Reverse maturation in Angels

[pinnatus]

I have now noticed for the second time that the colors on an angel reversing back to more juvenile coloration. First i saw it with a juvenile emporer that had begun changing. I introduced a larger changing emporer into the same tank, and noticed over the next couple of months that the color change had regressed on the smaller angel. It then moved forward again and reached adult coloration.

Currently i have a Rock Beauty. I have had it for over two years now. I have other angels in with it - a Queen, a Koran, and I recently added an adult Annularis. The Rock Beauty is the smallest angel in the tank. When i look at old pictures, i notice the black area on its side is much larger than it is today. As they mature, the black area enlarges to its adult coloration.

It seems like it's coloration is reversing. Could this be because of the other angels?

 

[mike61289]

That's a cool find! I feel like it could be a dominance thing for the angels. The dominant angels might simply be bolder in color and pattern. Maybe the metamorphosis was slowed down by more dominant angels as a form of protection so that they don't get attacked by individual fish that are higher up in the hierarchy.

Some fish are also known to not be as bright in captivity as they are in the wild. I could vouch for that from my most recent dives in the Red Sea where I saw some of the most stunning purple and sohal tangs! You wouldn't see them like that in an aquarium. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but any answer to your question would be hypothetical until an actual experiment is done.

 

[OrionN]

I would really love to see pictures of these changes. Very interesting observation.

 

[pinnatus]

This is before on my Rock Beauty:

And this is today, probably two years later:

Notice that the black area has actually regressed.

 

[mike61289]

That's really cool! I have no idea what to say besides what I already said, but it's interesting to see. Part of me is also wondering if the dominance hierarchy has made your rock beauty go from male to female. Maybe the females have that coloration and the males are more like what it originally looked like?

 

[pinnatus]

This is when I first got my emperor. Note he had some yellow coming in and some adult stripes beginning.

This is about one month later. The yellow had gone away, and some of the stripes had actually gotten smaller.

This is two months after that. The yellow is beginning to return and the stripes are reforming, but still not as far as the original picture.

One month later and the change is well underway.

 

[pinnatus]

I was mistaken when I said the smaller angel regressed. It was actually the larger of the two that seemed to regress. It was added to my tank that already had a smaller emperor in it, then the color change seemed to go slightly backwards for the first month, then went forward again. The smaller emperor changed normally, slightly behind the larger angel.

 

[saf1]

That's a cool find! I feel like it could be a dominance thing for the angels. The dominant angels might simply be bolder in color and pattern. Maybe the metamorphosis was slowed down by more dominant angels as a form of protection so that they don't get attacked by individual fish that are higher up in the hierarchy.

Some fish are also known to not be as bright in captivity as they are in the wild. I could vouch for that from my most recent dives in the Red Sea where I saw some of the most stunning purple and sohal tangs! You wouldn't see them like that in an aquarium. Not sure if that has anything to do with it, but any answer to your question would be hypothetical until an actual experiment is done.

Not saying that this is your case but diving, depending on the depth, colors will be different than what we have in our tanks. Be it fish, coral, or anything else. Of course I'm talking about depths greater than 30' but you probably already know this