How to 'pair' Majestic Angelfish(Pomacanthus navarchus)

[haydn]

This is getting interesting. If you look at the video in my post #49 of the fish you will see that both fish have small, colourless gill spines. I managed to get a picture, they are still fairly shy, of the dominant fish with my SLR. I blew up the head area and the spine looks longer but the important part is it has coloured.







I couldn't get a similar picture of the other fish unfortunately, it's just too shy but as far as I can see the spine is still small and colourless. This change has occurred in about 3 months.

It would seem the discussion ThRoewer and I had earlier in the thread about sexual difference and early transition seems to be holding. I'll try to get pictures of the two as they mature and watch for behaviour changes which suggest when/if they bond as a pair.

 

[haydn]

I'm sorry to dig up this thread but I thought you would like to see where I have got to. After a year I really think I'm nearly there:love2:

They are both still young and I'm not sure at what age they are sexually mature, so not fully bonded yet.

 

[lionfish300]

very cool thanks for showing the video

 

[ThRoewer]

Looks promising, though I would keep an eye on the chasing to make sure that it doesn't get out of hand. I had that happen with my Sumatra regals, and of course just when I was out of the country.
If I would try it I would probably start with two juvenile or one juvenile and one just starting transition. An adult and a juvenile might work as well - which is what I'm going to try with my Maldives regal.

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[haydn]

Looks promising, though I would keep an eye on the chasing to make sure that it doesn't get out of hand. I had that happen with my Sumatra regals, and of course just when I was out of the country.
If I would try it I would probably start with two juvenile or one juvenile and one just starting transition. An adult and a juvenile might work as well - which is what I'm going to try with my Maldives regal.

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If you look at the video- just before the chase starts the dominant fish (male?) dips its head, I think that may be part of a display, the other fish (female?) doesn't respond and that triggers the chase. My Regal pair used to have a similar display and the female responded with a head dip or fin flicking.

If you are pairing Regals I would suggest you don't start with two juveniles they will not tolerate each other and fight (I know I tried). I had my successes with a juvenile and a small adult. I put the juvenile in the tank for a month before adding the adult. This gave the juvi time to find all the nooks and crannies so it could hide till the adult got used to it being around. Then they paired as the juvi grew.

 

[LargeAngels]

In pairing my emperors I added a juvenile at about 1.5" to an established 9" Emperor I had raised since it was 2". The large one is now about 10" and the smaller is now close to 6" a little over 2 years later and has had adult colors for quite some time. They get along great. Large one will chase other fish but just calmly swims by the smaller. I do see them once in a while do poses in front of each other and then a quick harmless chase. It's amazing how quickly some angels can grow.

Good luck with your pair.

 

[Dmorty217]

in pairing my emperors i added a juvenile at about 1.5" to an established 9" emperor i had raised since it was 2". The large one is now about 10" and the smaller is now close to 6" a little over 2 years later and has had adult colors for quite some time. They get along great. Large one will chase other fish but just calmly swims by the smaller. I do see them once in a while do poses in front of each other and then a quick harmless chase. It's amazing how quickly some angels can grow.

Good luck with your pair.

+1

 

[ThRoewer]

...
If you are pairing Regals I would suggest you don't start with two juveniles they will not tolerate each other and fight (I know I tried). I had my successes with a juvenile and a small adult. I put the juvenile in the tank for a month before adding the adult. This gave the juvi time to find all the nooks and crannies so it could hide till the adult got used to it being around. Then they paired as the juvi grew.

The Maldives Regal I already have is by now at least 110 mm in length (total), so by no means the juvenile anymore as which I got him about 4 years ago. My plan is to add a juvenile which is roughly half his size. Unfortunately I will only be able to add the juvenile to the established individual. Though, given that I have 4 large longspine urchins in the tank (for keeping algae in check) the established Regal knows that wild chases can end painfully and I hope he will refrain from such.
Then there is the fact that the Regal isn't the boss of the tank. That position is shared by the Marine Betta male (he rules the caves) and the bicinctus pair.
So I hope that the new juvenile will be able to find some shelter and will ultimately be accepted by the established adult.



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[haydn]

The Maldives Regal I already have is by now at least 110 mm in length (total), so by no means the juvenile anymore as which I got him about 4 years ago. My plan is to add a juvenile which is roughly half his size. Unfortunately I will only be able to add the juvenile to the established individual. Though, given that I have 4 large longspine urchins in the tank (for keeping algae in check) the established Regal knows that wild chases can end painfully and I hope he will refrain from such.
Then there is the fact that the Regal isn't the boss of the tank. That position is shared by the Marine Betta male (he rules the caves) and the bicinctus pair.
So I hope that the new juvenile will be able to find some shelter and will ultimately be accepted by the established adult.



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I did try doing this way but you may have problems. Unfortunately the juvi didn't 'know' the tank and the best hiding places, the adult hounded it to such an extent I had to remove the juvi.
I hope your adult is more tolerent

 

[ThRoewer]

I did try doing this way but you may have problems. Unfortunately the juvi didn't 'know' the tank and the best hiding places, the adult hounded it to such an extent I had to remove the juvi.
I hope your adult is more tolerent

My adult is pretty mellow and I would likely introduce the juvenile in an acclimatization box to allow them to get to know each other. The size difference will be pretty large and the juvenile should still have full juvenile coloration. That alone should hopefully temper aggression.

 

[danfrith]

Any updates on the Majestics behavior? Was thinking about trying to form a pair in my future 450 gallon.

 

[haydn]

Any updates on the Majestics behavior? Was thinking about trying to form a pair in my future 450 gallon.

Yes I think I have a result



I think the male fish is the first one seen on the video and the female swims over to join him near the gorgonian. The fish are comfortable with each other most of the time although the dominant fish will occasionally chase the other one, I think more to reinforce the dominance than to cause harm. They feed together and both are out in the water column most of the time.

The operculum spines on the fish are significantly different in size and colour now.

I'm just waiting and hoping for some spawning behavior to happen.

 

[danfrith]

Thats awesome! Good work. Will keep following this.