dwarf angel... tough love

koichiban · May 30, 2012

I am new to the hobby and have done alot of research on these guys . It is well known are not huge fans of one another in the same tank. now this is what peeked my interest. I recently read an article I got from a magazine at a reef swap, that a guy took 4 angels and put them in the same tank with a look but no touch barrier together ( these of course were sexually imature). one two fish were substantialy bigger than the other , and after several weeks he put the two togetherand they became a mated pair. he deduced that no fish trully wants to fight, and that if one fish has little to no chance of being alpha he will submit to the other and thusly the larger will feel no need to accert dominance over the other. I found this article so interesting I thought that I could ask and see if anyone has tried anything like this with similar or different results . to be able to pair 2 dwarfs would be a dream come true, and may very well open a whole new chapter for these little guys.

buddythelion · May 30, 2012

I've heard that to pair two dwarfs you must have them about half dollar size. Basically really tiny little buggers, and then they'll change sexes as they mature. This is just what I recalled and may not be true.

wysiwyg · May 30, 2012

this is a common practice for breeders trying get mating pairs of fish aggressive tworads there own species

REEFKEEPER10 · May 30, 2012

I have a coral beauty and a flame angel in my 75. If your going to try keeping dwarf angels in the same tank it needs to be a good size and have a lot of caves. You need to add them all at once after you quarantine them all so the get rested and are eating good. With none of them have claimed the tank they do better.

koichiban · May 30, 2012

ya I think my lfs and I may work out a deal to quaranitne them at the store and try it there. its definately something that'll be tackle 3-6 months down the line

REEFKEEPER10 · May 30, 2012

The problem with most LFS is they keep there fish in low salinity to keep disease down and when you put them in your tank it shocks them and bingo you have ich. How big is your tank and what and how many you thinking about.

koichiban · May 30, 2012

just 2 its a 55 so I dont know if its feesable. a lot of rock work ( 3 towers). and the lfs that im talking about is acutally where i get my water from and I know they use the same,( I'm there too much...), but I'll definately make sure to ask them. I am curious cause it sounds like you might have an idea?

REEFKEEPER10 · May 30, 2012

You may be able to keep two but three might be better because one can get a break while the other is getting chased. But the idea is that they are fat and healthy before putting them together and your parameters need to be good. The reason have to is I went to petco one day and they had a flame angel that was in good healthy and everyone I have seen there died so I rescued it, I already had a coral beauty and didnt have a quarantine tank at the time so I put it in anyway. Well I had a ich out break from that fish and had to quarantine all my fish. Honestly I would wait I you can for a bigger tank. I wouldnt want to see the fish die because of my advice or you spend all that money. My flame cost sixty and the coral beauty cost fourty and I almost lost three hundred in fish over the flame. The two problems with trying to keep dwarf angel is one they try killing each other and two the stress cause ich and other sicknesses that can kill them. All I can do is give you my opinion and experience so you can make your own choice. I hope this helps. If you have anymore questions I will do my best to answer.