Golden Angelfish

[BrianKav]

Just purchased a Golden Angelfish and read on the WWW that it is better to have a pair. Is this correct? And what are the benefits?
Tank:77gal with live rock
Sump has live rock
Current fish:
2.5” Yellow tang
Pair of orange chromis in anemone
Jewelled blennie
Wrasse
Sps frags and lps

would welcome your thoughts.

 

[blaxsun]

Kudos on snagging this! It's recommended that you only keep one dwarf angel for your size of tank. I have two different dwarf angels in my 160-gallon, and they took a few weeks to work out living arrangements.

 

[BrianKav]

Kudos on snagging this! It's recommended that you only keep one dwarf angel for your size of tank. I have two different dwarf angels in my 160-gallon, and they took a few weeks to work out living arrangements.

Blaxsun, thanks.

 

[i cant think]

I agree with Blaxsun, these fish should only be paired in large tanks - I often find it better to get a trio with one male and two females, but the C. aurantia it’s hard to differentiate male from female so I would recommend only one.

 

[BrianKav]

I agree with Blaxsun, these fish should only be paired in large tanks - I often find it better to get a trio with one male and two females, but the C. aurantia it’s hard to differentiate male from female so I would recommend only one.

Thank you.

 

[LaloJ]

Just purchased a Golden Angelfish and read on the WWW that it is better to have a pair. Is this correct? And what are the benefits?
Tank:77gal with live rock
Sump has live rock
Current fish:
2.5” Yellow tang
Pair of orange chromis in anemone
Jewelled blennie
Wrasse
Sps frags and lps

would welcome your thoughts.

Any updates??

 

[BrianKav]

Any updates??

About two weeks after purchase I noticed the Golden had a white mark and developed cloudy eye. After reading the forums i identified flukes as suggested, I did 2 freshwater 5 minute dips 6 days apart, the first dip released 19 flukes off the fish and the 2nd dip nothing else, also the cloudy eye went away after 14 days. I kept a very close eye on the other fish and have so far seen nothing. The Golden is now swimming out from behind the rocks and picking away on the rocks (not my corals). It is a beautiful fish a dark cinnamon colour.

 

[Chrisv.]

About two weeks after purchase I noticed the Golden had a white mark and developed cloudy eye. After reading the forums i identified flukes as suggested, I did 2 freshwater 5 minute dips 6 days apart, the first dip released 19 flukes off the fish and the 2nd dip nothing else, also the cloudy eye went away after 14 days. I kept a very close eye on the other fish and have so far seen nothing. The Golden is now swimming out from behind the rocks and picking away on the rocks (not my corals). It is a beautiful fish a dark cinnamon colour.

I love these. My best reef deal ever was a golden angel I bought off of craigslist. The guy who owned it said his girlfriend thought it was ugly and "made him sell it." He was only asking $25. He also threw in a colony of purple digitata. Bizarre. I was one happy guy.

 

[LaloJ]

About two weeks after purchase I noticed the Golden had a white mark and developed cloudy eye. After reading the forums i identified flukes as suggested, I did 2 freshwater 5 minute dips 6 days apart, the first dip released 19 flukes off the fish and the 2nd dip nothing else, also the cloudy eye went away after 14 days. I kept a very close eye on the other fish and have so far seen nothing. The Golden is now swimming out from behind the rocks and picking away on the rocks (not my corals). It is a beautiful fish a dark cinnamon colour.

It's good to know that your fish was able to get out of diseases, it has always been one of my favorites but I have never been able to get one, also its price has risen a lot, this is a rather cryptic fish, what have you been feeding it?

 

[BrianKav]

It's good to know that your fish was able to get out of diseases, it has always been one of my favorites but I have never been able to get one, also its price has risen a lot, this is a rather cryptic fish, what have you been feeding it?

The Golden cost me £199, I feed all fish with standard marine flake food or frozen food with added vitamins, once a day or every other day. It has turned into a fit looking fish also my yellow tang (tank bred) is getting bigger and is getting that lovely daffodil yellow colour. Abso over the moon with both. Thanks for asking. I have just seen a blue/white/yellow/pearl mixed colour Angel in my LFS a stunner, as nice as it is keeping the Golden

 

[Zionas]

You may be fine with a pair if your tank is 4’ long, best to do 1 bigger and 1 smaller or both small. However a trio I’d be more comfortable with in a 6’ tank. Still a 77-gallon is borderline for even a pair and unless already paired I’d probably just do one.

 

[Zionas]

I think it’s best done getting all small juveniles (likely all female) or 1 bigger and 2 smaller. For forming pairs and trios this is why I’ll only buy captive bred angels. Angels are pretty much all protogynous hermaphrodites capable of sex change and so far the most reliable method I’ve seen, as demonstrated by OrionN and some others, is either one of the two methods given ample room and hiding spaces. Some have also demonstrated that a pair can become a trio without too much difficulty when a smaller female is introduced and quickly accepted.

Some dwarf angels form only harems, some form both pairs and harems depending how how readily available conspecifics are. This is in the wild although I have seen harem forming species (like Coral Beauties and Flames) do fine in just pairs.

But it is my belief that Centropyge / Paracentropyge would prefer harems over pairs whenever possible. IMO I would only try to form a trio in a 6’+ tank, and most tanks cannot hold anything more than a trio due to the females needing their territories.

Some species form harems of 5+, up to 7 fish in the wild depending on the location and availability of conspecifics. This is too big of a harem to attempt in the vast majority of tanks, because it risks the male being challenged by more females than it can control, and one of them may change into a second male and try to usurp the original male or form its own harem. So if we try 6-7 I wouldn’t be surprised if the harem breaks into two trios. On Reef Central a member attempted a harem of six Flames, a second male emerged but was forced to revert by the first male, but it was clearly too much for one male to keep up with and after he removed three and six became a trio, they were much happier and started spawning.

An exception would probably be C. Resplendens which by the way is totally attainable and affordable. They tend to live in small groups in the wild that from what I’ve gathered aren’t as linear as the haremic structure of some species, although I’m not sure how that’ll play out in captivity.

@alton

@OrionN

@ca1ore

 

[BrianKav]

You may be fine with a pair if your tank is 4’ long, best to do 1 bigger and 1 smaller or both small. However a trio I’d be more comfortable with in a 6’ tank. Still a 77-gallon is borderline for even a pair and unless already paired I’d probably just do one.

Thank you

 

[BrianKav]

I think it’s best done getting all small juveniles (likely all female) or 1 bigger and 2 smaller. For forming pairs and trios this is why I’ll only buy captive bred angels. Angels are pretty much all protogynous hermaphrodites capable of sex change and so far the most reliable method I’ve seen, as demonstrated by OrionN and some others, is either one of the two methods given ample room and hiding spaces. Some have also demonstrated that a pair can become a trio without too much difficulty when a smaller female is introduced and quickly accepted.

Some dwarf angels form only harems, some form both pairs and harems depending how how readily available conspecifics are. This is in the wild although I have seen harem forming species (like Coral Beauties and Flames) do fine in just pairs.

But it is my belief that Centropyge / Paracentropyge would prefer harems over pairs whenever possible. IMO I would only try to form a trio in a 6’+ tank, and most tanks cannot hold anything more than a trio due to the females needing their territories.

@alton

@OrionN

@ca1ore

Thank you for the info, it is good to know

 

[Zionas]

You’re welcome.

 

[Zionas]

No worries.

 

[angelfishexpert]

Golden angelfish are generally hardy and easy to care for, making them a good choice for beginner aquarists. They can be kept in a reef aquarium with other peaceful fish and invertebrates, but should not be kept with aggressive or larger fish that may bully them. They require a well-established aquarium with stable water parameters and plenty of hiding places.

 

[i cant think]

Golden angelfish are generally hardy and easy to care for, making them a good choice for beginner aquarists. They can be kept in a reef aquarium with other peaceful fish and invertebrates, but should not be kept with aggressive or larger fish that may bully them. They require a well-established aquarium with stable water parameters and plenty of hiding places.

I disagree with some of this.
Golden Angels are a harder species of Centropyge to keep in captivity as they’re from deeper waters than most of our fish and bringing them up is already a nightmare but with the amount of issues brought through that it makes them harder to keep IME.
They also don’t want a peaceful tank as these guys are a Semi-Aggressive species, they can be beaten around a bit and not be too badly injured however if you have a peaceful tank with one of these in, it risks this guy becoming the boss and beating around tankmates of similar body shapes.
A well-established aquarium is not a need, if your parameters are unstable to the point a fish can’t survive then the tank is still cycling and not ready for any fish. If you add these guys into a well established aquarium the likelihood is you have a lack of algae for them to feed on, algae is often available in a young tank because of the balancing of parameters that corals need not fish. Yes this species feeds on sponges that are generally there in an established tank however even young tanks have micro fauna to hold a less needy fish.

 

[LaloJ]

I disagree with some of this.
Golden Angels are a harder species of Centropyge to keep in captivity as they’re from deeper waters than most of our fish and bringing them up is already a nightmare but with the amount of issues brought through that it makes them harder to keep IME.
They also don’t want a peaceful tank as these guys are a Semi-Aggressive species, they can be beaten around a bit and not be too badly injured however if you have a peaceful tank with one of these in, it risks this guy becoming the boss and beating around tankmates of similar body shapes.
A well-established aquarium is not a need, if your parameters are unstable to the point a fish can’t survive then the tank is still cycling and not ready for any fish. If you add these guys into a well established aquarium the likelihood is you have a lack of algae for them to feed on, algae is often available in a young tank because of the balancing of parameters that corals need not fish. Yes this species feeds on sponges that are generally there in an established tank however even young tanks have micro fauna to hold a less needy fish.

+1 here... So, I doubt we'll hear from the OP's fish. These are delicate angels and need plenty of live rock and seaweed to graze on most of the time, it's not easy to adapt them to captivity, and I think it's still much harder to get a pair or a trio, usually LFS can have one available very occasionally, personally I haven't seen one in person since 2004.