What would be a good tank size for 2 Genicanthus?

[Scdell]

I bought two female Lamarks about a year ago. In the hope one would turn male. My plan worked out as in about two months the process happened. So... Yeah with two females one will turn male. I think fish size is kinda relevant. The size they post is in the wild. I don't feel in captivity they will get to Max size.

 

[Zionas]

Sorry to hear about the eye problem! Do you think it was a result of decompression sickness in fish? How do they get along with everyone else? Any other feeding difficulties or struggles with disease? How many would you do for a 6’ tank?

 

[Sam816]

They’re really cute. Your LFS doesn’t get in One Spots often? Would you say they’re more rare than the Yellow?

It's like I am more impatient
I started my first tank in sept. It was a repurposed fresh water tank with diy plumbing n stand. Lost 5 out of 7 fish due to ich by Oct 2nd week. Then went fallow. Decided to get a bigger n proper reef system. Set up 2 QT n got 2 wrasses. After that I tried to get a new fish everytime a pair moves from QT to display. Midas blenny is rare in my city but finally one lfs (90km from my home) got one last month. As I wrote earlier my tomini didn't play nice with my blenny in earlier tank so this time I wanted to put my blenny with my foxface (since they have similar diet) in QT so that they get used to each other from beginning. At that time I couldn't find one spot so I got what was available. Till now they tolerate each other well.

 

[Sam816]

I have 2 female Swallowtail. In a 7 foot tank.
They have both been very hearty, and went through copper QT very well. Very peaceful fish. Very mellow. Reef safe.
The first one. The bigger of the two. Got a very bad eye infection of some kind. Was blind in both eyes. He couldn't feed. He could smell it, but couldn't see it. I qt'ed him and treated with General Cure. Slowly his eyes cleared. He went weeks with no food. Finally he caught his first frozen brine shrimp. I was stoked!
His depth perception was off for awhile. He would try and eat, and missed very often. But he slowly recovered 100%.
About two females, and one of them turning male. Well, the bigger of the two looks like he started the change to male. But..... I started a smaller 75 gal. Tank and I put the smaller one in that tank. So the big one kinda looks like it started to change, then stopped. Lol. Who knows. From my experience, any tank I start that is large enough, gets at least one Swallowtail.

They only change when there are in a pair or harem. Fastest change happens when the male of the harem dies. Biggest female changes to male quickly.

 

[Sam816]

I bought two female Lamarks about a year ago. In the hope one would turn male. My plan worked out as in about two months the process happened. So... Yeah with two females one will turn male. I think fish size is kinda relevant. The size they post is in the wild. I don't feel in captivity they will get to Max size.

Don't they turn quite large? I got a tiny lamarck as well. Super cute. Didn't make it through QT. Had flukes. Stopped eating and perished with out a trace. Didn't even find its body or skeleton.

 

[Zionas]

Sometimes very small fish just don’t do well, I guess, with some exceptions. Sorry about that loss regardless. Personally with these fish I think I’d like them in the 2.5-4” range.

 

[Zionas]

Yeah about the Lamarck’s, what size can they be expected to reach if not the full 10”?

 

[Scdell]

Yeah about the Lamarck’s, what size can they be expected to reach if not the full 10”?

I don't know the answer to that. I guess time will tell. The male right now is a good 5-6 inches with streamers. When I got the two they were about two inches. They're growing at a good pace. The male is a fine specimen. I'll see if I can get a pic of him later.

 

[Zionas]

Would love to see it.

 

[Scdell]

Would love to see it.

Lights are just coming on. I'll get the pic.

 

[Scdell]

Would love to see it.

 

[Sam816]

An lfs got a bunch of lamarck angels in stock. What wonderful timing

 

[Scdell]

An lfs got a bunch of lamarck angels in stock. What wonderful timing

There you go! Looks like they have a male and female in stock.

 

[Zionas]

Nice. Where do you live by the way?

 

[Zionas]

I would really love to know whether 2 females of added together will get along (best if one will change to male), or whether 2 females will get along even if they’re of different species?

 

[Sam816]

I would really love to know whether 2 females of added together will get along (best if one will change to male), or whether 2 females will get along even if they’re of different species?

I live in Melbourne, Australia.
Adding 2 females might work depending on their size, size of the tank(rockscape) and other inhabitants.
Two females of different species might not be a good idea. If one of them turned into a male then he will bully other to death.
What's ur tank size and current fish family?

 

[Zionas]

The plan is a custom 130G (72” x 24” x 18”), I’m currently not able to go home (I’m a Chinese-Canadian living in Guangzhou) so I don’t have a tank yet. However for larger fish I can definitely confirm a Zebrasoma Tang (no more Yellows due to ban and no captive bred specimens where I am, so Purple / Scopas).

Smaller fish Ocellaris pair (Captive Bred), Shrimp and Goby pair, wrasses, PJ Cardinal, some damsels (not the overly aggressive or big ones) are about as much as I can confirm for now.

I think I will drop the idea of having 2 females of different species and either go with a single female of one species or (waiting for more opinions), 2 females of the same and hopefully 1 will change to a male with time.