Watanabei Angel Keepers

*HOVA* · Nov 12, 2020

Anyone keep Watanabei? Everyone talks about them being peaceful but mine has been a terror. Might just be her but I’m trying to figure out if I can make keeping her possible.

Her body is about 4” and she has 2” streamers and a beautiful healthy fish. For some reason in my old tank and stock tank she was housed while upgrading she was very aggressive. I’ve considered getting a smaller female to see if she would change to male and maybe that along with having a mate would distract her from being a terror? ‍

She’s currently on lockdown in my new 250G awaiting her fate.... make nice or be sold...

Spare time · Nov 13, 2020

I have one. It definitely will do some sort of dominance behavior towards any new additions but calms down after a while, only occasionally showing some aggression.

Big E · Nov 13, 2020

A terror to what type of fish?

*HOVA* · Nov 13, 2020

I previously had a Red Sea 525 (~110G) and when I added a few wrasse at the same time she relentlessly harassed them to the point that I needed to pull them out and put them in the sump to separate them. Basically ANY new fish I introduced after she was in the tank she was extremely aggressive to. I've considered keeping her but not letter her out of the acclimation box until she is the last fish but haven't spoken to anyone who's actually kept one to see what others have experienced.

Snoopy 67 · Nov 13, 2020

I have a trio, they were all females until the bossy purple tang went away. Within a week I has a male & now he is the boss. Constantly chases a bream & keeps his tail from growing back. Does not bother anything else long term except the remaining females.

*HOVA* · Nov 13, 2020

Snoopy 67 said:
I have a trio, they were all females until the bossy purple tang went away. Within a week I has a male & now he is the boss. Constantly chases a bream & keeps his tail from growing back. Does not bother anything else long term except the remaining females.

I've contemplated getting a smaller one to see if the big female would change and if having a mate to chase would make her calm down. I'm not sure what to think and just don't want a terror all over again LOL The good thing is my new tank is 30" wide so I didn't put rock against the back glass so it would be easier to catch her this time if I needed to remove her... I spoke with someone very experienced with fish about adding a smaller female and they said it could take YEARS for her to change to male if ever....