Thoughts on adding a C. Potteri pair in with an est C. aurantia

[Sparkss]

we have a golden pygmy angel that has been doing well in our tank for 7 - 8 months now (it came from another reefers tank when he took it down, so in captivity for quite some time now). We have an opportunity to add a pair of Potters Angels (M/F pair). Our tank is a 380g with lots of rockwrok and plenty of places to hide. The Golden does run the circuit of the entire tank now, but as has been noted, they are a veyr cryptic fish, so we don't see him all of the time, and never swimming out in the water column.

Aside from the issues with putting a Potters into a reef tank (with SPS, Zoas/Palys, LPS and clams), does anyone have any thoughts about putting two different pygmies into a tank our size ?

My first instinct is to say no, but I wanted to see if anyone had any information of experiences with anything similar (or with either of these species).

Here is a shot of our Golden :)

http://tomandjue.com/Gallery/albums/InWall/InWall_330.jpg


Our tank is 4' from front to back and 6.5' long by 25" tall (and we have a mesh top over it).

Thanks for any feedback on this :)

[triggerfish1976]

Potters can become very territorial when they become established especially males. There is no telling what sex your golden is and if it is a male then you will more than likely have problems.
Healthy Golden's are also hard to come by so I don't know if I would risk it's health by adding fish that could stress it out.

[Sparkss]

Those were my thoughts exactly. I did not want to risk jinxing our good luck with the Golden by trying to push our luck and adding the Potters.

[dvmsn]

They also are somewhat similarly colored. Trouble

[guppie]

I just add a pair of flames to my tank that already had a cb at first the cb did his best to let them know that he was the king, things have settled down and they do alot of swimming together, but the 2 you are talking about look too much alike i would think that you would run into some problems,

[LargeAngels]

golden's are timid and potter's can be really aggressive. My first reaction would be no.

[thor32766]

yes I would also say no.

[philter4]

I keep a lot of pygmies, including potters. Though you can mix them with other pygmy angels, they are so agressive the golden would probably be killed. I have had them kill flames and cherubs, both more aggressive and out going then the golden.
You have one thing going in your favor should you choose to try, the golden is established. The biggest problem is going to be saving the golden if they don't get along, how do you get the potters out of the tank?!-from the photo you have a lot of rock which makes catching the fish much more complicated.

[Sparkss]

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. It all reinforces my first instinct to pass on the potters, which is what I will do. Rest assured that the Golden will remain the sole angel in our tank :).

[just dave]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11153317#post11153317 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sparkss
Thanks to everyone for your feedback. It all reinforces my first instinct to pass on the potters, which is what I will do. Rest assured that the Golden will remain the sole angel in our tank :).

It doesn't have to be the only angel. Consider some of the Genicanthus sp. angels.

[danfrith]

Or maybe another golden?

[Sparkss]

just dave
We had considered a pair of swallow tails, but some Genicanthus angels can get territorial and aggressive towards other fish. We had a Bellus that was pretty obnoxious towards new additions once it got established.

danfirth
That would be optimal, but since we don't know how to sex them and the mortailty rate is pretty high, I don't have alot of faith that we would be lucky enough to score a compatible mate that would make it :(. Best case they would both live together as a happy couple, worse case they could fight until both of them sustained fatal injuries. I don't want to risk the worse case scenario coming true :(. If we had a way to tell gender, then it would be worth exploring, but from what I have read, that is not really possible to do visually. But if anyone knows how to tell, all ears :D

[danfrith]

Well, all centrogype angels are hermaphrodites. If the one you currently have is fullgrown and you buy a much smaller one then they should form a pair pretty quick ( larger one being the male/ smaller one the female, since they are protogynous hermaphroites). Or you could buy two smaller ones and form a small harem, usually the male and more dominant/larger female would pair off, and would leave the lone female. But thats just me. Good luck.

[Sparkss]

Excellent point. That may well be something worth exploring. Especially since we have one that is established and eating, I would speculate that it would help acclimate the new addition and show here where all the good food can be found (perhaps). The tank is large enough to support 2 of them (as a pair that is). Thanks for the suggestion :).