Pairing coral beauties ???

Bax

Bax

Premium Member
So, I've been wanting to attempt this for a while now.

I have a CB which I've had since it was very small back in early 2005. It was maybe the 3rd SW fish I purchased after getting back to SW for the first time since I was a kid (many many years ago! :hmm4: ). The established CB pushing 3.5" in length, healthy, and has cheek spikes that are nearly 1/2", so I'm confident it's mature enough to be a male.

I have been looking for an individual as small as mine original CB for a while. When I'd see a suitable size, either the timing to add a fish wasn't right or I just didn't like the coloring. Several weeks ago I found one I liked, a hair larger than I'd hoped for but small enough. I Qt'd it and "she" now resides in a 1 gallon acclimation container in my display with the "male".

I placed her in there yesterday. It took him about an hour to show any interest. He charged and flashed but not nearly as agressively as I expected. Today he seems more anoyed that the acclimation jug is in his way then in her presence! He's always investigated every new addition usually in more of a curious way. Years ago he did refuse to accept an ebli tang (Dah!) .... I know it was a bad choice :worried: and I lost the tang. But he's otherwise been a great tankmate.

I've never kept a fish this large in the 1 g isolation jug before. I've introduced several orchid dottybacks this way, and it's always been very helpful at minimizing aggression. I don't want to keep her in this too long and over stress her in that way. I am convinced no matter how long I hold, there will be some chasing once I release her.

While it would be appropriate to relase her on the day the prince and preincess of where ever they are from in England are married, I have some questions first.

So, to my questions:

How soon do I release her into the display?

I've not seen CB pairs often if at all? Is there a reason it's not done?

The current display is a 100g. I have a flame in a seperate display on the same system. In the future, I hope to pair that fish as well and maybe introduce both pairs to a 150. Is that a crazy idea?

Oh! ... Yes. I will post pics soon. I'm just sitting at the wrong computer, this one only allows me to post one pic at a time and it's really cumbersome to do so. :smokin:
 
Interesting, following along.

Todd has good luck with multiple dwarf angels and maybe he'll add his 2 cents.

I have a bellus angel that I'm looking to maybe do the same thing. It learned some bad behaviors in qt with a semi aggressive lyre tail anthias.
 
Good luck with it.

I've always loved Coral beauties but have never thought of pairing them. I have kept several differnt Dwarf angels in my 400G tank usually with one being a CB. I currently have a beautiflly marked CB ( really bright colors) and a Ebli Dwarf Angel in the tank now. The CB was last to go in.

I have had pairs of Bellus angles and Wantanabi angles in the tank in the past. There is usually a little scuffling but nothing serious and after a day or so, they were fine. However, it was easier to sex them as they have different color patterens.

I'd say go for it and see what happens. If your current CB is not showing much aggression to the new CB, you may be OK. That or he's gotten smart enough over the years to know he can't get to the fish in the holding tank and is just biding his time. ;)

Keep us updated.
 
jwc

Thanks! I'm curious to see the outcome as well!

Crusty

I've been drooling over having full sized angels, well smaller ones, in a reef tank since the day I got my first 26g SW tank. I've owned several large tanks (210s a 375) now and something always happens to sway me from setting one up, so I have to be satisfied with the smaller angels. I was drawn to the CB immediately way back when I got the first one. The second has remarkably similar coloring. I sure hope he's not just being a wise guy and waiting to take a chunk out of her!

We'll see soon, if all stays as it is, I'll release her tomorrow unless any resident experts advise otherwise. I'm running a PH for her to keep fresh water flow, something I never did for the orchids. I'd just lift the jug once a day to change water for them. I slowed the feed of water from the PH and she's out and about more. I may put it on a timer as she was really swimming around when it was off, but I'm concerned there won't be enough flow & oxygen for this larger fish without the PH.
 
What, no Royal wedding day. :)

Seems like your doing the right thing. Go with you rgut feeling unless someone else has experience doing this.

I got my first SW tank back in the 70's. There wasn't much in the way of fish. When I set up my first reef back in '90, there were a lot more and that was when I first saw a Coral beauty. I'm pretty much had one ever since. My current one has very bright colors on his main body, brighter than I've seen on any other fish. Even though his fins were a bit battered, I bought him anyways. He's since recoverd, his fins grew back in, ( I knew they would) and he's hapily swimming around my tank.

As for larger Angles, try looking at a majestic Angle. They don't get a sbig as some of the others but still have plenty of color. Mine's about 6" long and I've had him going on 4 years in my reef tank. Never bothered a fish or coral so far. Here's the latest Pic I have of him.

016.jpg


An older pic from '08
001.jpg
 
Crusty

I'm with you on the Majestic. The Majestic, Blue Line, Flagfin, Regal, and if I had the cash Goldflake are the larger angels I'd be after.

As promissed, PICS!

Here's my established CB
709CB2.jpg


The new CB from its time in QT
NewCB03.jpg


Just added to the acclimation jug
CBmeetsCB1.jpg


The establish guy having a closer look!
CBmeetsCB2.jpg
 
when i paired my eibli angels i did exactly the same as you. Established male had no interest in her at all. I left it for a week, releasing her at night so she could find some cover in the rock easily without getting attacked. There was chasing for 2 days, but no actual damage was done to her fins. Now they get along really well.
 
If your fish is indeed a female or a juvenile there's really no need for the acclimation container unless you have other angel species. After release if the new fish winds up cowering in a top corner, just scoop it out because it's a male. If you want to be cautious you would be better off catching the male and testing the pair in quarantine if you're not absolutely certain about the sex.

Sometimes males will tolerate each other for a time, but then it becomes clear things aren't working out. So watch them carefully for a couple of weeks.

I believe I've read that a female can become a fully functioning male in as little as two weeks. They are going to necessarily do that, but just be aware.
 
And good luck!! :) I had a flame pair and an argi pair together. I wouldn't say it's not possible, but flames and CB's may not the best choice for combination.
 
Thanks all!

The new CB is a bit less than half the size, barely any cheek spikes, I hope it's not a male yet! There is no way I'm catching the established CB without pulling down half the tank! Anyway I could possibly tell if the new one is already male before I release it?

I suppose I'll wait out the weekend and release "her" Monday evening.
 
Far be it from me to assume that people have weekends off (I don't) but I'd do it when I had time off from work. If it's a male you may have to get it out of there or partition your tank or do something. And if it's a female, it is extremely unlikely there will be any problems. Really. The challenge of pairing dwarf angels is in the sexing.
 
I wish I could help you more with that. You seem to already know about angular fins and cheek spines. If it's literally no longer than 1.25 in, I'd think you would be safe. You might trying going on looking for the juvi shape, if you know what I mean by that. Juvi's are kind of stubbier. You can see it in these pics - I think that's a juvenile. Fwiw, here's some pics of a pair for sale at Pacific island Aquatics:

95-212-thickbox.jpg


95-213-thickbox.jpg
 
Marie

Those pics are helpful and give me confidence I, we, will be OK! :D

Here are a couple more bad pics of the new CB in QT.

NewCB02.jpg


NewCB01.jpg


Your description of more compact is what I'm catching as good! The cheek spike are so tiny too!
 
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