Captive Sizes / Growth Rate of Large Angels?

[Zionas]

Hi all, I wonder what are the sizes / growth rates of most large Angels in captivity? I’m mostly talking about the smaller end like the Genicanthus, Apolemichthys, Regals etc. but would also love to know for the Pomacanthus, Holacanthus. What tank size would you say is needed for a fully grown pair of the smaller large angel species like the Genicanthus, Goldflake, Regals, Majestic etc.? (Considering for a future upgrade)

There’s this Six Bar Angel in France that was 41 years old (not sure if still alive) that topped out at 12” though the max size for this species is said to be about 18”. The maximum size for Regal Angels, Goldflakes, Majestics is also listed at about 10-12”, 6-7” for smaller Genicanthus and about 9-10” for Lamarck’s.

I know Zebrasoma Tangs usually don’t reach their Wild sizes in captivity. Maybe it’s the same with larger angels?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hi all, I wonder what are the sizes / growth rates of most large Angels in captivity? I’m mostly talking about the smaller end like the Genicanthus, Apolemichthys, Regals etc. but would also love to know for the Pomacanthus, Holacanthus. What tank size would you say is needed for a fully grown pair of the smaller large angel species like the Genicanthus, Goldflake, Regals, Majestic etc.? (Considering for a future upgrade)

There’s this Six Bar Angel in France that was 41 years old (not sure if still alive) that topped out at 12” though the max size for this species is said to be about 18”. The maximum size for Regal Angels, Goldflakes, Majestics is also listed at about 10-12”, 6-7” for smaller Genicanthus and about 9-10” for Lamarck’s.

I know Zebrasoma Tangs usually don’t reach their Wild sizes in captivity. Maybe it’s the same with larger angels?

I did a study years ago that took all of the fully grown fish I had at my facility and compared those sizes to the maximum size listed on fishbase.org - the results were that they averaged 66% of that size. There were some angels in the group, but many other species as well. I now use 80% of the fishbase maximum for the size I expect a fish to reach in captivity.
Jay

 

[Fishnut]

The smaller of the large angels like regals will do fine in a 6 foot 125 gallon. The adult pomacanthus angels look uncomfortable in anything less then 8 foot long tanks IMO.

 

[jaganshi066]

Hi all, I wonder what are the sizes / growth rates of most large Angels in captivity? I’m mostly talking about the smaller end like the Genicanthus, Apolemichthys, Regals etc. but would also love to know for the Pomacanthus, Holacanthus. What tank size would you say is needed for a fully grown pair of the smaller large angel species like the Genicanthus, Goldflake, Regals, Majestic etc.? (Considering for a future upgrade)

There’s this Six Bar Angel in France that was 41 years old (not sure if still alive) that topped out at 12” though the max size for this species is said to be about 18”. The maximum size for Regal Angels, Goldflakes, Majestics is also listed at about 10-12”, 6-7” for smaller Genicanthus and about 9-10” for Lamarck’s.

I know Zebrasoma Tangs usually don’t reach their Wild sizes in captivity. Maybe it’s the same with larger angels?

I just got a one inch lamarcks and will be donating him to a good home. once he gets bigger, but I doubt he will ever reach 9”. I’ve never seen a lamarcks that big

 

[Zionas]

Yeah think they can get to that size in the wild but maybe 9” is like a record in the wild.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Yeah think they can get to that size in the wild but maybe 9” is like a record in the wild.

Fishbase lists 9.5" total length for a record male. That includes the caudal streamers, multiply that by 0.8 and that gives 7.6" TL, which I have seen in captivity.....

Jay

 

[Zionas]

That’s still pretty big for me.

 

[marin8n]

I raised a juvenile emperor angel from about 2" to close to 9" in a 300gal tank. Took about 2.5 years to fully morph. One of the larger adults I have seen in captivity. I attribute it to lots of frozen food/variety, and the larger tank size.

 

[Dbichler]

Just an update on my emperor and some transformation timeline.
Apr 2019

dec 2019

Mar 2020

Dec 2020

June 2021

Today

He’s obviously doing good transition in full swing. Some people think they look strange during transition but I think it’s my favorite look of this fish.

 

[i cant think]

Fishbase lists 9.5" total length for a record male. That includes the caudal streamers, multiply that by 0.8 and that gives 7.6" TL, which I have seen in captivity.....

Jay

To me, I think that the max size of most of the genicanthus angels brought into captivity are in the 7-8” range. I just did that calculation on G. melanospilos and it gave 7.2”. Mine is 4” and growing at the slowest rate I have seen anything grow (Even my wrasses are faster than this).

 

[Zionas]

Very interesting to know.

 

[Zionas]

Looking good! Do you think he can fit in your 210 permanently? Is it a 7 foot tank?

I also see you have two wrasses, are they both Thalassoma?

 

[Zionas]

On a side note, what’s the largest Majestic or Regal, maybe Asfur one’s seen in captivity? I see max size for Majestic from 10-12”.

 

[i cant think]

On a side note, what’s the largest Majestic or Regal, maybe Asfur one’s seen in captivity? I see max size for Majestic from 10-12”.

I did the calculation on the magestic Angel and if it’s correct, he should stick around the 9-10” mark in captivity,
For the asf ut they should stick around the 12” mark and for the Regal they should stick to around 7”-9.5”
This is just a rough guess as to what size these fish will get using the max size x 0.8 and to me it’s actually pretty close since I have seem magestics close to 9” and regals around 7”.

 

[i cant think]

Looking good! Do you think he can fit in your 210 permanently? Is it a 7 foot tank?

I also see you have two wrasses, are they both Thalassoma?

So far, from looking at the photos I am able to answer half the question - Couldn’t find the second wrasse you are on about but if you mean the photos of Dbichler’s emperor, I can see one wrasse is a juvenile/female Thalassoma lucasanum - Cortez Rainbow Wrasse.
After going into the build thread, I saw the wrasse you were on about (I assume) and that is Ghomposus varius - the Green Bird Wrasse. Theirs is still female though (I can’t say for sure if it’s juvenile).

 

[Dbichler]

Correct bird and Cortez and no I won’t be keeping the emperor for its full life. I like fish that transition and once that’s done I will probably give him away and start over.

 

[Zionas]

I see. Is it because of the size he’ll grow to or because you just don’t want the fish once it grows up?

 

[Dbichler]

The size because I don’t want any stressed fish. I think 400+ gallons for a full grown emperor would be minimum.

 

[Zionas]

Yeah I agree. They get to 16” tops, 12” if we use that formula. That’s a big fish.

 

[i cant think]

A list of the most common angels people keep with that we assume is the max captive size could help with new people that have an Angel so we could use this thread to help along with the Angel version of the wrasse lovers thread (I can’t remember the name of the thread).