Passer angelfish an queen angelfish compatibility?

[jwheels10]

Hello all, I have a Passer angelfish,(5-6 inches) and many other large angelfish, a 7 inch emporer(king of the tank), a 5 inch French, a 3.5 inch chrysurus(changing stage), and a 2.5 inch goldflake( juvenile, not yet in the tank but will go within a few days). All of these angelfish( excluding the goldflake) get along great. The emporer is the king of the tank, but rarely chased around other fish and doesn’t go crazy when he does. The passer has had some previous issues with a blue face, but then after a week no issues happens again. The blue face is in the process of being rehomed right now and is in a quarantine tank do to him picking on the chrysurus. These fish are in a 180 together, and I got them to get along with the mirror trick, putting them in at night, using a red light, etc. my LFS has a 7-8 inch queen angelfish, who is stunning. I normally don’t think the queens are great, but this one is really something. I would quarantine this fish first, and then add him at night with no lights on in the house besides a red light above the tank. I will also put up a mirror and feed the fish heavily the next morning. I was wondering what everyone else thinks of this, and I just wanted to say many think the tanks crowded with those fish but I have 2 FX6s, a lot of live rock, and do water changes regularly. Tank is Fowlr, I copied this from the fowlr forum to reach more people

 

[littlefoxx]

Hello all, I have a Passer angelfish,(5-6 inches) and many other large angelfish, a 7 inch emporer(king of the tank), a 5 inch French, a 3.5 inch chrysurus(changing stage), and a 2.5 inch goldflake( juvenile, not yet in the tank but will go within a few days). All of these angelfish( excluding the goldflake) get along great. The emporer is the king of the tank, but rarely chased around other fish and doesn’t go crazy when he does. The passer has had some previous issues with a blue face, but then after a week no issues happens again. The blue face is in the process of being rehomed right now and is in a quarantine tank do to him picking on the chrysurus. These fish are in a 180 together, and I got them to get along with the mirror trick, putting them in at night, using a red light, etc. my LFS has a 7-8 inch queen angelfish, who is stunning. I normally don’t think the queens are great, but this one is really something. I would quarantine this fish first, and then add him at night with no lights on in the house besides a red light above the tank. I will also put up a mirror and feed the fish heavily the next morning. I was wondering what everyone else thinks of this, and I just wanted to say many think the tanks crowded with those fish but I have 2 FX6s, a lot of live rock, and do water changes regularly. Tank is Fowlr, I copied this from the fowlr forum to reach more people

All of these are in a 180? Youve got quite a few angles that each will get to minimum 15 inches… a queen angel is also a massive fish. Do you have any plans to upgrade this tank to a bare minimum 300 gallon? Thats probably what it will take to house massive fish like these guys… something to think about before adding another angelfish that will get between 15-20 inches as an adult

 

[jwheels10]

All of these are in a 180? Youve got quite a few angles that each will get to minimum 15 inches… a queen angel is also a massive fish. Do you have any plans to upgrade this tank to a bare minimum 300 gallon? Thats probably what it will take to house massive fish like these guys… something to think about before adding another angelfish that will get between 15-20 inches as an adult

It’ll be 10 years before some of these get close to that. When they do I’ll upgrade to proably a 350.

 

[Cheese Griller]

Agree with the above. You’re already above capacity. No reason to temp fate with another large and aggressive angel

 

[jwheels10]

Bump

 

[DCR]

The queen can probably hold its own against the Passer and the Emperor given the size. I would point out that they rarely hold those beautiful show blue/green color that they have when they arrive and turn a rather dull yellow color. The only ones I have seen that retain it are in reef tanks which I assume yours is not. It is a very heavy stocking, but I have done something similar when the angels were smaller (7-8") in a 7 ft 200 gallon back in the early 90's. I doubt the emperor and queen will get more than 12" but that is still a massive fish, and you will likely have to rehome some of them at some point. You would want a viable plan. You need good biological filtration and surface water movement for aeration, a plan for how to aerate quickly if power is lost and a plan of how to rehome if things do not go well. A larger tank would really be advisable if you want to keep a large angel collection. I suffered a wipe-out of my 200 gallon FO when my return pump failed due to a snail getting into the impeller with no powerheads. Passers are extremely aggressive when they get large IME and difficult to keep with other angels. I cannot imagine keeping one with a Goldflake.

 

[jwheels10]

The queen can probably hold its own against the Passer and the Emperor given the size. I would point out that they rarely hold those beautiful show blue/green color that they have when they arrive and turn a rather dull yellow color. The only ones I have seen that retain it are in reef tanks which I assume yours is not. It is a very heavy stocking, but I have done something similar when the angels were smaller (7-8") in a 7 ft 200 gallon back in the early 90's. I doubt the emperor and queen will get more than 12" but that is still a massive fish, and you will likely have to rehome some of them at some point. You would want a viable plan. You need good biological filtration and surface water movement for aeration, a plan for how to aerate quickly if power is lost and a plan of how to rehome if things do not go well. A larger tank would really be advisable if you want to keep a large angel collection. I suffered a wipe-out of my 200 gallon FO when my return pump failed due to a snail getting into the impeller with no powerheads. Passers are extremely aggressive when they get large IME and difficult to keep with other angels. I cannot imagine keeping one with a Goldflake.

Thank you for the thoughtful response. The reason I suspect the passer will do well with the goldflake is because when I put my chrysurus in, the passer paid absoulutely zero mind to him at all. My French, the most model citizen in my whole tank attacked once(never again) but the passer was acting like tha nicest guy in the tank. The emporer would try to get to the chrysurus, but due to the small entry’s to lots of caves in in my tank, he was unable to touch him at all. That is another reason why I think the passer will be unable to hurt my goldflake. The chrysurus, supposedly a very mean and aggressive fish, is still in the changing stage and is therefore not believed to be as aggressive as they are as adults. My chrysurus did not attack back at all, and sometimes would just sit there and take beatings by the blue face and not try to hide at all. The queen I am looking at looks much different from all other queens I have seen. Other queens I have seen have the blueish greenish color, but the one I looked at has a vibrant orange with striking blue on the throat and in other spots. As I mentioned above, I usually pay no mind to queens, but this one is truly buetiful. If I do get it I will come back to this post and put pictures. I will attach pictures below, the one on the left looks closer to the one I am interested in but not nearly as great as it. The one on the right looks like queens I usually see. It might just be a preference, but I like the orange more.

 

[jwheels10]

The queen can probably hold its own against the Passer and the Emperor given the size. I would point out that they rarely hold those beautiful show blue/green color that they have when they arrive and turn a rather dull yellow color. The only ones I have seen that retain it are in reef tanks which I assume yours is not. It is a very heavy stocking, but I have done something similar when the angels were smaller (7-8") in a 7 ft 200 gallon back in the early 90's. I doubt the emperor and queen will get more than 12" but that is still a massive fish, and you will likely have to rehome some of them at some point. You would want a viable plan. You need good biological filtration and surface water movement for aeration, a plan for how to aerate quickly if power is lost and a plan of how to rehome if things do not go well. A larger tank would really be advisable if you want to keep a large angel collection. I suffered a wipe-out of my 200 gallon FO when my return pump failed due to a snail getting into the impeller with no powerheads. Passers are extremely aggressive when they get large IME and difficult to keep with other angels. I cannot imagine keeping one with a Goldflake.

@DCR Also I have multiple wave makers and the filter agitating the top of the water. The power went out the other day and I have a backup generator to start the power back up so the wave makers turn back on. I also have battery powered bubblers at the ready.

 

[littlefoxx]

Thank you for the thoughtful response. The reason I suspect the passer will do well with the goldflake is because when I put my chrysurus in, the passer paid absoulutely zero mind to him at all. My French, the most model citizen in my whole tank attacked once(never again) but the passer was acting like tha nicest guy in the tank. The emporer would try to get to the chrysurus, but due to the small entry’s to lots of caves in in my tank, he was unable to touch him at all. That is another reason why I think the passer will be unable to hurt my goldflake. The chrysurus, supposedly a very mean and aggressive fish, is still in the changing stage and is therefore not believed to be as aggressive as they are as adults. My chrysurus did not attack back at all, and sometimes would just sit there and take beatings by the blue face and not try to hide at all. The queen I am looking at looks much different from all other queens I have seen. Other queens I have seen have the blueish greenish color, but the one I looked at has a vibrant orange with striking blue on the throat and in other spots. As I mentioned above, I usually pay no mind to queens, but this one is truly buetiful. If I do get it I will come back to this post and put pictures. I will attach pictures below, the one on the left looks closer to the one I am interested in but not nearly as great as it. The one on the right looks like queens I usually see. It might just be a preference, but I like the orange more.

TBH if it looks closer to the left it might actually be a townsend angel not a queen! (Mix between the blue angel and the queen, shows colors from both fish)

 

[DCR]

If you like the orangish color phase of the queen, that may very well remain. I have seen them while diving, and the brilliant blue-green color they display on the reef I rarely see in an aquarium except when they first come in. I thought that is what attracted you. I did not catch that you had a french as well. They also get massive and can be aggressive. I understand the temptation to collect large angels as they are magnificent. I went through a phase like that when I first got into to SW aquariums. I still keep a couple in my SPS tank. It can be done but you will likely want a larger tank like a 450 down the road if you want to keep doing that. One thing I did observe was that it was easier to keep 7-8 or more than 2-4 since the aggression tends to get spread out among them and the weakest is not singled out. I find that aggression limits stocking more than biological filtration. I wish you luck.

 

[jwheels10]

If you like the orangish color phase of the queen, that may very well remain. I have seen them while diving, and the brilliant blue-green color they display on the reef I rarely see in an aquarium except when they first come in. I thought that is what attracted you. I did not catch that you had a french as well. They also get massive and can be aggressive. I understand the temptation to collect large angels as they are magnificent. I went through a phase like that when I first got into to SW aquariums. I still keep a couple in my SPS tank. It can be done but you will likely want a larger tank like a 450 down the road if you want to keep doing that. One thing I did observe was that it was easier to keep 7-8 or more than 2-4 since the aggression tends to get spread out among them and the weakest is not singled out. I find that aggression limits stocking more than biological filtration. I wish you luck.

If I see the fish unhappy in the tank with the size as they get bigger I will rehome or upgrade to a 3-4 hundred gallon most likely 8 foot long. Also this will take a very long time, as I have had the blue face for over a year and seen no growth at all. I’ll take a quick picture of the tank now just so you get an idea of the rocks in there. Most of the fish are in caves or my melanarus is under the sand.

 

[jwheels10]

TBH if it looks closer to the left it might actually be a townsend angel not a queen! (Mix between the blue angel and the queen, shows colors from both fish)

That’s cool, I’ve heard about them but never seen one at my LFS marked as a Townsend angel, though some very well might be. The queen that is at my LFS that I am interested in is just marked as a show, even though they have bigger queens that are not marked as shows lol.

 

[jwheels10]

If you like the orangish color phase of the queen, that may very well remain. I have seen them while diving, and the brilliant blue-green color they display on the reef I rarely see in an aquarium except when they first come in. I thought that is what attracted you. I did not catch that you had a french as well. They also get massive and can be aggressive. I understand the temptation to collect large angels as they are magnificent. I went through a phase like that when I first got into to SW aquariums. I still keep a couple in my SPS tank. It can be done but you will likely want a larger tank like a 450 down the road if you want to keep doing that. One thing I did observe was that it was easier to keep 7-8 or more than 2-4 since the aggression tends to get spread out among them and the weakest is not singled out. I find that aggression limits stocking more than biological filtration. I wish you luck.

Here’s my little captive bred goldflake to

 

[littlefoxx]

That’s cool, I’ve heard about them but never seen one at my LFS marked as a Townsend angel, though some very well might be. The queen that is at my LFS that I am interested in is just marked as a show, even though they have bigger queens that are not marked as shows lol.

Yeah they usually are not marked because it can be hard to tell if its the hybrid or just a colorful queen or blue!