Juvie emperor angel pairing

[piusma]

I am trying to raise a pair for reef safe emperor from juvies and I'm trying to validate this whole idea.

Acquired 2 juvie emperors, one 1" and another 1.5" specimen from LFS. They were both introduced to my QT tank and initially there was a little chasing. After 1 week, they are both eating flakes and NLS pellets and the chasing seemed to have subsided.

I read from a few thread saying emperor angels don't usually pair when they are juvies and I wonder if they might just tolerate each other's existence now and will turn against each other someday? Or I'm having a good chance with these two growing up together in the same tank and pairing up.

After QT, these two will be introduced to a 180 gallon SPS heavy tank. And I'm totally aware of the fact that the tank is too small for even one adult emperor. Will mostly upgrade to a 8'x2' tank if the pair works out in the future.

Any comments and advice are welcomed. Thank you.

 

[sandwi54]

Angelfish don't pair up until they mature, which is around 10" or so. They will definitely tolerate each other right now since they are juvies, but in my honest opinion, in a small 180g they will stop doing that and most likely fight to death once they reach 5-6". If you want to have a shot at pairing them up, you should upgrade the tank to at least a 400g once they get to 5-6".

 

[piusma]

Upgrading isn't the biggest concern as it's part of my future planning. It's just hard to see if they'll be reef safe and chances of them pairing up that makes it a hard decision how I should take it from here.

Being in the hobby long enough I understand that there is no guarantee on any fish's behavior but would love to hear from anyone who had experience with angel pairing. May be the better way of doing this is to upgrade my tank now then worry about how they would turn out down the road.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Steven.

 

[SDguy]

Being in the hobby long enough I understand that there is no guarantee on any fish's behavior but would love to hear from anyone who had experience with angel pairing. May be the better way of doing this is to upgrade my tank now then worry about how they would turn out down the road.

This would be my suggestion. Besides the usual comments about upgrades not always coming to fruition.... IME moving an established pair of angels to a new tank (in my case meredithis) can completely alter the pair dynamic. It resulted in my female almost killing my male, and having to be removed. Adding to the horrible experience was the eventual death of the female (grown from a small juvi) at the LFS. So that was my experience and why I'd recommend against buying them before the upgrade. YMMV.

 

[bullitr]

I currently have a pair in my tank doing hyposalinity atm
the adult is 7-8" and the juvi 1.5-2" so I know they will not fight.

 

[pinnatus]

I currently have two in my 240. I wouldn't call them a pair. Yet. One is just transitioning to adult colors, the other is just starting. I would say the large one tolerates the smaller one, though it will give it a chase from time to time, and the smaller seems to stay out of the way of the larger. I am hoping they will pair when they both reach maturity.

Reef safeness is a whole other subject. I have a fish-only so it is not a concern.

Here is the larger:

Here is the smaller:


The larger is probably 6-7", the smaller is 5-6"

 

[piusma]

As a matter of fact, I have not thought about how changing tank could change the dynamics of the fish. I've had experience in the past where fish changed their behaviour when I reorganize the rock works. Time to look for a new tank!

 

[humaguy]

hit or miss as everything can affect these fish...
and when becomes full adult all bets could be off...