Japaneese Swallowtail Angel - Genicanthus semifasciatus

[ricwilli]

I've been looking for a pair of Swallowtail for some time and a hobbyist here that goes by "ALBANO" told me about a lfs that has them. I drove about an hour to go picked them up. Thanks again Albano...
Here they are in quarantine with Prazipro. I'll be doing the Tank Tranfer Method to rid of ick.

Male

 

[ricwilli]

Female

 

[SDguy]

Nice specimens and pics. Thanks for sharing, GL with them!

 

[Eville]

Awesome pics!

 

[aquaph8]

Beautiful fish

 

[Mike S]

Great looking pair of fish. Did you get them from a lfs in NJ?

 

[ricwilli]

Thanks everyone.
I couldn't find anyone who had them in NJ. A fish store in Yonkers, NY has them.
I had to divide the quarantine tub since the male kept chasing the female. Would not leave her in peace. Right now I'm just trying to figure out the best food for them. The first day, they ate seaweed and pellets. Now they won't even look at it. They ate some mysis but to messy for a quarantine tank. I will try mixing some pellets with little mysis.
I did my first transfer this morning. So far so good.

 

[jnc914]

Great looking pair, good luck with them. I currently have a large female in QT and it has been eating like a pig. I have been feeding PE Mysis and Hikari brine. I siphon out any extra after feeding. I held off on the Prazi until I felt it was feeding consistantly. I have to admit, I am liking the look of the females more than males.

BTW, I had a pair of Bellus and the male was an absolute terror not just to the female, but also any similar sized fish in the tank. I wound up selling it locally.

 

[jaa1456]

I was at that LFS yesterday. Did you by any chance notice the Minite wrasses? They had them for 25 bucks each and another place is selling them for 400 each. Where you there yesterday to pick them up? I only saw one male left for sale, and a few females. I picked up an Eightline flasher male for 55.

 

[ricwilli]

No I was not there two days ago. I couldn't stay long as I had to get back and pick the kids up from school. I will be going back cause I did notice some nice fish that they had. I need to recover from this purchase. lol

 

[qwikcustoms]

I know AO has had a pair for a couple of months now..

 

[ricwilli]

I know AO has had a pair for a couple of months now..

Any reason why they've had it for months? Lots of people would like a pair.

 

[qwikcustoms]

My guess is as good as yours...eats everything including pellets..

 

[Kies1]

I have a female swallowtail for some time now. These are just awesome fish. Nice pair by the way.

 

[albano]

I've been looking for a pair of Swallowtail for some time and a hobbyist here that goes by "ALBANO" told me about a lfs that has them. I drove about an hour to go picked them up. Thanks again Albano...

Looking good! ... I see that you signed up for frag swap, make sure you say hi !

 

[jnc914]

Looking good! ... I see that you signed up for frag swap, make sure you say hi !

I have a female in my QT and I agree, it is an awesome fish. The blue along the outer edges of the eyes really pops under leds.

On a side note, has anyone mixed different types of genicanthus with an existing female causing it to turn male? I intend on adding a female bellus and possibly a small female Lamarck. With three female genicanthus, I imagine the most dominant has a chance to turn male? I guess it is a roll of the dice...

 

[albano]

On a side note, has anyone mixed different types of genicanthus with an existing female causing it to turn male? I intend on adding a female bellus and possibly a small female Lamarck. With three female genicanthus, I imagine the most dominant has a chance to turn male? I guess it is a roll of the dice...

IME you will get a male from a group of diff. females... But I've also gotten multiple males, forcing some to revert back to female! This happened with mixed groups of Bellus, Swallowtails, Lamarcks and Masked. If you get a male that you like, you may need to remove the next fish that starts to turn male!

 

[haydn]

These are incredibly unusual in the UK-I found this male which had arrived as an 'accidental' import into my LFS- they had no idea what it was except it was a Genicanthus species.

As you can see he is still in the process of changing.

I searched hard for a female but there seemed to be none in the UK. I asked the major importer if they could get the fish in for me and had the reply 'we haven't seen these for 10 years, you will be lucky to find one'

Then a friend said he had seen them on a European wholesalers list. You have no idea how difficult it is to get a couple of fish from Holland!! However after about a month of trials and tribulations WOO-HOO they arrived this week

They went in with the male who immediately imposed his dominance and I now have a trio of G.Semifaciatus:celeb3: in the tank.

They feed on almost anything in the water column, flake, frozen, pellets.

This the best picture of the two females together

I just wish my photography skills were better and I could capture their real beauty.

 

[ricwilli]

WOW! You were lucky. Mine are still in quarantine. The female is not eating much. I had to divide them because the male would not leave her alone. I think this is why she is not eating. On the other hand, the male started spitting water. I don't know why he is doing it. He does it all the time now.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8Umj6s1fAuM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[haydn]

How deep is the quarantine tank? I noticed my male did that when he was in a shallow 12" tank since I moved him to my deep display tank I haven't see him do it.