Reef Safe Bellas Angel Question

Treefer32 · Sep 11, 2019

I recently got a beautiful female Bellas Angel from Live Aquaria. It was pretty timid when I first added, just hiding in the back and not doing a lot. It ate great, was healthy, just kept to itself. Last night it started socializing my other fish and getting a personality and seems to be thriving. I've read these guys do well in groups of females and I could only afford 1 amount a month ago at $200+ a pop.

So, my question to the group is 1. can I add one at a time in a few months may be add one more, then in another 2-3 months 1 more.? I know they do best when added together, I don' thave $600 - 800 to drop on fish....

2. Can I mix angels? Could I mix in a lamerack's angel or other reef safe angels with Bellas Angels?

3. Do they need to all be females or from what I've read I can mix in one male?

Anything else I should be concerned about. I love the reef safe angels and that they'll get to be nice sized fish in my 350 mixed reef. My goal would be to have maybe 3 females and one male total. Since they're such an open water swimmer and if they'd swim in groups I think they'd be beautiful fish to have schooling in the tank.. If I can add them one at a time due to price.

CindyKz · Sep 11, 2019

Following.

CMO · Sep 11, 2019

Treefer32 said:
I recently got a beautiful female Bellas Angel from Live Aquaria. It was pretty timid when I first added, just hiding in the back and not doing a lot. It ate great, was healthy, just kept to itself. Last night it started socializing my other fish and getting a personality and seems to be thriving. I've read these guys do well in groups of females and I could only afford 1 amount a month ago at $200+ a pop.

So, my question to the group is 1. can I add one at a time in a few months may be add one more, then in another 2-3 months 1 more.? I know they do best when added together, I don' thave $600 - 800 to drop on fish....

2. Can I mix angels? Could I mix in a lamerack's angel or other reef safe angels with Bellas Angels?

3. Do they need to all be females or from what I've read I can mix in one male?

Anything else I should be concerned about. I love the reef safe angels and that they'll get to be nice sized fish in my 350 mixed reef. My goal would be to have maybe 3 females and one male total. Since they're such an open water swimmer and if they'd swim in groups I think they'd be beautiful fish to have schooling in the tank.. If I can add them one at a time due to price.

1) In my experience this is not an issue.
2) Other Genicanthus Angels have not been an issue for me but I don't keep non-genicanthus angels so can't comment on those.
3) You can mix in one male of any genicanthus variety.

foxt · Sep 11, 2019

I have two Bellus, added at different times. They are both still relatively small females, and they have had no issues with each other. I have a Potter's and a Coral Beauty in with them, and they all get along. I can't say what happens when you have more than two, but at least in my case, I don't see them spend any time together so as far as swimming in groups / schooling, I don't think so. Still nice to have more than one though.

The other thing I will say is that I added the second female because I wanted to see if one would switch to male and give me a pair. These were both pretty small when they were added, and they have been in the tank for more than a year now, and at the rate they are growing (or not), it will be a while before I expect to see anything happen. They eat great, they just grow slowly.

Treefer32 · Sep 11, 2019

Wow! O.k. Any idea on lifespan for them? The one I got is maybe 2" in length. It eats shrimp like a pig, but, like you said, I don't see it being a fast grower. Supposedly they can get to be 9-12" at some point. If they live 50 years and don't reach maturity for another 10-20, then, I'm o.k. for a long while. Thanks for the info! Sounds like I can continue adding over time and shouldn't have issues. Not to say there isn't a bully in one of them at some point or personality flaw, but, generally speaking should be safe to add over time. Which is what I was hoping!