Are these 2 a couple?

[Ardeus]

An inexplored area is the pairing of different species. My male flame angel and tomini tang are best buddies and hang around a lot

Many years ago I was forced to keep a silver dollar with Malawi haps. The Malawi haps went crazy for the silver dollar, it was the sexiest thing they had ever seen they couldn't care less about their own females.

 

[eatbreakfast]

An inexplored area is the pairing of different species. My male flame angel and tomini tang are best buddies and hang around a lot

Many years ago I was forced to keep a silver dollar with Malawi haps. The Malawi haps went crazy for the silver dollar, it was the sexiest thing they had ever seen they couldn't care less about their own females.

Neither of those cases are even remotely pairing. Some fish will pr with different species, but it is always with something closely related, not across Family lines.

 

[Krzydmnd]

The vid doesn't look there is a male to me either. The bristles do come at sexual maturity so size is a factor but I've seen smaller ones (going by the picture of them in the hand) that had bristles.

What do the bristles on a file fish indicate?

 

[mort]

What do the bristles on a file fish indicate?

There are a few filefish that have bristles but I'm unsure the purpose of them. In mature males these can be very pronounced but both sexes have them. It's a bit like an old man's beard versus an old ladies whisker.

 

[eatbreakfast]

There are a few filefish that have bristles but I'm unsure the purpose of them. In mature males these can be very pronounced but both sexes have them. It's a bit like an old man's beard versus an old ladies whisker.

Awesome analogy!

 

[Ardeus]

Neither of those cases are even remotely pairing. Some fish will pr with different species, but it is always with something closely related, not across Family lines.

Pairing was the wrong word. What I meant to say is that the way different species interact in positive ways is mostly neglected and unknown when choosing fish for a reef tank.

I rarely saw the Tomini tang in my tank until I got the first flame angel. They often go about the tank together now foraging on algae.

Is this something easily replicated? It's this kind of interactions that I think it would be very interesting and useful to know.

There's the concept of dither fish to help shy fish feel more confident, but I think there's little knowledge about other possible positive relationships.

 

[aurora.k]

I had one that jumped out of the tank. It kept the aiptaisia population in check and it cleared 1 type of xenias.

Same here - one type of xenia was gone in one day, but nothing else has been bothered. I’ve never seen aiptasia in my tank so either I’ve been lucky or my pair is very efficient

 

[norfolkgarden]

Pairing was the wrong word. What I meant to say is that the way different species interact in positive ways is mostly neglected and unknown when choosing fish for a reef tank.

I rarely saw the Tomini tang in my tank until I got the first flame angel. They often go about the tank together now foraging on algae.

Is this something easily replicated? It's this kind of interactions that I think it would be very interesting and useful to know.

There's the concept of dither fish to help shy fish feel more confident, but I think there's little knowledge about other possible positive relationships.

Excellent point.

I believe we are successful at keeping things like chromis together partly because they are dive bombed by other fish and spend more time acting as a defensive group more than they are expending energy on fratricide.

 

[Ardeus]

I made a "documentary" about what is arguably the most social fish on the planet, Neolamprologus multifasciatus, the smallest cichlid of the world. I shot it inside a tank.

They had no distractions other than looking at each other's faces, so the behaviors got amplified, especially aggression. Instead of filming the development of a colony, which was my intent, I filmed a war.