Pairing yellow assessors?

[velvetelvis]

One of my LFS just got in a few ORA assessors. Having been interested in these beautiful fish for a long time and currently having a vacancy or two in my tank, I'm thinking of buying one. I'd love to keep a pair--is there a way to do this safely? I know they're aggressive with conspecifics, but I was wondering if it might be possible to buy two juveniles and raise them up together (depending, I guess, on whether or not they change sexes according to dominance, like clowns).

[A sea K]

ORA, are these tank bred?
Ive always been under the impression that these fish will live peacefully in groups. My two Yellows stick together but the Blue is never very far from them.

[velvetelvis]

They are bred and raised in captivity by ORA (Oceans, Reefs, and Aquariums--a marine hatchery in FL).

Did you buy yours as a pair, or separately?

[bobbychullo]

i havent been able to find much info on them and i am not sure how reliable what i have found is.

i have read blues are a schooling fish in the wild and are more timid than the yellows.

yellows supposedly pair off male/female and 2 males will have conflict.

also have read the ORA raised are not as striking yellow and I am in agreement. the 2 yellows i have are ORA and are not as bright as the photos i see of other yellows. i know people pump the saturation up on photos to make them look better but my guys are definitely not a brilliant yellow, which is no matter to me as they a cool little fish. the smaller one i have definitely submits to the larger one giving him/her his space.

ive never read they change sex but i have read that you cannot tell their sex.

their behavior is so interesting. fast as all heck, my little one will shoot like a bullet, can't even see where he goes he is so fast. and then i'll see him slowly come out from behind a rock somewhere else in the tank... pretty funny.

again, only read a little so please correct me if i am wrong.

[flying_dutchman]

http://reefhobbyistmagazine.com/downloads/pdf/version15.pdf
p. 14

[fcmatt]

i only have one yellow assessor and have noticed when shopping at LFS that the tank
raised ones range in color from a nice yellow to a mustard yellow. I have seen about a
total of 4 in person at different times over the last year. Not a huge sample i grant you
that but I did see a difference. The last one I saw was a darker yellow then mine. The
rumor is that wild caught yellow assessors are definitely a nicer yellow but i have as of
yet seen one in person.

They do well as a mated pair and a school of them, with different sizes, can do well in tanks
larger then 50 gallons. The different sizes should assure you probably will get different sexes.

Their swimming habits are astounding if you give them the right rock work to swim in.
Caves, over hangs, and etc.. will show them swimming upside down or in any odd angle.

They are probably one of the nicest fish i have ever owned. It will eat flakes, brine shrimp,
and anything else i throw at it. Did well when treated in cupramine as i bought this little
guy at petco of all places for 30 bucks. (good deal eh?). I imagine they are not very
popular due to price as I all the others i have seen are 50-80 dollars each. That makes
for one expensive school of fish. Mine is not shy at all anymore and is swimming in the
open during the day and likes to cruise under the over hangs.

reef magazine third quarter volume 4 had a nice little article about this fish and the blue
model. A lot of what i typed above i learned from it.

[cindre2000]

For some reason I can only keep 2 in my 120g. I started with three, lost one, replaced it, and then back down to 2 again.

Actually, I realized earlier this week when I was thinking about getting some anthias that I had not seen either in over a week. I was really unhappy about this since of all my fish I figured the "really easy" ORA assessors would be the last to go. But, I found them today, they have been hanging out in the rock work, probably since I introduced a pair of clowns.

As for the grouping, as long as your tank is at least 30 gallons and you get ORA, you really should not have any problem. I think my issue is my mystery wrasse, he is mean little sh**.

[velvetelvis]

http://reefhobbyistmagazine.com/downloads/pdf/version15.pdf
p. 14

Excellent. Thanks!

[A sea K]

My three are all wild caught (BlueZoo Aquatics) and added at different times. Satyed for the first couple of years in a 65, I took it down and couldnt part with them so now they're hanging out in my 210. I've got some fairly intimidating fish in there so the Assessors never venture far from cover.