Ultimate Genicanthus (SwallowTail) Angel Thread
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catdoc
Premium Member
What kind of Genicanthus?
Genicanthus melanospilos (swallowtail)
What is it's gender?
2 of them--both female
How long have you had it?
3 weeks
Where did you buy it from?
Mail order via Liveaquaria
What special quarantine routines?
No
What is it's current size?
4" and 3"
What do you feed it?
Frozen homemade blend, flake (Prime Reef, Formula One), one nibbles at the algae I feed the tang
What is the feeding schedule?
Once a day
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have?
125 gallon display (plus 100 gal sump + 40 gal fuge + 40 gal skimmer tank); bare-bottom tank, moved livestock into this tank from 2 year old 90 gal 3 weeks ago (yes, the new angels went into the tank the same day as my resident fish)
Any diseases that you've had?
Not yet
Reef safe so far?
Very impressed, not a nibble
Tankmates and aggressiveness?
Spawning pair of GSM, mandarin, lawnmower blenny, purple firefish, and yellow tang
Any other advice?
Strangely, the yellow tang has claimed the larger angel as his and now the tang/angel pair harass the smaller angel. I don't know whether to let them work it out or if I need to remove the smaller angel. It wants to eat but they keep chasing it back into its corner when it tries to come out in the open at feeding time.
and most importantly, pictures!!!
Here are the angels right after the tang was added. The tang was the last in the tank, a day after everyone else got settled in. The tang was already making his move.
The "newlyweds" a day or so later
Genicanthus melanospilos (swallowtail)
What is it's gender?
2 of them--both female
How long have you had it?
3 weeks
Where did you buy it from?
Mail order via Liveaquaria
What special quarantine routines?
No
What is it's current size?
4" and 3"
What do you feed it?
Frozen homemade blend, flake (Prime Reef, Formula One), one nibbles at the algae I feed the tang
What is the feeding schedule?
Once a day
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have?
125 gallon display (plus 100 gal sump + 40 gal fuge + 40 gal skimmer tank); bare-bottom tank, moved livestock into this tank from 2 year old 90 gal 3 weeks ago (yes, the new angels went into the tank the same day as my resident fish)
Any diseases that you've had?
Not yet
Reef safe so far?
Very impressed, not a nibble
Tankmates and aggressiveness?
Spawning pair of GSM, mandarin, lawnmower blenny, purple firefish, and yellow tang
Any other advice?
Strangely, the yellow tang has claimed the larger angel as his and now the tang/angel pair harass the smaller angel. I don't know whether to let them work it out or if I need to remove the smaller angel. It wants to eat but they keep chasing it back into its corner when it tries to come out in the open at feeding time.
and most importantly, pictures!!!
Here are the angels right after the tang was added. The tang was the last in the tank, a day after everyone else got settled in. The tang was already making his move.
The "newlyweds" a day or so later
What kind of Genicanthus? G. Watenabei
What is it's gender? Female
How long have you had it? Three weeks
Where did you buy it from? Sea Schor, a LFS
What special quarantine routines? none
What is it's current size? 3.5 inches
What do you feed it? It eats algae, flake food, mysis, cyclop-eeze
What is the feeding schedule? three times daily
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have? 320 gallon SPS (for this fish)
Any diseases that you've had? The fish, none. Me, lots
Reef safe so far? Seems to be oblivious to corals (SPS) and tankmates
Tankmates and aggressiveness? Not aggressive towards tank mates but I have a gentle tank by design
Any other advice? Females seem easier to get and keep than males
and most importantly, pictures!!! When I figure out how, I will
I would also like to get another one for my LPS tank and a male for my SPS tank to have a pair. More to come on this.
What is it's gender? Female
How long have you had it? Three weeks
Where did you buy it from? Sea Schor, a LFS
What special quarantine routines? none
What is it's current size? 3.5 inches
What do you feed it? It eats algae, flake food, mysis, cyclop-eeze
What is the feeding schedule? three times daily
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have? 320 gallon SPS (for this fish)
Any diseases that you've had? The fish, none. Me, lots
Reef safe so far? Seems to be oblivious to corals (SPS) and tankmates
Tankmates and aggressiveness? Not aggressive towards tank mates but I have a gentle tank by design
Any other advice? Females seem easier to get and keep than males
and most importantly, pictures!!! When I figure out how, I will
I would also like to get another one for my LPS tank and a male for my SPS tank to have a pair. More to come on this.
Trickman2
New member
What kind of Genicanthus? Genicanthus melanospilus
What is it's gender? Male
How long have you had it? 1 Day
Where did you buy it from? Octopus Gardens, a LFS
What special quarantine routines? In QT now, for two weeks.
What is it's current size? 7 inches
What do you feed it? Mysis
What is the feeding schedule? Twice daily
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have? 90 Gallon Reef, 30 gallon QT.
Any diseases that you've had? None yet
Reef safe so far? N/A
Tankmates and aggressiveness? N/A
Any other advice? N/A
What is it's gender? Male
How long have you had it? 1 Day
Where did you buy it from? Octopus Gardens, a LFS
What special quarantine routines? In QT now, for two weeks.
What is it's current size? 7 inches
What do you feed it? Mysis
What is the feeding schedule? Twice daily
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have? 90 Gallon Reef, 30 gallon QT.
Any diseases that you've had? None yet
Reef safe so far? N/A
Tankmates and aggressiveness? N/A
Any other advice? N/A
Ok I'm in.
I have a beautiful Male Genicanthus watanabei That I recently picked up from a fiji wholesaler.
I'm now looking for a female for him.
I got him back in mid Dec, '05.
No quartine, I acclimated him to the tank and let him swim right in.
He is currently about 4" long
I feed the tank various sizes and types of pellets once a day. I just mix up whatever brands/types that I happen to buy in a big bucket and scoop from there. I also feed frozen Mysis and other frozen cubes on occasion. I feed sheets of Nori and have some alage growing on my rocks as well.
He is in a 400G tank that is being converted from a FOWLR to a reef. Tank is 7'L X 2.5'W X 3'T. I have about 450 lbs of live rock and a few corals, SPS,LPS, Leather.
I bought the complete setup used and it runs both UV and Ozone. I got it this summer and have yet to see any desies on any of the fish.
Tankmates inclued:
mated pair of Naso tangs, Male = 11", female = 9"
Vlamingi tang = 13"
Sailfin tang = 10"
rabbit fish = 8"
pink tale trigger = 8"
blue hippo tang = 4" ( they kind of hang out together)
4 royal grammas = 2.5"
carpenters flasher wrasse = 2"
filimantious flasher wrasse = 2"
Muilt-colored wrasse = 2"
Pysidelic mandrin = 3"
spotted mandrin =3"
I've also got a bunch of various types of snails, some perpiment shrimp that i haven't seen in a long time and some berghi nudi's that I'm hoping will control my apsatia problem.
He was shy when I got him and hid in the rocks. After about 3 weeks of hiding, he's now out in the tank more and ha sbeen seen all over it. He usually is in the darker spots of the tank though. I'm currently running 3 X 400 MH DE bulbs, 2 X 20K and 1 X 14K He's a beautiful powder blue color with a nice bright yellow stripe on his back. I'm hopeing to find a female for him and introduce them as soon as I can.
Some pic's. I hope they come out. Enjoy.
Link to the thread on my tank. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=630143&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
I have a beautiful Male Genicanthus watanabei That I recently picked up from a fiji wholesaler.
I'm now looking for a female for him.I got him back in mid Dec, '05.
No quartine, I acclimated him to the tank and let him swim right in.
He is currently about 4" long
I feed the tank various sizes and types of pellets once a day. I just mix up whatever brands/types that I happen to buy in a big bucket and scoop from there. I also feed frozen Mysis and other frozen cubes on occasion. I feed sheets of Nori and have some alage growing on my rocks as well.
He is in a 400G tank that is being converted from a FOWLR to a reef. Tank is 7'L X 2.5'W X 3'T. I have about 450 lbs of live rock and a few corals, SPS,LPS, Leather.
I bought the complete setup used and it runs both UV and Ozone. I got it this summer and have yet to see any desies on any of the fish.
Tankmates inclued:
mated pair of Naso tangs, Male = 11", female = 9"
Vlamingi tang = 13"
Sailfin tang = 10"
rabbit fish = 8"
pink tale trigger = 8"
blue hippo tang = 4" ( they kind of hang out together)
4 royal grammas = 2.5"
carpenters flasher wrasse = 2"
filimantious flasher wrasse = 2"
Muilt-colored wrasse = 2"
Pysidelic mandrin = 3"
spotted mandrin =3"
I've also got a bunch of various types of snails, some perpiment shrimp that i haven't seen in a long time and some berghi nudi's that I'm hoping will control my apsatia problem.
He was shy when I got him and hid in the rocks. After about 3 weeks of hiding, he's now out in the tank more and ha sbeen seen all over it. He usually is in the darker spots of the tank though. I'm currently running 3 X 400 MH DE bulbs, 2 X 20K and 1 X 14K He's a beautiful powder blue color with a nice bright yellow stripe on his back. I'm hopeing to find a female for him and introduce them as soon as I can.
Some pic's. I hope they come out. Enjoy.
Link to the thread on my tank. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=630143&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
catdoc
Premium Member
My beautiful G. melanospilus are no more. The first female died about a month after I got her, I think the YT harassed her to death. She was feeding well but he just wouldn't let her out of hiding. The second female was doing great until this spring when I had an sps-meltdown. I moved all the fish out and they were boarded at a LFS, where the other melanospilus died (the other fish did well).
The tank has been doing well and I'd been waiting for a pair of watanabei but after 4 months of waiting (had a deposit on a pair, if a healthy pair ever arrived), I gave up. I did find a pair of swallowtail angels that had been QT'ed for 6 weeks and got them yesterday. I thought they were G. melanospilus (it WAS hard to see them in their unlit QT tank) but now I believe they are G. caudovittatus. I feel a bit unprepared for these guys since I thought that I was getting the melanospilus.
So, I've had them 1 day. Did not QT since they'd already been through a 6 week QT. The male is 4", female 3". Both are eating (blender mush and flake) although the male is hiding more. Tank is a 125 with another 140 gal in the sump/fuge. Temps are 81 in the summer, 78 to 79 in the winter. Tank mates are royal gramma, starry blenny, GSM pair, a bangaii pair and a yellow tang. The yellow tang is going in the sump as soon as I can catch him as he's being a butthead and bothering the male. He ignores the female (read my post about how he did the same with my first genicanthids).
Male:
Female:
Sorry for the crummy pics, hubby dropped my good camera and this is the back-up until the Nikon gets fixed.
The tank has been doing well and I'd been waiting for a pair of watanabei but after 4 months of waiting (had a deposit on a pair, if a healthy pair ever arrived), I gave up. I did find a pair of swallowtail angels that had been QT'ed for 6 weeks and got them yesterday. I thought they were G. melanospilus (it WAS hard to see them in their unlit QT tank) but now I believe they are G. caudovittatus. I feel a bit unprepared for these guys since I thought that I was getting the melanospilus.
So, I've had them 1 day. Did not QT since they'd already been through a 6 week QT. The male is 4", female 3". Both are eating (blender mush and flake) although the male is hiding more. Tank is a 125 with another 140 gal in the sump/fuge. Temps are 81 in the summer, 78 to 79 in the winter. Tank mates are royal gramma, starry blenny, GSM pair, a bangaii pair and a yellow tang. The yellow tang is going in the sump as soon as I can catch him as he's being a butthead and bothering the male. He ignores the female (read my post about how he did the same with my first genicanthids).
Male:
Female:
Sorry for the crummy pics, hubby dropped my good camera and this is the back-up until the Nikon gets fixed.
triggerfish1976
New member
What kind of Genicanthus?
Watanabei Male/Female
Red Sea Zebra Angel Male
Where did you buy it from? Local Fish stores
What special quarantine routines?
Placed in holding tanks for about a week and got them to eat various foods. Slowly accimilated to high light levels by reducing my light period and gradually increasing it back to normal over the course of a couple of weeks.
I feel this is important since these are all deepwater fish and are not use to our high light levels.
What is it's current size?
Watanabei male is 4". Female 3"
Zebra Angel male: 5"
What do you feed it?
Ora Pellets, Open clams, mysyis, brine with spirula, angel food formula, cyclopeeze, Nori. All soaked in garlic.
What is the feeding schedule?
I feed the pellets 2-3 times a day. Open clams every other day, and the frozen food with Cyclopeeze every night.
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have?
600 gallon mixed reef.
Any diseases that you've had?
Watanabei's have been healthy from day one. The Zebra is currently going through a real bad case of flukes and will probably not make it.
Reef safe so far?
Yes. No issues.
Aggressiveness?
No agression at all. The two males (zebra and watanabei) showed no agression toward each other which surprised me.
Any other advice?
Like some people have posted these fish rarely are collected in good enough condition to have any chance of surviving. I know of many top notch stores around the US who refuse to even get them in because their mortality rate is so high. I became interested in this family of angels about three years ago and I have probably seen 30-40 various specimans and 90% of them showed signs of swim bladder damage. It does seem that someone is starting to collect them more carefully because the last few I have seen have looked much better. I would not recommend buying any swallowtail angel if it is not swimming correctly. They generally have a hard time recovering from this.
Watanabei Male/Female
Red Sea Zebra Angel Male
Where did you buy it from? Local Fish stores
What special quarantine routines?
Placed in holding tanks for about a week and got them to eat various foods. Slowly accimilated to high light levels by reducing my light period and gradually increasing it back to normal over the course of a couple of weeks.
I feel this is important since these are all deepwater fish and are not use to our high light levels.
What is it's current size?
Watanabei male is 4". Female 3"
Zebra Angel male: 5"
What do you feed it?
Ora Pellets, Open clams, mysyis, brine with spirula, angel food formula, cyclopeeze, Nori. All soaked in garlic.
What is the feeding schedule?
I feed the pellets 2-3 times a day. Open clams every other day, and the frozen food with Cyclopeeze every night.
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have?
600 gallon mixed reef.
Any diseases that you've had?
Watanabei's have been healthy from day one. The Zebra is currently going through a real bad case of flukes and will probably not make it.
Reef safe so far?
Yes. No issues.
Aggressiveness?
No agression at all. The two males (zebra and watanabei) showed no agression toward each other which surprised me.
Any other advice?
Like some people have posted these fish rarely are collected in good enough condition to have any chance of surviving. I know of many top notch stores around the US who refuse to even get them in because their mortality rate is so high. I became interested in this family of angels about three years ago and I have probably seen 30-40 various specimans and 90% of them showed signs of swim bladder damage. It does seem that someone is starting to collect them more carefully because the last few I have seen have looked much better. I would not recommend buying any swallowtail angel if it is not swimming correctly. They generally have a hard time recovering from this.
A update on my Genicanthus.
I found a female Watanabei for my male. They were both doing fine in the tank. I also picked up a female Bellus and added her to the tank. No problems with the three in the tank.
I tore down my 400 in prepration for the move into it's new room. I moved everything into a 200g tank for holding. I'm not sure what happened but when I moved everything into the 200, I had an ich outbreak. I wound up losing my pair of Watanabei due to the ich or something else as they had some fin rot as well. I was able to save the bellus along with my other fish. My pair of Naso's had clody eye as well as some of the other fish had ich. The Bellus is doing fine and her fins are growing back. I'm waiting to get everything moved back into the big tank and then I'll be looking for a male bellus for my female.
I found a female Watanabei for my male. They were both doing fine in the tank. I also picked up a female Bellus and added her to the tank. No problems with the three in the tank.
I tore down my 400 in prepration for the move into it's new room. I moved everything into a 200g tank for holding. I'm not sure what happened but when I moved everything into the 200, I had an ich outbreak. I wound up losing my pair of Watanabei due to the ich or something else as they had some fin rot as well. I was able to save the bellus along with my other fish. My pair of Naso's had clody eye as well as some of the other fish had ich. The Bellus is doing fine and her fins are growing back. I'm waiting to get everything moved back into the big tank and then I'll be looking for a male bellus for my female.
falconut
New member
What kind of Genicanthus? Watanabei & Blackspot
What is it's gender? Both Female
How long have you had it? Watanabei - 4 months & Blackspot - 7 months
Where did you buy it from? Watanabei - www.petsolutions.com & Blackspot - LFS
What special quarantine routines? Watanabei - 10 gal. for a couple weeks & Blackspot - none (it was at the LFS for 2 months before I bought it)
What is it's current size? Watanabei - 5" & Blackspot - 2 1/2"
What do you feed it? Both eat Prime Reef Flakes, Fomula II Flakes, Frozen Brine & Frozen Mysis, they aren't fussy. My Watanabei ate the night I got it.
What is the feeding schedule? Once a day. Occantionally I throw a little more in on the weekends.
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have? 90 gal. with 20 gal. sump & 20 gal. refuge.
Any diseases that you've had? Watanabei developed minor case of ick after in display. Treated with Seachem Metronidazole, ginger & garlic extract and a neon goby. Has been clean for 3 months now. Blackspot - nothing.
Reef safe so far? Neither bother anything. I have Mushrooms, Yellow Polyps, Zoas, Mont. Digi, Acros, Birdsnest, Torch, Frogspawns, Hammers, Alveopora, Plate Coral, Leather, Kenya Tree & Crocea Clam.
Tankmates and aggressiveness? Blackspot will occationally chase 1 of the 2 female Lyretail Anthias, but only for about a few inches. Watanabei will occationally do the same to the Blackspot.
Any other advice? Find a healthy speciman. I believe the biggest problem is their collection. If it can't swim right, don't buy it. It probably has a damaged swim bladder. Also, don't buy a really small one. I originally bought a female Watanabei (size of my thumb nail) and it only lasted one night. From my experience, they are easy to keep.
and most importantly, pictures
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Just click the image above to see a larger image. I also have individual photos of my Watanabei in my gallery.
What is it's gender? Both Female
How long have you had it? Watanabei - 4 months & Blackspot - 7 months
Where did you buy it from? Watanabei - www.petsolutions.com & Blackspot - LFS
What special quarantine routines? Watanabei - 10 gal. for a couple weeks & Blackspot - none (it was at the LFS for 2 months before I bought it)
What is it's current size? Watanabei - 5" & Blackspot - 2 1/2"
What do you feed it? Both eat Prime Reef Flakes, Fomula II Flakes, Frozen Brine & Frozen Mysis, they aren't fussy. My Watanabei ate the night I got it.
What is the feeding schedule? Once a day. Occantionally I throw a little more in on the weekends.
What size, design, setup of a tank do you have? 90 gal. with 20 gal. sump & 20 gal. refuge.
Any diseases that you've had? Watanabei developed minor case of ick after in display. Treated with Seachem Metronidazole, ginger & garlic extract and a neon goby. Has been clean for 3 months now. Blackspot - nothing.
Reef safe so far? Neither bother anything. I have Mushrooms, Yellow Polyps, Zoas, Mont. Digi, Acros, Birdsnest, Torch, Frogspawns, Hammers, Alveopora, Plate Coral, Leather, Kenya Tree & Crocea Clam.
Tankmates and aggressiveness? Blackspot will occationally chase 1 of the 2 female Lyretail Anthias, but only for about a few inches. Watanabei will occationally do the same to the Blackspot.
Any other advice? Find a healthy speciman. I believe the biggest problem is their collection. If it can't swim right, don't buy it. It probably has a damaged swim bladder. Also, don't buy a really small one. I originally bought a female Watanabei (size of my thumb nail) and it only lasted one night. From my experience, they are easy to keep.
and most importantly, pictures
Just click the image above to see a larger image. I also have individual photos of my Watanabei in my gallery.
Male's are actually yellow.
You'll probably find both will be young females. I think the male will be hard to find because most people don't know that he is yellow which is completely different from the blue/black/orange female. Good luck.
triggerfish1976
New member
If they are juveniles and both females there is a possibility that one will grow up and change into a male. I have seen this happen with Watanabei's and Bellus adult females so I don't see what it would be any different with juveniles. The ones I have seen change make the transition in a matter of weeks.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8428514#post8428514 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blown63chevy
Male's are actually yellow.
Good luck.
Yea... They are female... lol... Forgot to mention...
Saw them today... Looks nice and are really small...
These are deep water angels so it probably wasn't decompressed when it was brought up, hence the swim blatter problems.
triggerfish1976 you are correct. They can change between male and female. I had a male Watanabei that changed to a female due to the lack of a female in the tank. By the time I got a female, he had already changed. Sad part was he died shortly after getting the female so I don't know if he would have changed back or not.
One day after I get everything moved back into the big tank, I'll try for a pair again.
triggerfish1976 you are correct. They can change between male and female. I had a male Watanabei that changed to a female due to the lack of a female in the tank. By the time I got a female, he had already changed. Sad part was he died shortly after getting the female so I don't know if he would have changed back or not.
One day after I get everything moved back into the big tank, I'll try for a pair again.Similar threads
