons)
 
To my knowledge P. navarchus doesn't form pairs in the wild.
Though that doesn't necessarily mean it can't work. I would try it with 2 juveniles, one right before or in the middle of colour change (that one needs to be added first) and one that has just completed its colour change (that one should be added after the first has settled in).
Make sure to provide enough hiding spaces.

If you are going to try it, definitely report back how it went.

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My understanding is these angels form harems, with a male holding a 'large' territory which has a number of smaller territories within it held by females. Although they do not pair bond with a single female, it should be possible to have 'mini' harem of one male and one female. The major issue is if there are no obvious sexual differences I may pick up 2 males. I can't find out if they can or do change sex however logically it would be a good survival trait for a female within a males territory to change should the male be predated or die.
 
haydn said:
My understanding is these angels form harems, with a male holding a 'large' territory which has a number of smaller territories within it held by females. Although they do not pair bond with a single female, it should be possible to have 'mini' harem of one male and one female. The major issue is if there are no obvious sexual differences I may pick up 2 males. I can't find out if they can or do change sex however logically it would be a good survival trait for a female within a males territory to change should the male be predated or die.
Click to expand...

They all start off as females.
 
Dmorty217 said:
They all start off as females.
Click to expand...
This.
For this reason you want to start with juveniles.

I looked into sexing them and probably could pick a male and a female based on their body shape if I had enough adult specimen to select from.
But even that would not guarantee you that they get along. That's why it's best to start with juveniles and let them grow up together.

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ThRoewer said:
This.
For this reason you want to start with juveniles.

I looked into sexing them and probably could pick a male and a female based on their body shape if I had enough adult specimen to select from.
But even that would not guarantee you that they get along. That's why it's best to start with juveniles and let them grow up together.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I think you are correct- when I 'paired' Regal angels, I tried with two juveniles, they just didn't get on and I had to separate them. I succeeded when I added a small (3"-4") adult to one of the juveniles in the display tank and allowed it to grow to an adult.
 
I must admit I expected a bigger response to my question (Please this is not a criticism:)) In the UK angelfish especially the 'larger' varieties tend not to be so popular mainly because of the move to smaller systems and the popularity of LPS type corals. Is there a similar trend in the US.

Or is it just that my wish to have a 'pair' of Majestic angels in my system that unusual.
 
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I think keeping multiples is the problem (or reason for less response) as only the cool kids seem to want to but it seems to be a trend over the last few years, moving to a more natural approach. I also think that majestic have a reputation for being quite delicate (I've never kept one so I can't confirm that) so more than one is even less likely to have been done. Emperors are done more often as they are hardier and an icon species.
 
haydn said:
I must admit I expected a bigger response to my question (Please this is not a criticism:)) In the UK angelfish especially the 'larger' varieties tend not to be so popular mainly because of the move to smaller systems and the popularity of LPS type corals. Is there a similar trend in the US.

Or is it just that my wish to have a 'pair' of Majestic angels in my system that unusual.
Click to expand...

This, I don't think I have heard anyone ask about pairing majestic? But I applaud you for trying, I have a pair of Yellowhead Jawfish, pair of Golden Angels, and a pair of Regal Angels who are not a true pair but they get along 99% of the time. And my trio of Flame Angels who have spawned.
 
On the past I have paired Regal, Emperors, a number of Genicanthus and dwarf species. I failed with Queens.

I had a harem of Bellus, watching the interaction not only between the male and females but between the three females was fascinating. Likewise watching the pair bonding of the Emperors was interesting, the way the larger one expressed its domination without outright aggression gave quite an insight into fish behaviour.

hence me wanting to experience it with another species (and one of my favorites!)
 
I have been in this hobby for 42 years, and through most of those years I was always told 1 angel per tank, and definitely never two of the same type. I have always had more than one angel in the tank because I love angels and never had a problem doing it. But I never considered two of the same type until reading about it here on RC. So about 4 years ago I decided to try to pair angels, and I chose emperors. I got juveniles and watched them grow up. Not sure if they are a pair, but generally they tolerate each other. Like you, I really like a Majestic angel, and would love to try pairing them also. I just don't have the room. I look forward to hearing about your experiences if you try to do this!
 
I think most people don't really care about keeping fish in pairs and rather have singles of different species.
I have tried to keep all of my fish in pairs since the late 80s, especially Marine Bettas, dottybacks, dwarf angels and Regal Angels.
At the time I started to do it all books said that you couldn't do it as there was no way to sex them. I always figured that since the fish can tell the difference, there must be a difference however subtle it might be. I finally found it out when had the chance to see hundreds of the same species at De Jong.

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This is very interesting to me. I'll be following along. I'm hoping to set up a 300 US Gallons (yours is like 575 US Gallons which is AWESOME!) Angel/Butterfly Tank and hope to have several angel species (2 or 3 species of large angels and maybe 2 dwarfs) and I would also like to have a couple species of butterflies. I do like the idea of having a pair, but I imagine doing that will make them both even more territorial which will restrict having other species?
 
As long as you pick the right combination of species, aggression should not be too much of an issue. A pair of emperor angels should get along with a pair of regal angels in a large enough tank.
You should also be able to have two groups or pairs of dwarf angels if they are different enough.
Same goes for butterflyfish. From my experience, Chelmons have no problems with Chaetodons or angels.

The key is to pick species that occupy different niches and therefore don't compete. A good indicator is the mouth shape.

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ace_92101 said:
Off topic, but I really like the depth of your tank. Can you talk about the dimensions?
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There is an old tank thread here

The tank is 2Mx1Mx1.15M deep (the reason for the .15M was to allow the viewing depth to be 1M (architect thing!) As you may have guessed I am a fan of angelfish and I like keeping fish if possible in groups. The size allows me to do both. I think the depth helps with the 'natural' look I am trying to get, plus 18" green slimmer acros, a 27" heliopora, a 32" LR bommie covered with fire coral look (to me anyway) what I want from a tank. I used to be a diver and watched fish on the reef swimming 3 dimensions, with a metre depth even the large angels can do that. The also seem more relaxed (my own opinion). In an earlier incarnation of the tank I had a cloud of Anthius which spawned regularly, my yellow tangs displayed spawning behaviour, and my pair of Regal angels spawned. This natural behaviour (diving and swimming straight upwards) isn't possible in a 'shallower' system. The downside is you get very good at gluing frags on rocks with tongs, and if you drop something in it's a major task getting it out again!
 
Looks like it's just me then:o

I have spoken to my LFS and it seems Majestic's of various sizes can be sourced without a lot of difficulty. They have agreed to help so when the tank is ready I will be ordering a juvenile, just showing signs of changing and a small (3"-4") adult coloured fish. My plan is to put the juvenile in and allow it to get used to the system for two to three weeks then to add the adult.

The LFS have agreed to take back one of the fish should they prove incompatible.

It's just a case of do I have the nerve:worried:
 
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