Paired fish

Dmorty217

Dmorty217

Saltwater Addict
I'm looking to hear who has managed to pair what in their reef tanks. I'm not talking about clowns or other fish that will pair relatively easy. I'm talking about tang pairs, angels, and other fish that aren't easily paired. For instance anyone have a pair of emperors or orange shoulders, hogfish ect. (I realize not many are going to have orange shoulder pairs because of tank size requirements) I'm thinking of trying to do some pairings in the new tank and wanted to see what others have been successful with, or not so successful with. Pictures of the pair or pairs would be awesome!
 
Not that they really pair, but two Vlamingis and two black bar soldiers. (Not in a reef, a lagoon/pond).
I do believe it's a male/female Vlamingi duo now that they're reaching adulthood. The soldiers have spawned a few times.
Edit* there are also 3 YT adults and a huge (for the species) Scopas. Curiously the original YT and Scopas spend way too much time together.
The pond is connected in line with a softy tank and many display fuges.
 
griseum said:
Not that they really pair, but two Vlamingis and two black bar soldiers. (Not in a reef, a lagoon/pond).
I do believe it's a male/female Vlamingi duo now that they're reaching adulthood. The soldiers have spawned a few times.
Edit* there are also 3 YT adults and a huge (for the species) Scopas. Curiously the original YT and Scopas spend way too much time together.
The pond is connected in line with a softy tank and many display fuges.
Click to expand...

Maybe the yellow and the scopas will spawn and you can have some hybrids (there is obviously a lot more involved than that) The tank I am planning on pairs in is the 7x6x2ft 625g with a 210g sump and my current 220g will be a refugium so I will have 1000G+ system total, I realize that will have little to do with anything. I love my sargassum trigger and would love to find a mate for him or her. A regal angel pair is also high on my list. I also really am partial to clown tangs, but I know everyone on here will tell me not to do it
 
Oh and for those of you that have the pairs or two that get along, how did you do it? Bought two and prey? Got 3-4 and separated them so they could all see one another and the two that seemed the least aggressive toward one another you kept? How did you do it? My plan is to buy 2 of a fish I already have (we will say sargassum) and separate with egg crate and see which two are least aggressive toward one another. This is good and bad since I will almost always have to get rid of 1 fish I bought two of and possibly both. I realize this isn't easy but nothing worth having is (anyone who is married knows what I'm talking about :D)
 
So, how long did you have to stare at your wife through the eggcrate before you popped the question? :D

A second zebra eel would be cool. I assume you plan on acquiring smaller specimens?
 
Right now in my tank I got
Watanabe angel pair
Flame Angel pair
Marine Beta pair
Lytail Anthias harem (6)
Royal Gramma harem (6)
I am trying to establish a Regal angel pair, no success so far.
I may go for a Copperband Butterfly pair in the future.
 
I'm working on a pair of Navarchus angels atm, they are getting along but are small juvies and still relatively new, time will tell how that works out. People seem to have decent success with regal angels. Dwarf angels are reasonably easy to pair, I'm hoping to add a few species once life settles down a bit.

Get a pair of crosshatch triggers!

Also in regards to the orange shoulder, I haven't tried it but *supposedly* they do well together. Having a large established one might not work out well though. In general pairing is easier when the fish aren't mature or they are sexually dimorphic...
 
Crosshatch trigger are too rich for my taste honestly and since males don't ship well that would have to be something I would acquire from a local source that is getting rid of them (doesn't happen much). The 2nd zebra eel is a possibility and would be easily done. My orange shoulder is getting large close to 8" I would guess with 1" streamers and still has the juv coloration but you can clearly see the line half way down the body so I think the yellow look is here to stay. I could always get a small OS like I did with my current (2") and see what happens. This is still early on for me with this, but I like to have a game plan
 
I'm currently trying to pair sixlines wrasses, flame angels, bangaii cardinals, and I do have two clowns that are a bonded pair.

The flames are young. About two inches in length. Going strong for three weeks with some chasing but no tail or fin bites that are noticeable.

The sixline wrasses are 3 inch and an inch in length. This has been for three days and the large male has no interest. I hope that changes in the weeks to come.

The bangaii's are hanging together most of the time with little to no chasings.

The clowns wish they had their bta back. The tank has only been cycled for nearly two months now. My previous tank, the clowns were happy with their bta. Now that tank is my QT/HT.
 
I'll be following along here as well. I love pairing fish. So far I've got a pair of Argi angels, starry blennies (not a true pair, just two that can tolerate), clowns of course, and a pair of Swalesi Basslets. The basslets were similar to my angels when trying to pair them. Both took advantage of tons of PVC in QT, and were distant from each other for a good while. Neither had to be separated. Other than the orange shoulder, what other pairs of fish are you interested in having? I noticed your new tank is going to be a great size with plenty of room for fish.
 
I have a pair of blue mandrains that eat prepared food (mysis and brine), they have been together for a few months now and going strong.
 
Also, in a different thread I chronicled a trio of helfrichi firefish. Two of them turned on number 3 after 3-4 months. W/in about 36 hours it turned into a murderous all out war between the pair and #3. Since removed, The Pair Is Doing All Sorts Of Dances at Night !
Had a mated pair of dwarf flameback angels. Male turned on the female and beat her to a pulp. By the time I removed her, even a quiet, subdued tank wasn't enough.
:-(
Still have the male and he's a beast.

Dmorty- it looks like you said, if I am reading/interpreting it correctly, that system size makes no difference (?)
IMO the footprint of the DT is crucial. And with the square footage you are planning for, 7'×6', I think it'll be great for paired Tangs! I think it's a bit well known that dwarf angels need a tall tank to do the dance, but it's been known to happen in a sub-24" tall tank as well!
 
Last edited:
OrionN said:
Right now in my tank I got
Watanabe angel pair
Flame Angel pair
Marine Beta pair
Lytail Anthias harem (6)
Royal Gramma harem (6)
I am trying to establish a Regal angel pair, no success so far.
I may go for a Copperband Butterfly pair in the future.
Click to expand...

How did you pair up your Marine Bettas? I have a pair of Lineatus wrasse, pair of Hooded wrasse, pair of Longnose Hawks, a Regal angel and a Marine Betta.
Like to add a pair of Flame angels or a pair of Exquisite wrasse but like to pair up my Betta. How can I tell if my is a male or female?
 
I bought a pair of Helfrichi, after 1 week in the tank there was spawning activity. After 3 months it turned ugly & the aggressor now lives at a friend's house with a male occ. clown. I personally won't attempt firefish pairs again.
 
I'm also curious how the bettas were paired. I have one that is captive bred from Sustainable Aquatics (through DD). When I purchased mine, I emailed the folks at SA and they replied with this regarding pairing.

"As far as pairing, it seems that there is no way to tell the male from female, so we have no way of knowing exactly if a pair will be compatible.
Introducing multiple fish together and watching their behavior seems to be the best-bet.
They are aggressive fish, so pairing can be difficult, and fighting fish must be separated.
Matt Wittenrich suggests in his book (The Breeder's Guide) to use a 75-gallon aquarium and to introduce several bettas as a breeding group."

Also - I recently picked up a frag or two from someone that had 7-8+ firefish, (helfrichi, purple and red) with several different species of dart fish. Probably 15-20 of them all together. One of the cooler tanks I've seen in awhile. We talked about how the firefish almost act like African Cichlids and spread out the aggression with so many of them in one tank.
 
OrionN said:
Right now in my tank I got
Watanabe angel pair
Flame Angel pair
Marine Beta pair
Lytail Anthias harem (6)
Royal Gramma harem (6)
I am trying to establish a Regal angel pair, no success so far.
I may go for a Copperband Butterfly pair in the future.
Click to expand...

I too would like to know how you paired the Bettas
 
Matted Filefish and Randalls Gobies here, I'll get pics after lights on.
Nina51 has a nice pair


of Longnosed Hawkfish.
;)
:)
 
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