Add an emperor angel!?

Glenn Siegel · Feb 19, 2021

I have a 300 gallon well stocked tank. Currently has a 3-4 in. Queen angel raised from a juvenile and growing. Only other angel is a coral beauty.
Other fish include tangs, parrotfish, eels, trigger.

i saw a small juvenile emperor that I am thinking of adding. Thoughts about adding with the queen that is currently much larger? Hoping that with the size difference the queen won’t be threatened and mess with the emperor.
Thoughts? Thanks!

lapin · Feb 19, 2021

Its a crap shoot with similar shaped fish. Sometimes it works and sometimes not.

tehmadreefer · Feb 19, 2021

IKD · Mar 16, 2021

Agree with @tehmadreefer

JumboShrimp · Mar 16, 2021

I’d love to put a stamp of approval on it for you (Lol)... but still at least once a week I talk myself out of adding another large angel in with my Emperor (nearly an adult). “If” it worked long term, I would think it would have to be in a tank with negative aquascaping, i.e., maximum swim room.

Fishnut · Mar 16, 2021

I think you will be okay while the size difference is major, but the emperor growth rate is much faster then the queen from my experience. By the time they are around the same size the emperor may be able to handle any of the queen’s aggression. I would use an egg crate divider when introducing it to the DT with the queen and monitor. Always a gamble with angels, but worth trying for a tank with those beauties. Good luck.

Glenn Siegel · Mar 16, 2021

Thanks everyone for the input. I did wind up adding the baby emperor and he is doing awesome. Zero issues with the queen.

IKD · Mar 16, 2021

That’s great! I hope you have long term success too with this combination

Fishnut · Aug 21, 2021

How are the two angels getting along after 5 months?

Glenn Siegel · Aug 21, 2021

Fishnut said:
How are the two angels getting along after 5 months?

Thanks for reaching back out. They are doing great together. No issues at all. The queen has gotten huge and the emperor is still in the juvenile stage and taking much longer to transition which I actually like. No aggression whatsoever between the two of them

Squidward · Aug 22, 2021

I just sold my emperor. He had just transitioned to adult colors over a month ago. Became a bully in the tank. He stood his ground. Grew pretty darn fast too. I added a smaller Scribbled and Blueface. It was peaceful for an hour, then all hell broke loose. Emperor went after my Scribbled and literally bit at her. You can feel/see the force behind its bites. Most of the time he missed, but when he didn't ..it was awful to see. I couldn't risk losing my new $400 Scribbled so I caught the Emperor and threw him in the sump.