Potter's angel - lost two in the past, should I try again?

[ACBlinky]

I was at the LFS today and saw two gorgeous Potter's angels. They're hands down my favourite dwarf angel and I'd really like to try again, but I'm terrified to put out another $70 for a fish that may go belly up. I lost my first Potter's to a bacterial infection that just wouldn't heal, and the second perished after an eight-day hunger strike. The two at the LFS are apparantly eating, I asked someone to feed them and he said they had just eaten ten minutes before so they might not take much. They were both interested in eating, picking at the decor, and after a few minutes one of them took a piece of flake and swallowed it. I was sorely tempted, but the store was closing and I refuse to buy a fish when I'm in a hurry. I elected to sleep on it, so I thought I'd post and see what you all thought while I'm at it

 

[Kennyboy1984]

You better go get it before someone else buys it!

 

[Marinemom]

If you want it thay bad,go and get it first thing in the morning as soon as they open up. Then put it in quarentine so you can keep an eye on it and give it some specialized attention. Your success rate will increase by tons if you do it this way.

Marinemom

 

[LargeAngels]

They are grazers so make sure the is ample algae in the tank for them to eat. Also try some frozen cyclopeeze.

Also make sure they really are eating before you buy them.

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7586035#post7586035 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marinemom
If you want it thay bad,go and get it first thing in the morning as soon as they open up. Then put it in quarentine so you can keep an eye on it and give it some specialized attention. Your success rate will increase by tons if you do it this way.

Marinemom

A typical bare quarantine will kill them faster than anything else. These fish need to be able to graze, and they need hiding places.

 

[thor32766]

i agree with you rich, one fish that definitly needs hiding and to be able to graze. They are beautiful fish!!!!

 

[emperior911]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7586035#post7586035 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marinemom
If you want it thay bad,go and get it first thing in the morning as soon as they open up. Then put it in quarentine so you can keep an eye on it and give it some specialized attention. Your success rate will increase by tons if you do it this way.

Marinemom

I'm not a big fan of quarentine, i think it can do more damage then good

 

[ACBlinky]

Agreed. I haven't decided yet and may end up choosing not to pick one up (either now or later if these two are gone), but if I do the fish will go straight into the display. I know it's risky, but Potter's don't take well to bare tanks, small tanks or immature tanks. The 65g has lots of LR with different types of algae growing on it, and the back wall has sections of greenery that, while unattractive to my eye, is full of pods and a feasting ground for the fish. There's also quite a bit of Xenia that the fish are welcome to chow down on, it's growing faster than I can keep up with.

 

[marrstarr]

I have a Potter and I love this fish. Potters once established are easy to keep. I do live in Hawaii, which I am sure makes it easy to get a good one. I QT for 2 weeks in a 20 gal tank with lots of live rock. Over the 2 week span I got him to eat frozen mysis. Once he started eating the mysis and had no signs of illness I put him in the display tank. He now eats mysis, brine, flakes, and nori.

 

[Marinemom]

If you have enough hiding places and ample supplements quarentine will still work. I have had too many problems with not quarentining any fish first. Not quarentinig can risk a lot more than just the fish. However if some fish do better without a quarentine period than you all know more than I do.

Marinemom

 

[thor32766]

if you know the potters angel is eating great! once they start eating they are actullay a pretty hard fish.

 

[ACBlinky]

Well, I went for it. I called the store today, they said they had one of the three left and he was eating well. This one was actually the staff favourite, but he was the smallest of the three so customers chose the others over him. I visited the store, watched him gobble frozen food and couldn't leave him behind. Now I'm crossing my fingers and hoping he adapts well and stays healthy.
The other fish are chasing him a bit, which I expected, but he seems to be weathering it well and they're already easing up; most of them are all bark and no bite, they just feel the need to boss new fish around for a day or so before accepting it.

 

[ACBlinky]

Just thought I'd post an update
This morning there was one final spat between the Potter's and the coral beauty, and it's been peaceful ever since. I managed to get a picture of the little guy -- I used the flash to get a clear shot so the colours are a bit off, but you get the idea

 

[LargeAngels]

Nice looking fish. Looks like you got a male. My pair love to eat frozen cyclopeeze. Do you still have that flagfin?

 

[ACBlinky]

How can you tell he's a male? I'd love to know how to sex angels
I do have the flagfin, he's a happy camper from what I can tell. He's nice and chubby now and has a wonderful personality. He's still only about 2.5" long, hasn't done much growing since I got him (other than steadily gaining weight). I hope to have him for a good long time -- eventually I'm hoping to get a much larger tank, something well over 100g, to accomodate him as an adult

ADD--> I've been reading, apparantly males have much more blue coverage than females; if so, it looks to me like I've got a female -- maybe there's more I'm missing though.

I got these pictures from Hawaiifishes.com:

Female:

Male:

Here's another picture of my Potter's so you can see the entire fish:

I'm not sure if this one helps, but according to the above site males have much more blue on the tail, I think mine looks like there's less:

Here's one of the flagfin and Potter's together, they're getting along very well -- you can see they're pretty much equally sized, maybe that helps.

 

[BlueNWhite]

They look great! How big are the angels? Which LFS did you pick up each of the angels from? I'd love to get a Potter's too. How does it compare to the Rusty Angel?

Thanks,
Raymond

 

[FroMan]

not to sway you one way or the other, but my GF saw one and "had to have it" yesterday at the LFS. So there is now one happily swiming around my tank. I think it freaked out my goby though

 

[ACBlinky]

BlueNWhite - Both are around 2.5", just little guys. I've purchased two from Big Al's Scarborough, one from PJ's Yorkdale. The most rescent was from BA's. She did GREAT for six days, ate everything in sight, and then on day seven she started breathing hard and hiding. That night she was dead on the bottom. Nothing changed with the tank or the other fish, I have no idea what happened.
FroMan - best of luck. They're absolutely stunning fish, but IME it's incredibly hard to find a healthy one.

 

[BlueNWhite]

Best of luck with this Potter's. Keep us updated.

Raymond

 

[ACBlinky]

BlueNWhite if you meant mine, sorry if I wasn't clear. By most recent, I meant this one. She did great for six days, then a few days ago we lost her to unknown causes. I love these angels, but I really don't know if I could go through that heartbreak again... not to mention, it's a little hard on the wallet.