Pairing Scribbled Angelfish

pcon · Oct 21, 2019

finally got home from travels and could see the videos. They look really good pairing wise, well done. I might recommend a lot more cover, often I will use clean terracotta pots as hides for larger fish than i have PVC for. it's important that they feel settled and they both looked stressed in the videos. which can put a strain on the pairing process.

The respiration rate and head/body twitching in the videos gives me pause that there may be some infection.

mjreefs · Oct 21, 2019

pcon said:
finally got home from travels and could see the videos. They look really good pairing wise, well done. I might recommend a lot more cover, often I will use clean terracotta pots as hides for larger fish than i have PVC for. it's important that they feel settled and they both looked stressed in the videos. which can put a strain on the pairing process.

The respiration rate and head/body twitching in the videos gives me pause that there may be some infection.

I'll start dosing prazipro this week to address any possibility of flukes. I'm worried about terracotta pots as they absorb medication and I'm planning to dose copper, I guess I'll find a large PVC pipe for the big one to hide in? Also here's an update video I just shot today. Aggression has greatly reduced and the smaller one comes out more often now.

pcon · Oct 21, 2019

You could consider stepping up to general cure as they are already in qt. I might consider medicating the food as well incase it is internal.

That is the downside to terracotta, it will absorb copper. alternative strategies I have used is piling a lot of PVC up, using plastic plants, or plastic sheets, even more elaborate egg crate structures just to divide up space, give them things to pay attention to and pick over.

Luckily they look like a pair in that video.

Thomashtom · Oct 21, 2019

I have 2 in my DT for about a year. They are just a tad bigger but they grow really slow!!! Neither mine or yours are mature enough for courting or mating. They are still juveniles.

mjreefs · Oct 21, 2019

pcon said:
You could consider stepping up to general cure as they are already in qt. I might consider medicating the food as well incase it is internal.

That is the downside to terracotta, it will absorb copper. alternative strategies I have used is piling a lot of PVC up, using plastic plants, or plastic sheets, even more elaborate egg crate structures just to divide up space, give them things to pay attention to and pick over.

Luckily they look like a pair in that video.

I'll mix metroplex and focus with food right?

Should I let that divider stay there? The larger one usually goes there at night to rest. This is in case I won't get my hands on a large enough PVC pipe.

pcon · Oct 21, 2019

mjreefs said:
I'll mix metroplex and focus with food right?

Should I let that divider stay there? The larger one usually goes there at night to rest. This is in case I won't get my hands on a large enough PVC pipe.

you can just mix like that or you can get one of the premade foods.

I would leave the egg crate in, if you have extra they might appreciate it being tossed in

mjreefs · Oct 21, 2019

pcon said:
you can just mix like that or you can get one of the premade foods.

I would leave the egg crate in, if you have extra they might appreciate it being tossed in

Alright, thanks for all the feedback! Will continue to update this thread until they go into the DT.

mjreefs · Oct 24, 2019

Curious, how long will the larger one transition to male coloration?

pcon · Oct 24, 2019

Excellent question, I have no idea but perhaps others have some ideas or guesses? I know Centropyge can do so in as little as 60 days perhaps faster, no idea for the larger genus(es?Geni? genera? I forget the plural).

mjreefs · Oct 24, 2019

pcon said:
Excellent question, I have no idea but perhaps others have some ideas or guesses? I know Centropyge can do so in as little as 60 days perhaps faster, no idea for the larger genus(es?Geni? genera? I forget the plural).

I guess I'll be patient and try to document the changes then!

mjreefs · Dec 2, 2019

I've noticed something with the larger scribbled angelfish. It has developed a habit of twitching its head. For some reason, it's already in its third week of copper and he didn't stop this habit. He usually does this when a person comes near the QT (both of them read it as "eating time"). How can I be sure that it's not caused by disease but rather just a weird habit?

pcon · Dec 2, 2019

BAD NEWS - Velvet Strain Survives 1.75 PPM Copper!

Breaking News: We believe we have discovered at least one strain of velvet that survives 1.75 PPM copper, we recommend increasing to 2.0PPM to eradicate it. @HotRocks and I have quarantined hundreds of fish over the past year and we've unfortunately learned a lot of hard lessons we can pass to...

www.reef2reef.com

hmm difficult to prove a negative. Could be a treatment resistant strain like the aforementioned copper resistant strain of velvet, or a prazi resistant strain of flukes. Could also be nothing and just a strange habit as you say.

mjreefs · Dec 2, 2019

pcon said:
BAD NEWS - Velvet Strain Survives 1.75 PPM Copper!

Breaking News: We believe we have discovered at least one strain of velvet that survives 1.75 PPM copper, we recommend increasing to 2.0PPM to eradicate it. @HotRocks and I have quarantined hundreds of fish over the past year and we've unfortunately learned a lot of hard lessons we can pass to...

www.reef2reef.com

hmm difficult to prove a negative. Could be a treatment resistant strain like the aforementioned copper resistant strain of velvet, or a prazi resistant strain of flukes. Could also be nothing and just a strange habit as you say.

Yes, but if it's a copper-resistant strain of velvet, shouldn't the fish be dead by now?

pcon · Dec 2, 2019

Flukes is more likely, and if it has been in copper then the disease may hypothetically be suppressed to a manageable degree by the angels immune system.

mjreefs · Dec 2, 2019

pcon said:
Flukes is more likely, and if it has been in copper then the disease may hypothetically be suppressed to a manageable degree by the angels immune system.

I'll try to look into occasions where it will twitch its head randomly. Because so far, the only thing I observe is that it twitch its head "violently" when I'm coming near to the tank, like he's excited to eat or something.

mjreefs · Dec 2, 2019

Here's a video of the twitching I was referring to:

mjreefs · Dec 18, 2019

Hi so I transferred them to the DT yesterday night, and it seems that they're really not paired up but just coexisting, I'm still hoping that eventually they'd pair up. They actually would swim separately most of the time. Here's a video of them:

pcon · Dec 19, 2019

They won't spend all day side by side. Angels naturally forage within a few yards of each other, and will come back to each other occasionally to check in. They will come together in the evening to do their prespawn dance and spawn around sunset. It may take a few months or years to begin spawning, and I am not sure if scribbled need a seasonal trigger like temp change or photoperiod. Because they are capable of sex change, generally two individuals don't simply coexist, they pair or kill each other.