so 2 weeks or so ago I made the mistake of walking down Petco's fish aisle and found a coral beauty angel (one of my favorite fish) with bad flukes, a bacteria infection and half of its upper lip missing. so I did the only thing I could do, I bought it. they did not even give me a discount so I paid 29.00 dollars for a dying fish. as soon as I got it home I gave it a 3:00 freshwater dip and promptly put it in one of my QT tanks. I then dosed the tank with Melifix for 7 days. then after that, I started the full dosage course for Ich-X. at this point, there are no signs of any problems other than the wounded lip which is healing. she is happily swimming around and eating anything I put in the tank. I currently have no tank without another coral beauty in it, I am somewhat interested in trying to breed them however I have no clue on how to sex them. I also don't think it is possible to have 2 in the same tank so if there is a way please tell me. also, I am fully aware that buying this fish helps Petco and allows them to keep on mistreating fish but I just could not help this one. hopefully, a newbie sees this and does not shop there to make my purchase negatively affect their overall fish department
petco rescue
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Sexing coral beauty angels would be difficult, especially compared to flames. You theoretically should be able to have a pair. Small, immature specimens should be female.
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geddavis
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If I was to use a acclimation box for a month or so and observe their behavior; do you think I could tell simply by how aggressive they are to each other. My 2 are around 4-4 1/2” I have no idea what their age is.
Acclimation box is a good idea. I probably would only keep the new one in there for a day or two though.
Your two huge ones are most likely male. I believe it will be possible to add a small one to either, but it would be a bit of a gamble.
@OrionN , any advice here?
Your two huge ones are most likely male. I believe it will be possible to add a small one to either, but it would be a bit of a gamble.
@OrionN , any advice here?
I don't keep coral beauty, but never read about any Dimorphism of this angel. 4 inches is huge. It is highly likely, almost certain that these are both male. If this is me, I would trade one in for a smaller one. If you have a tank in the 120 gal range with plenty of rocks with a lot of crevices you can put two males in it and they will fight until one revert back to female. If this is what you wan to do, both must be healthy and good weight. You must have contingency plan to separate them quickly if needed.
There is a study somewhere where the researcher put male Centropyge angels together. A significant proportion died due to stress, most pair have one converted back to female.
There is a study somewhere where the researcher put male Centropyge angels together. A significant proportion died due to stress, most pair have one converted back to female.
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geddavis
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thanks for the info. if I trade I will probably get a difrent type of fish as I don't want to risk one dying. do you think one would convert if I put them in a forty breeder split in half by a piece of acrylic with one on either side? or do they have to be together for one to change
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Unless they are sold as a mated pair, just plan on it not working. I showed my Coral Beauty it's mirror reflection and here is how it responded:
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They likely have to loose before start to change sex back to female. I would let them fight until one loose then isolate him in a section I view of the dominance one. Maybe this would work
Would it be better in his case to add the new (smaller) one to one of the existing large males?
It looks like the OP CB and the new CB are both males. At least I would assume that they are males at 4+ inches
Oh, it looks like I misunderstood. The 4+" ones would be males. I got the impression that OP had two 4" fish, and just got another smaller one.
4FordFamily
Tang, Angel, and Wrasse Nerd!
Agree, I've seen this in large flame angels. They lose some of the harsh fins and appearance slowly over the course of a few months. It starts with fighting. In truth, the sex begins to change before the fish's appearance changes and you can see their interactions change.
However, just two large males is not likely to work out. They can hyper-fixate on one another and it's likely to end in the death of one or the other (or both).
It can be difficult to sex some centropyge, such as coral beauty. Size is a good indicator, as is temperament (more aggressive), as most larger (4+ inch as you describe) if not all, will be male. The other issue is the species has such a variance in appearance that it's tough to discern if there is a difference in appearance between the sexes.
For Potters it's relatively easy, size and coloration is an indicator. More purple = male. More orange = female. This is not 100% but if you've seen and sexed enough of them it gets pretty easy. You'll also notice that the large Potters are more "purple", this is no coincidence. I've not been able to "verify" that coral beauty angels can be sexed similarly. I suspect they can to a degree but the regional variants and vast difference in appearance among the species make it difficult to be certain.
If the new on is small, you may want to give it a try. Use a acclimation box. The male would chase the female a bit but not causing a lot of damage, maybe small fin torn but that should be it if the new one is a female.
(Sorry, I don't know much about coral beauties myself, but just had to say that.)
