Can I/How to pair flame angels?

[meschaefer]

I just came back from my LFS and picked up two tiny flame angels that I would like to pair. I know it has been done before, and I also figure it may not work. Right now i am drip acclimating them and will soon have them separated in a 20 gallon long QT tank with a divider.

If this does not work out I can easily find a new home for one of them.

Both fish are small, at about +/- 2 inches.

They will go into a 220 gallon display, which currently has a Lamarcks Angel, two percs, a cromis, an orange spotted rabbit fish and an algae blenny.

My plan at this point (unless told otherwise) is to keep them in the QT for a couple of days completely separated. There is a plastic mesh that divides the tank and I figure in a about a week I would remove the mesh and see how they react to each other. If need be I can very easily seperate them again.

Is there anything I should do different, or important information that I should know?

[ReefWho?]

If I remember there was a thread about someone having a pair, and you can tell which one is a male and female by looking at the back fins, where the purple area is. The male has the sharp points while the female has a more round type of end. Sorry if this is confusing but thats what I read a long time ago.

[meschaefer]

I remember seeing a couple of threads on this issue, just couldn't find them with the search function.

[meschaefer]

Ok I re-did my search for "sexing" as opposed to "pairing" and found a lot more info than the first run through.


Do people think I should keep them together from the outset, instead of keeping them separated for the first week?

["Umm, fish?"]

Given that they are both the same size, I'd be pretty nervous. The usual method is to try to find two that are of very different sizes. On the other hand, it's not a horrible thing to try to remove the divider and see what happens. Just keep a good eye on them and replace it if you need to.

What material is your divider made of? A wall of acrylic won't help you much but, say, a wall of window screen material might give you a better idea of how they would do without the wall.

Good luck!

[meschaefer]

These are two of the smallest flame angels I have ever seen, so i wouls hope they hadn't cahnges yet.

The divider is made of screen

["Umm, fish?"]

Well, the fact that they are the same size means that neither one is obviously dominant. So, they are likely to spend a good deal of time beating on each other before one conceeds dominance.