Calling on people with Passer (King) angel experiance

[NaClH20NMYVEIN]

I have wanted a passer angel for a long while now, but I rarely see them for sale, and when I do they are 200$ or more. I found one today that is about 2 inches long at a LFS. They have had it for 2 weeks, and it is eating well. I have done my research on this fish but I want to hear your comments. It will go into a 75g with 125lbs of LR until it gets bigger, like 4 inches long. By then I will have my 600 set up. Has anyone bought one this small? I'm just looking for general comment of your experiances with this fish. Thanks

[marrone]

I had one for over 16 years, got it as a small juv, and now have another one for about 13 years, also got as a small Juv. The growth rate is pretty slow, but it's not a very large angel anyway to begin with. It will change over from the Juv pattern to the sub adult pretty fast but takes quite some time to change into the full adult if it even does. It should be fine in the 75gal and will be out in front and probably take over the tank fairly quick. This is a bullet proof fish, even at that size.

Be warned that this is an aggressive fish and when it grows larger, 4"-6", it can be a problem to keep with other angels, tangs or non-aggressive fish. It does very well with aggressive fish like triggers, groupers, eels and such.

[mattsilvester]

sorry to chime in with a question rather than an answer. I am considering changing my 180 back to a proper FOWLR tank - the inhabitants might look something like sohal tang, clown trigger, harlequin tusk, and ........... passer angel. Does that sound like a sensible choice of tank mates for a passer?
Thanks,
Matt

[marrone]

Yes that would be a good mix except you need to be careful with the H-Tusk as the other fish get big and very aggressive and could kill the H-Tusk. A 180gal tank would also be on the small side for a Sohal tang as they do get very big in time.

[mattsilvester]

thanks for the input Marrone.
As I say, I am thinking of going back to the rough and tumble world of FO, and get myself some decent sized fish with a bit of character.
Passer has been a long time favourite of mine, and I have been considering my options if I wanted to include one in my 180.

If not the sohal and harlequin, my other thoughts are along the lines of puffers, a miniata grouper, lunare wrasse. Suggestions of good tank mates would be welcome.

The two fish that I really like are the clown trigger and the passer - don't worry, I know the potential for the clown trigger, I am just hoping that the angel would be ok with him.

I suppose my next choice would be the lunare and the miniata grouper. Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Matt

[marrone]

The Passer should be ok with the CT, even when the CT gets large. The Miniata Grouper will be fine with both as would a Snapper or large Squirrel fish. Even though the Passer is very aggressive it doesn't get that large, compared to the other large angels, so it's easy to find large fish to kept with it and still not need a huge tank.