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My 180 New Adventure!


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I thought it was time for me to start a thread on my 180 reset. I was getting tired of the same old thing and was looking for more of a challenge, so I decided to go a different route with my tank. I want to do a “pair” themed tank. (Except for my lone 12 year old Mitratus Butterflyfish I already have) I am planning on adding fish in pairs for a more natural setting. I love watching pairs interact with each other as they do in the wild. I have been doing a lot of research on the subject and know that not all fish form pairs. Some pair up for matting purposes only, then split up. Some form large groups where mating takes place. And others pair up and form a true bonded / matting pair and remain together for life. Still others pair up as a “buddy system” so to speak. This group of fish may even be the same sex fish and use the buddy system for protection from predator fish for one reason. They got each other’s back as it were. My intent is not to breed fish as this can prove to be very difficult especially for the species I am trying to pair. There will be some trial and error on my journey and I may have to purchase several fish at a time to see which ones form a pair and then will have to sell the rest. Others may prove to be too difficult to pair and I may have to abandon that one and move on to a different fish. After all my research, I have compiled a list of the best fish that do form pairs and will be going off of that. I will document it all here.

 

The “pairing” plan or process is as follows:

Purchase a bonded pair if possible, or purchase two fish of different sizes at the same time. Typically, you want one of the fish to be no bigger than half of the adult size of the species, and a smaller one.  Place them in qt tank together with an egg crate divider so they can get use to each other without one killing the other. After Qt period is over I will place both in a bigger tank,(55 gal for larger fish and smaller tank for smaller fish) with a divider still in the tank. After some time and observation, I will put the two together and see what happens. If all is good, well great and into the DT they go! If not then I will separate with egg crate again and let them grow up together for a little longer time. With luck they will eventually form a pair, if not, I will sell and move on to different fish.

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So here I go, to start with I am trying to form a pair of Interruptus Angelfish. (A big shout out to Jeremy at Modern Aquatix for getting this fish for me!) Angelfish start out as female and will turn male as they get older. (just the opposite of clown fish) For this angelfish, it is best to start out with one fish around the 3” size and a smaller one. I one I currently have is an adult (I assume to be male because of size) waiting for a juvenile to become available. This will take some time and patience as these fish are not always available especially juvenile ones. Even though it is best to purchase at the same time, and quarantine together,  this may not always be possible with some fish. Therefore, I decided to go ahead and try it! But for better success, making sure I get a juvenile when one becomes available, since the one I ordered came in at 4”. Which is not the ideal size, a little too big, but I am going to try. The interruptus has been through full QT and is currently in DT waiting for his future mate.

 I did, however, have a problem with this fish while in QT. He developed HLLE from stress and the carbon I was using to take the meds out of the water. I ran across another person that had this same problem with his Interrruptus Angelfish.  He advised to add vitamin C and Kent’s Zoecon with Focus added to bind it to the food.  See photos.

 

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So as not to stress him further and since he had been through 6 weeks of qt and  his only problem now was HLLE, I added him to the DT.

After 6 weeks of the vitamin C and Zoecon diet, my Interruptus is looking much better. Only time will tell if it completely goes away or if he will be left with some scaring. See photo.

 

 

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Second fish: I was looking at either a Goldflake or Flagfin Angelfish. Then I was made aware of a Goldflake/Flagfin Hybird! I had to have him! So, getting two of these and two of different sizes would probably be near impossible and that got me thinking. If these two pair up in the wild forming a hybrid pair why not form a pair in a tank? Which one would be best to pair it with, a Goldflake or the Flagfin? After talking with others, I decided it may be easier to pair the hybrid with a Goldflake as it is more of a docile fish over the Flagfin. It just so happened that Jeremy at Modern Aquatix, once again, was able to get me the hybrid and a juvenile Goldflake at the same time. Although the hybrid is an adult I am hoping it will eventually pair with the juvenile. Only time will tell. Well the first juvenile goldflake did not make it through the night. Jeremy has warranted it and is ordering in another juvenile goldflake.

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Well it took almost 4 weeks to finally get another one that was in good shape, but yesterday I finally got my juvenile Goldflake. 

It is currently in a quarantine tank right beside the hybrid. It is eating well so far.  I am keeping them separate for now since the hybrid is almost fully QT’d and thriving, I don’t want to take any chances on that expensive of a fish. They are both sticking to the end of their tanks so they are right beside each other, so this is promising. The plan is to treat the new GF for two to three weeks with CP (Chloroquine Phosphate), and General Cure. Then if all looks good I will place the two together in same tank  with a divider. Observe and if all goes well I will remove divider and see what happens.

And that brings us up to today.

 

 

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This is very cool! Thanks for sharing! I had a pair of regal angels once, was really beautiful! 

They weren’t bonded but rather tolerated each other.  They lasted together only about 5 months until a power outage while on vacation, my dad dropped the ball watching my Fish and Home.  This same disaster took out my “pair” of Achilles tangs.  That’s a tricky one!

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On ‎3‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 9:45 PM, 3FordFamily said:

This is very cool! Thanks for sharing! I had a pair of regal angels once, was really beautiful! 

They weren’t bonded but rather tolerated each other.  They lasted together only about 5 months until a power outage while on vacation, my dad dropped the ball watching my Fish and Home.  This same disaster took out my “pair” of Achilles tangs.  That’s a tricky one!

Sorry for the losses! I thought about Regal's but then these guys came available. 

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Goldflake has been in QT for a week now and is eating everything I throw in there, live black worms, varies frozen, and pellets. He came in with salinity at 1.019 so that is what I put  QT tank at and slowly raise it to 1.025 or a few days. The Qt tank in now at 1.025 and as soon at it hit 1.024 the fish started flashing so I started treatment with CP and General Cure. The fish remains to eat well while in these meds and is doing well.

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5 hours ago, MrsBugmaster said:

Goldflake has been in QT for a week now and is eating everything I throw in there, live black worms, varies frozen, and pellets. He came in with salinity at 1.019 so that is what I put  QT tank at and slowly raise it to 1.025 or a few days. The Qt tank in now at 1.025 and as soon at it hit 1.024 the fish started flashing so I started treatment with CP and General Cure. The fish remains to eat well while in these meds and is doing well.

Good work! Keep us posted!   More pics! :)

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Well the two are now in the same tank with a divider. GF has been in CP and two rounds of General Cure for almost two weeks now. Figured since the hybrid is still in CP treatment too that the GF can join him, even though the hybrid will be in CP for an extra 2 weeks, I don't think it will hurt him. The sooner I get the two in same tank the better the chances of pairing.

First introductions look good. No attack modes anyway, just some minor posturing. I will leave them like this for an hour or so and see how it goes before I remove the divider. I think it helped that they were side by side in their own tanks first.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Time to transfer to DT!! 

The other two already in the tank tried attacking them through the  acclimation box for about 10 minutes then they ignored them. I will release them later tonight. The little one followed the big one around in their isolation/grow out tank tank so I hope they continue to get along.

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After releasing them both, the Mitratus and Interruptus immediately started checking them out. The Mitratus was fine with them but Mr Interruptus started being a butt to the little female GF. He started attacking and biting her. To my surprise and delight the male hybrid immediately came to her defense and swam over and got right between the two of them. He just postured to the Interruptus, no attacking, and the Interruptus backed off. This happened two more times. The Interruptus was king of the tank, but keep in mind there was only two fish in there, the Interruptus Angelfish and Mitratus Butterfly. Within  a few minutes the large male hybrid quickly took over as boss of the tank and with no attacking, but just posturing. Needles to say Mr Interruptus is not happy! He was swimming back and forth and what I call "pacing" the glass. 

I can't seam to get the video to load though. 

 

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