2 flame angels in a 10 gal QT - a bad idea?

[Mihai]

I'm thinking to get two flame angels and put them together in a 10 gal QT. A bit more details:

One of our LFSs had something like 15 flame angels three weeks ago, after one week 12 were left, after another week 9 (that was last week). I'm not sure how many are now in there, I assume 4-6. I'm not sure where the other went, but I think I saw 1-2 sick, probably the others were sold. I plan to go and buy a pair (or two females, as I understand that one will turn into a male).

I plan to keep them in a 10 gal QT that I have prepared for them with LR, some corals (Xenia, zoanthids, M. capricornis) to see if they like to nip, a shalow sand bed, a power head, and a seaclone. I understand that as long as I don't have two males they should get along, right? I also plan to keep them less in QT (say 2 weeks) as they already spent 3 at the LFS.

To keep the QT in good shape I plan to do 1/4 water changes every 2-3 days.

Any feedback? Good idea? Bad idea? What can go wrong?

Thanks,
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

We have had our pair of flames in a 30gal. without problem, but they were already a pair when they were put into the tank. They can be kinda rough with each other sometimes. I think you should just closely monitor the situation. Try it out, but if one of them is getting too harassed make sure you have somewhere else ready to put one of them.

FWIW our flames mow our xenia down to nothing, but they always ignored our capricornis and zoanthids.

 

[Anonymous]

Separate em. Definitely separate them.

With the frequent water changes you should be fine with that water volume. But there's virtually no chance they'll tolerate each other IMHO.

 

[Mihai]

Matt, the thinking was to introduce them simultaneously in the display (90 gal), so none of them feels that it's "his" and harras the other one. They are somewhat used to each other as they all (15) have been in the dealer's tank (perhaps a 60 gal).

Do you think that quarantining them in two different 10 gal tanks would be preferable? My main worry is that they may both turn into males (I understand that they do that in the absence of a male) and it will be a disaster once I turn them into the 90 gal.

Of course I can also call the 3 weeks at the LFS a quarantine and just drop them in the 90 gal - is this better?

PitPat, how did you get a pair of flames? And how did you know they were a pair? Regarding the Xenia - that may be a plus .

M.

 

[WRASSER]

I hope for you that it wasnt the stress in the LFS that made it acceptable for them to be together. Keep an eye on them for they just might go off on each other in a 90 gal.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, 15 in one tank is different than two. The aggression gets spread out. With only one other fish to bully, all the aggresion gets directed towards the weaker one. If you're pairing them, the weaker one can run and hide in a large tank. But a 10 gallon is way too small to risk it.

I would keep them in separate tanks, or the same tank and divide it., until they're ready to go in the display.

 

[Mihai]

The idea with dividing the tank is great, let me see what I can put together.

M.

 

[Anonymous]

A piece of plexi with holes drilled in it, or that white light diffuser grid stuff will work. Preferably so they can see each other.

 

[Anonymous]

...and good luck! I've never had a conspec Centropyge pair before. I bet it's cool!

 

[Mihai]

Thanks, I also thought that it will be quite a sight. However, on a closer inspection one had ich so I passed on the opportunity. Perhaps next time.

Thanks,
M.

 

[Anonymous]

tter?

PitPat, how did you get a pair of flames? And how did you know they were a pair? Regarding the Xenia - that may be a plus .

M.

I bought the pair PitPat speaks of, I just bought the two smallest ones at the store and threw them in together in my 100 gal sump, just in case they fought I could easily remove one. A little flitting around for less than a minute and they were fast friends.

Every evening before the lights go out they dance around together in the tank, they are totally cute. I am never going to have just a single centropyge again unless the tank is very small, they are ten times cooler in pairs.

I don't think I would stuff them both in a ten together, they are fiesty and that might very well be too much.

Just a bit of warning, the male thinks he is hot stuff in my tank and I think it might be because he is in a pair he feels more macho or something. He is much sassier with my other fish than I would normally expect, for example he pesters the other fish much more than the C. argi I had, and they are supposed to be more belligerant than flames. Fortunately is it mostly all show, he likes to dive in between my pair of Banggai flashing his fins and acting all tough, but the harassment is not so much that they stop breeding or anything, but something to consider if they will be going in with very shy fish.

 

[Mihai]

This reinforces my thoughts. My coolest fish are my pair of mandarins that dance together every evening. I thought that they may be nice.
Regarding the aggression somebody needs to balance our yellow tang anyway. The mandarins leaned to live with him and I don't think that they'll mind the flames much.

How large is your tank? I'll be on watch for small ones (although they seem to come as adults around here).

M.

 

[Anonymous]

I have had them in several tanks. They originally went into my 155 reef, where one started picking at my Monitporas, and then the other one did too. I sincerely believe the second one picked that habit up from the first.

So then I put them in my 90 gal fish only which is where they have stayed the longest, they stayed several years in that.

They also lived in a 30 gallon for a few months. We took down some of our tanks when we had carpet installed so everyone had to cram into smaller tanks in the basement while that was going on.

Finally they ended up in my basement refugium (OK really a macro algae grow out and fish-I-don't-know-where-to-put tank) as they had proven they don't play well with some corals and I wanted them in something larger than th 30. This fuge is a stock tank and they were so lovely to watch from the top down swimming through the caulerpa. They were very personable and would come up to the surface of the water and give you a look before darting away to peck ad the rock.

The interaction of the pair is a very cute thing to watch, one of the reasons I kept trying to keep them in my reef, they are such a showpiece just with the pair behavior alone. They would swim together to the top with the male nuzzling her underside both of them fluttering their fins, right before the halides go off.

Sadly, I just found out my female has carpet surfed. PitPat found her on the floor this weekend while I was out of town so I didn't know about when it happened. I had lost a Centropyge to jumping before and was worried a bit having them in my uncovered refugium, but the water level is four inches down from the rim so I thought that would contain any jumping, I guess not. Bummer, I should have found a way to cover the tub.

I really regret not buying a good camera so I could take good clear photos of them, but here are two I had laying around. The male is larger and has more blue on the edges of his fins.

 

[Mihai]

Thanks a lot for taking the time. I decided what I'll do: I have a 60 gal tank that is planned to be my frag grow out tank (now is empy in the crawl space). I'll set that up, disconnect it from the main system and I'll use it as a quarantine tank (with a wall at first, then without if they behave). After a month is everything works out they'll come up in the display. This is 1-2 months into the future, I'll keep you posted of the progress.

Thanks again for sharing the experience. You can be sure that you saved one of my angels as I was not planning to cover the 60 gal...

All the best,
Mihai