The Multicolor Angels seem to be doing well. Probably just in my head but I feel like there's even less aggression between the Angels now. And strangely my Royal Grammas are actually the ones who disappear during the peak light periods of the day, even though the Multicolors are deeper water fish, I think. I would include my yellow assessor in that but I'm lucky to see him at all once a week.
Thanks for sharing that info. I haven't seen that tank but that definitely seems to go along with my observations.
Thanks! It's a Waterbox 130.1 and I think the dimensions are 4' x 22" x 20" or close to that.
You're talking about a tank of less than 350 liters, and that number of angelfish seems like a fantastic job. I'm thinking about a 120 gallon tank but with less angels than you, I hope it works the same way, how did you deal with the aggression?
Thanks! It was probably just a lot of luck honestly. I tried to be strategic with the additions but it was really just me taking my best guesses at what I thought might work. One of the first fish I added to the tank and the first angelfish was the coral beauty. It was one of the captive bred ones from biota, I believe, and it was tiny when I first got it. Probably about the size of a quarter. It had been in the tank for several months and was pretty established before I added the flame backs next so I wanted one to be a little bigger than the coral beauty and one to be around the same size. There was a lot of chasing but no real violence and they settled down pretty soon after. I added the flame angel next, a few months later, and I tried to get one just slightly bigger than the current fish to balance out their home field advantage but I ended up getting one slightly smaller than the bigger flame back. Seemed to work for the most part still but the flame back stayed at the top of the hierarchy. For the pygmy angel I just used a breeder box for a few days since he was on the smaller side compared to the other fish. In my experience the pygmy angels can usually handle themselves pretty well with larger fish. When I picked up the multicolors recently I tried getting one bigger than the largest established angel and one on the smaller side. The bigger multicolor is at the top of the hierarchy now and he seems to be a peaceful ruler. Again this was just me making my best guess at what I thought might work. I can't say there was too much rhyme or reason behind it but happy to share just in case there's anything that helps.
Thanks! And yes, Centropyge Argi, sorry. I only learned of the other variants like the Pacific Pygmy recently so I keep forgetting there are others. I guess the Centropyge Argi is probably more commonly called a Cherub Angelfish.
I can't say I've seen this exactly. The multicolors were just kind of rising in the water column together but it only lasted 10 seconds and definitely no eggs were released or anything like that. I'll try to pay more attention.
I've kind of noticed this too. It's far from impossible but I don't want it to sound completely risk free either, they can definitely kill each other. I bought the Cherub angel as a mated pair but the larger killed the smaller overnight in the acclimation box. That at least taught me to acclimate in separate boxes or with a divider. Agreed it's definitely not as big of a no-no still, especially since most site just flat out say can not be kept with conspecifics or something along those lines.
Sorry for the late reply, you have a good selection of angels and even so with your description you seem to have done a great job, managing coral beauty and flame angelfish in a place with more angelfish is quite difficult as they take over the tank quickly and regularly they don't allow more angels, the same goes for P. imperator, so they seem like the least appropriate angels to add as the first option if the goal is to keep multiple angelfish at once. I have also read horror stories with any member of the Xiphipops complex, that's right, the smallest of the whole family, these guys get to behave like real miniature demons, lol, but reading cases like yours, with success with all these fish it is encouraging.
It's hard to make a recommendation from your list, they all seem like great choices. The only one I've kept from the list is the flame angelfish and I have nothing bad to say about them. Would be cool to see them all added
That's right, Emperor angelfish is a poor option to enter a tank first if the goal is to keep more angelfish. As with all fish, there can be exceptions without a doubt, but most of the time they are quite annoying types, and as you mention, it gets worse as they grow. I love Centropyge nox, the black color is fantastic, if you can get it for your tank you should look at the size, I have never seen specimens smaller than 3 or 4", at least in Mexico, they reach a good size anyway.
