Dwarf Angel Stocking

[spartanman22]

Hey All,

I've got a 70 gallon tank that has been up and going for a few months now. I've been in the hobby a long time, but took a 5 year hiatus due to frequent moves. Finally was able to setup a new system now that we've settled. This is my first tank since having kids, so I promised the wife I'd keep it simple and do fish only for now. I've long been an SPS fanatic. So eventually this will become an SPS reef tank, but we'll phase that in over time.

My all-time favorite fish is the multi-bars. When I left the hobby the Biota captive breds were just starting to pop onto the market. I'd love to have a pair (introduced at the same time) in this tank. What're everyone thoughts? I have kept multi-bars in the past and am aware of their difficulty. I have not ever kept a pair thought. My understanding is that they'll form small harems in the wild. Is this just one of those try it and see type deals? Any assurances from others.

I have also recently fell in love with the Eibli angel. Thoughts on a multibar and eibli if introduced simultaneously?

Also worth noting I don't plan to add them currently, would like to see the tank mature up a little bit, but the whole stocking is built around this addition.

 

[spartanman22]

For fun here’s a FTS of the last tank before taking it down.

 

[TheWB]

Hey All,

I've got a 70 gallon tank that has been up and going for a few months now. I've been in the hobby a long time, but took a 5 year hiatus due to frequent moves. Finally was able to setup a new system now that we've settled. This is my first tank since having kids, so I promised the wife I'd keep it simple and do fish only for now. I've long been an SPS fanatic. So eventually this will become an SPS reef tank, but we'll phase that in over time.

My all-time favorite fish is the multi-bars. When I left the hobby the Biota captive breds were just starting to pop onto the market. I'd love to have a pair (introduced at the same time) in this tank. What're everyone thoughts? I have kept multi-bars in the past and am aware of their difficulty. I have not ever kept a pair thought. My understanding is that they'll form small harems in the wild. Is this just one of those try it and see type deals? Any assurances from others.

I have also recently fell in love with the Eibli angel. Thoughts on a multibar and eibli if introduced simultaneously?

Also worth noting I don't plan to add them currently, would like to see the tank mature up a little bit, but the whole stocking is built around this addition.

I don't have any experience with Multibar angels at all so hopefully someone else who does can respond.
I can tell you about my experience so far with a pair of Biota CB Coral Beauty angels that I have in a 70 gallon tank. The Biota fish tend to be very small so I'm confident I got a pair of females to start with. We're talking really small, like the size of a quarter. I would imagine the CB multi bars are the same. I've had mine since September and my plan was to keep them together in an acclimation box until they got bigger and one started to get bigger than the other. That didn't work as they escaped after a few days so both were loose in the tank. They took up positions on opposite sides of the tank and didn't really interact together at all for about a month. One got bigger than the other and started venturing out more. They eventually started to encounter each other and the bigger one would do a little chasing but nothing too bad. Mostly they stayed away from each other. They slowly started to be in the same places together and so far 3 months later there hasn't been any violence. They are still both very small and they do not regularly swim together. They are definitely not paired up but they exist together without issue and both use the whole tank. They are same place/same time frequently throughout the day. It's still early so who knows, they might be at each other throats tomorrow, but so far, so good. I hope this was at least somewhat helpful.

 

[RobertK]

I have Biota multibar, CB and bicolor angels (one of each) together in a 70 gal, and they all get along fine. Have you emailed Biota for their advice? I have found Jake and Felicia to be very responsive.

 

[Largeangels]

If you went with Biota multibar then you shouldn't have a problem getting 2 at the same time. But as others said they tend to come in small or very small. Be prepared with small food, and able to hatch brine shrimp, and either make sure they are by themselves, in a decent sized specimen container or in a smaller tank at first until they grow a little bigger.

I've had multibar pairs in the past and currently have one wild caught that has been with me for 3 years now. Bought 2 and had to feed freshly hatched brine shrimp everyday for about 5 weeks to keep them going to be able to then get them on Golden Pearls (500-800 microns), brine shrimp and then mysis. One did not make it. But this one now eats all kinds of pellets and mysis.

 

[larrysaltisfun]

Hey All,

I've got a 70 gallon tank that has been up and going for a few months now. I've been in the hobby a long time, but took a 5 year hiatus due to frequent moves. Finally was able to setup a new system now that we've settled. This is my first tank since having kids, so I promised the wife I'd keep it simple and do fish only for now. I've long been an SPS fanatic. So eventually this will become an SPS reef tank, but we'll phase that in over time.

My all-time favorite fish is the multi-bars. When I left the hobby the Biota captive breds were just starting to pop onto the market. I'd love to have a pair (introduced at the same time) in this tank. What're everyone thoughts? I have kept multi-bars in the past and am aware of their difficulty. I have not ever kept a pair thought. My understanding is that they'll form small harems in the wild. Is this just one of those try it and see type deals? Any assurances from others.

I have also recently fell in love with the Eibli angel. Thoughts on a multibar and eibli if introduced simultaneously?

Also worth noting I don't plan to add them currently, would like to see the tank mature up a little bit, but the whole stocking is built around this addition.

My wife also loves Eibli Angels . I have one in a 210 gallon tank. They definitely get bigger than many dwarf angels I think bicolors might be the only that gets a little bit larger. The small the Eibli the more peaceful they are. This guy has grown about 50% bigger than what you see here when he was in quarantine last February. he chases around a pygmy angel and a Watanabe angel, but doesn’t really try to hurt anybody just Jockeys for position in the hierarchy.

My wife loves the Eibli so I have to put up with his nipping my Zoas . I have a flame angle in quarantine now that I’m going to add. Ithink as long as you have lots of hiding spaces and crevices you should be OK. If multibars tend to be passive I would definitely add that first.

 

[spartanman22]

Thanks for all the insight everyone! I’ve not ever ordered from Biota before, but have seen their stuff first hand, and do agree the captive bred stuff is always tiny! The only inhabitant in the tank is a six line. So I’ll either just wait on any future additions until post multi bar additions (let them settle in, get comfortable and grow a bit) or I have a 15 gallon observation tank they could grow up in for a bit.

 

[RobertK]

If you want you can ask them to send the largest one they have and they will comply if they can. I've done that before and received fish that were not too tiny.

 

[BloopFish]

Eibli are jerks. More of an ******* than most Centropyge. I wouldn't mix dwarf angels unless you have multiple tanks. Just because it works, does not mean it will work for you.

I'll also warn you that just because someone has stated they got it to work - it doesn't actually mean too much unless you know how long they've had them and how they were introduced and how large they are now and how large they were when introduced. Also, how many times have they done it? Just because it was done by them once, does not mean its repeatable. You don't know how many times someone else other than them has tried it and failed (which many do) and so you don't have much to go off of.

I've kept many species of dwarf angels in the same tank. Sometimes I have to move them to another tank because one may want to murder another even if you do an acclimation box or introduce them at the same time. I've also have had dwarf angels suddenly turn and start fighting with one another, beating up a fish. Every fish has a different personality. A tiny delicate fish is not really the fish you want your first experience mixing dwarf angels... not that its not possible though...

Also, they are not Biota Multibars. They just sell them - they don't breed them. They don't claim anywhere its bred by them. Their size varies and the description on their website changes based on what they are currently.

 

[BloopFish]

I have Biota multibar, CB and bicolor angels (one of each) together in a 70 gal, and they all get along fine. Have you emailed Biota for their advice? I have found Jake and Felicia to be very responsive.

Have you kept a Colin's angelfish before? I can't help but notice the small Colin's in your profile picture.

 

[RobertK]

Have you kept a Colin's angelfish before? I can't help but notice the small Colin's in your profile picture.

Yes but that was many years ago. That was my profile pic on RC and I reused it here on R2R.