Emperors of R2R (pomacanthus imperator)

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Wen

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There’s more Emperors out there in R2R land, let’s see them!

:p while we wait for more folks to join in, here’s some pics of General Tso checking out his future pantryo_O

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watdachuck

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@watdachuck did

So cool seeing the yellow horizonal stripes coming in on BoTom!!! Great pics.

On a different topic, how do you like the coarse substrate? It's so clean, do you vacuum it?

I love the look of it and yes it gets vacuumed every week during water changes. I actually vacuum the entire tank through a filter sock so I can collect all the pods and shake them out to be returned to the tank. There's usually a hundred or so and my Leopard Wrasses go nuts.
 

this is me

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Pomacanthus Imperator is truly one of my favorite fish. Very easy to get it to eat. Very dominant and robust. It's easily one of the fastest growing angelfish and maybe fish in general. It changes from juvenile to adult relatively quickly.
I kept mine under a SPS dominant tank with some Euphillia. I had other angelfish(trio of regal, a pair of interruptus, blueline, flame) so they had already decimated my fleshly LPS like brains and acans. I'd assume the Emperor would do the same. There's no reason why it wouldn't. It does peck at the SPS but my SPS have been matured enough into large colonies that the pestering of angelfish is not enough mortally wound them.
Emperor Angelfish is ready to eat from day one. It's never shy of joining the rest of the gang for food and never felt intimidated by any other fish that is much much larger than it. Imagine a 1" fish that has no fear of going against several 7" tangs because it wants to eat. Because it's such an aggressive feeder and dominant fish, it grew very fast.
Seeing a Juvenile Emperor changing into a full adult was one of my dream/goal in this hobby. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fulfill this dream. I've acquired an 1" Emperor back in June of 2018 and nursed it to July 2019 and it was on the verge of changing into an adult. I thought I would finally get to see it.
Back in August of 2019, we moved and with an 8month old baby, the 360gallons plus everything else would be too taxing for me. The layout of the new house isn't exactly optimum for the tank footprint either so I decided to sell everything and put the hobby on hold for awhile. Well, that "awhile" lasted about 3 months into the new house. I have a new tank on order in February and hoping to get it up and running sometime in May/June. However in this new tank, though I have the size(350gallons, 84"x34"x28"), I plan on going back to keeping non coral eater fish since I've been missing my brains, acans, and clams.
But who knows, in all of my years of reefing and the many tanks I've had, I've always failed to resist an angelfish. If I do angelfish again, Emperor will definitely be in my tank.
If some of you is reading this thread because you're interested in keeping one. Make sure you get a Juvenile and watch it change to Adult form. Make sure you have a variety of food and a tank size large enough. I wouldn't worry about it being bullied by other fish but the other way around. Definitely will be difficult if you want to add another Pomacanthus after you have an Emperor in the tank.
And DEFINITELY kiss your fleshy LPS like brains and acans good bye. Whether if that's worth it to you, it's your decision.

June 2018. ~1.5" Juvenile.
15D5D77B-2333-40DC-BC41-2EC306009CC7.jpeg.jpg


October 2018
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April 2019
original.jpg


July 2019. Before I had to sell the tank and everything
IMG_0876.JPG


Just an idea of what the 1.5" Emperor was competing with in terms of food, space, and dominancy. It backed down to no fish. And shadowed the regal angelfish in size in just about 6 months.
original2.jpg
 
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Pomacanthus Imperator is truly one of my favorite fish. Very easy to get it to eat. Very dominant and robust. It's easily one of the fastest growing angelfish and maybe fish in general. It changes from juvenile to adult relatively quickly.
I kept mine under a SPS dominant tank with some Euphillia. I had other angelfish(trio of regal, a pair of interruptus, blueline, flame) so they had already decimated my fleshly LPS like brains and acans. I'd assume the Emperor would do the same. There's no reason why it wouldn't. It does peck at the SPS but my SPS have been matured enough into large colonies that the pestering of angelfish is not enough mortally wound them.
Emperor Angelfish is ready to eat from day one. It's never shy of joining the rest of the gang for food and never felt intimidated by any other fish that is much much larger than it. Imagine a 1" fish that has no fear of going against several 7" tangs because it wants to eat. Because it's such an aggressive feeder and dominant fish, it grew very fast.
Seeing a Juvenile Emperor changing into a full adult was one of my dream/goal in this hobby. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fulfill this dream. I've acquired an 1" Emperor back in June of 2018 and nursed it to July 2019 and it was on the verge of changing into an adult. I thought I would finally get to see it.
Back in August of 2019, we moved and with an 8month old baby, the 360gallons plus everything else would be too taxing for me. The layout of the new house isn't exactly optimum for the tank footprint either so I decided to sell everything and put the hobby on hold for awhile. Well, that "awhile" lasted about 3 months into the new house. I have a new tank on order in February and hoping to get it up and running sometime in May/June. However in this new tank, though I have the size(350gallons, 84"x34"x28"), I plan on going back to keeping non coral eater fish since I've been missing my brains, acans, and clams.
But who knows, in all of my years of reefing and the many tanks I've had, I've always failed to resist an angelfish. If I do angelfish again, Emperor will definitely be in my tank.
If some of you is reading this thread because you're interested in keeping one. Make sure you get a Juvenile and watch it change to Adult form. Make sure you have a variety of food and a tank size large enough. I wouldn't worry about it being bullied by other fish but the other way around. Definitely will be difficult if you want to add another Pomacanthus after you have an Emperor in the tank.
And DEFINITELY kiss your fleshy LPS like brains and acans good bye. Whether if that's worth it to you, it's your decision.

June 2018. ~1.5" Juvenile.
15D5D77B-2333-40DC-BC41-2EC306009CC7.jpeg.jpg


October 2018
D88174FE-A4FB-4486-A27F-014E460C128B.jpeg.jpg


April 2019
original.jpg


July 2019. Before I had to sell the tank and everything
IMG_0876.JPG


Just an idea of what the 1.5" Emperor was competing with in terms of food, space, and dominancy. It backed down to no fish. And shadowed the regal angelfish in size in just about 6 months.
original2.jpg
Thanks for sharing your experience and best wishes in starting your new 350!
 

GOSKN5

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@GOSKN5 you have a nice looking Emperor in your tank, would you share some details and photos of him/her?

Sure, thanks for the tag!
A fish I have always wanted along with a flame angel... so after having many mixed reefs I decided I was going to go for it with the fish and take out any corals they “taste”... Emperor went through a 4 week observation period in QT with a couple rounds of prazipro... started off only eating small NLS pellets... no frozen now eats everything..

so far has tasted some cloves (only one kind so far) and some zoas (not all though) also suspect him of chomping galxea and a hammer... also pecked some rock flower nems and decimated some anthelia...

Regardless, I decided to pic the corals around the emp and flame... so I have pulled some corals and let them nip others...

Here is the tank they are in and some pics:
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This is Boss. We received him about a month ago. He went through TTM, and is now in an observation tank. He is full of personality and super difficult to take pictures of! He zips around the tank so fast. Very good eater, holds his own with the tangs, but is never aggressive, and is more like a puppy than a fish. Always comes out to greet us and beg for food. We love him very much!

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Kalinina

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Beautiful Emperors!! This thread is fantastic! I shared it with my BF and he is so excited for Boss to start changing and grunting. :D
 
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This is Boss. We received him about a month ago. He went through TTM, and is now in an observation tank. He is full of personality and super difficult to take pictures of! He zips around the tank so fast. Very good eater, holds his own with the tangs, but is never aggressive, and is more like a puppy than a fish. Always comes out to greet us and beg for food. We love him very much!

4505F139-53B6-4C95-89B7-CA4753845B7A.jpeg
Boss is one handsome dude! Keep us updated on his progress.

It’s so interesting to watch the confidence these little guys/gals display; whether eating with bigger tangs, swimming past territorial fish’s abodes, or perusing beside a clownfish nest. Is it the juvi pattern, body shape or the way they move that disarm tank mates?
 
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