Just purchased a Bi-Colour Angel

[samsreef]

Hello Guys,

I just purchased my second fish and 1st invert to day after the maroon clownfish which I purchased 2 weeks ago is doing fine and is now very lively and seeming all around the tank (the first week he just stayed in one corner of the tank).

So I had to go and buy the most expensive fish in the shop again!!! (well almost). I brought a Bi-Colour angel fish (30 UK POUNDS) & a Fire Shrimp (20 UK POUNDS). I know the bi-colour angel fish is a lot less hardy than the Maroon Clown but I haven't been given any other information apart from it accepts most food and its not as shy as other angel fish.

Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions about the Bi-Colour angel fish and if they require anything special etc...

I hope to change my lighting soon because it is horrible! Very dull with a yellow tint (what came with the tank). I'm getting a moonlight and marine white hopefully.

Look forward to hearing your suggestions and comments.

[Samper]

This fish is a Centropyge bicolor right?

This is some info I found.
Omnivorous. Meaty foods such as small pieces of shellfish, plus Mysis and brine shrimp, live or frozen; also plenty of green foods and algae (will consume algal growth in tank)
These fish tends to leave invertebrates undisturbed. Although peaceful, it appreciates having hiding places to retire to. If kept as a group, a dominant male will reign over a harem of females. Interestingly, if that male dies or is removed from the group, one of the females will change sex and take his place.

[Samper]

Not scolding but in the future try to not buy a fish you know nothing about. It'll save you a lot of head and heartache.

[samsreef]

Thanks for the info Samper, sounds like it will get on fine. I won't be introducing any other dwarf angels as the tank will not big enough for them.
I have a lot of live rock with algae growth on it however we have seedweed in packages for the tangs in the other tank. Do you think that would be ok to feed as well as the brine shrimp and mysis shrimp? The fish in the other tank love it!

Also I would like to start getting corals soon (once I have the new lighting), what kind of corals would you recommend to start off with? (Not hard corals?)

[Ninong]

This is some info I found.

These fish tends to leave invertebrates undisturbed.

Unfortunately that information is not accurate. Perhaps it was posted by an individual hobbyist reporting his personal experience with an exceptional specimen?

I don't usually quote from Drs. Foster & Smith's website because they tend to underestimate the minimum tank size requirements and make just about everything seem harmless but here is what they have to say about Centropyge bicolor:

"Not a good reef dweller, the Bicolor Angelfish is prone to nip at stony and soft corals (sessile invertebrates) and clam mantles." http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...cfm?pCatId=433

In his excellent new book, Angelfishes & Butterflyfishes, Scott Michael has this to say on page 225: "The most risky species to add [to a reef aquarium] include the Bicolor (C. bicolor), Lemonpeel (C. flavissimus) and Keyhole Angelfish (C. tibicen), while the Coral Beauty (C. bispinosa), Rusty (C. ferrugatus), Herald's (C. heraldi), Flame (C. loriculus), Halfblack (C. vrolikii), Golden (C. aurantius), Multicolor (C. multicolor), Colin's (C. colini) and Venusta Angelfish (P. venusta) fall somewhere in between on the continuum of sessile invertebrate compatibility. No matter what species you are thinking of adding, remember that introducing any angelfish to your reef aquarium always entails some degree of risk."

In the preceeding paragraph he had stated that the argi species complex is the least likely to cause harm to invertebrates.

Robert Fenner has additional information on this species here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/fi...pyge/index.htm

[Poseidon]

My personal experience with Bi-colors are they do not readily accept prepared foods... SOmetimes they just won't EAT.. I really like those fish, because they are the same colors as the college team I root for, but I won't buy one because of the problems getting them to eat.

[Samper]

Sorry about the info

[Ninong]

I really like those fish, because they are the same colors as the college team I root for...

I didn't know you were a Cal fan? Go Bears!













Oh, maybe you mean the Wolverines?

[samsreef]

I'm sorry to hear all of that! Hopefully mine will be one of those exceptional fish!!

At the moment it seems pretty happy with the food, it's biting algae off the live rock and looks quite lively.

I will keep everyone informed in the next week to see whether it has eating problems and when I get my first soft coral I willl let you know if it has a go! (If it does then don't worry I won't leave the coral to be eaten, their is more than enough room in my other tank for another coral!)


For now please see the picture I took and edited with Photoshop.

[samsreef]

I have tried some brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and seaweed. It is ignoring all of them! It just swims past the seaweed, I don't think it knows its there! As for the frozen brine shrimp and mysis shrimp, it just stayed hidden in the rocks.

I'm uncertain as to whether I made a good purchase now...

[Poseidon]

I didn't know you were a Cal fan? Go Bears!


Oh, maybe you mean the Wolverines?

Hail to the VICTORS!!!! Who are these Bears anyway, I thought they were a PRO team...

Just kidding, I hope my Wolverines show up on New Years day, if they plat like they did at OSU, it will be a BLOWOUT for sure!

[Ninong]

Just kidding, I hope my Wolverines show up on New Years day, if they plat like they did at OSU, it will be a BLOWOUT for sure!

Well, at least you know for sure that they will be in the Rose Bowl against probably Cal but maybe Texas. This BCS point system is too complicated for me to figure out when it's this close. I guess we'll just have to wait for them to publish the final results later today.

[Poseidon]

Sure enough, I actually would like to see Texas... but either game would be fun!

As far as the BCS goes, "it's crap, more crap, double crap..."

[Ninong]

Sure enough, I actually would like to see Texas... but either game would be fun!

As far as the BCS goes, "it's crap, more crap, double crap..."

Looks like Cal just barely stayed at Number Four in both the Coaches' poll and the AP poll, so now it's just a matter of waiting of the BCS standings to be released but they should hang on to the number four position according to Fox Sports:

California (10-1) remained in fourth place [Coaches' poll] with 1,286 points -- five more than fifth-ranked Texas (10-1) -- and is hoping for an at-large BCS bowl berth. Cal also is fourth in the AP poll. Last week, Cal held a 48-point lead over Texas.

[Ninong]

I have tried some brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and seaweed. It is ignoring all of them! It just swims past the seaweed, I don't think it knows its there! As for the frozen brine shrimp and mysis shrimp, it just stayed hidden in the rocks.

I'm uncertain as to whether I made a good purchase now...

Have you tried Ocean Nutrition's Formula Two? It comes either flake or frozen. They also offer a product specifically for dwarf angels: http://www.oceannutrition.com/produc...ygmyangel.html

It may take some time before your new Centropyge bicolor recognizes what you are offering it is actually food. In their natural habitat they feed by grazing algae from the substrate with a jerking motion of their lips. It helps if you have another fish (of any species) in the same tank that is already eating just about everything you put in the tank. That's helps give them a clue that it's good to eat what's drifting down from above.

Good luck with your new angelfish but it would have been much safer if you had waited at least six months after restarting your tank before trying one of these. That is the usual minimum recommended waiting period for the more hardy species of Centropyge and yours isn't even in that category. It's considered one of the more difficult species to adapt to captivity.

You might want to pick up a copy of the December 2004/January 2005 issue of Coral magazine. There is a picture on the cover of C. bicolor and three feature articles on dwarf angels.

[Poseidon]

Those are both good suggestions. I have had luck with Cyclop-eeze in "wafer" form.... It is flakes, seems to stimulate my fish by smell maybe???

[aquadreamer]

I have tried some brine shrimp, mysis shrimp and seaweed. It is ignoring all of them! It just swims past the seaweed, I don't think it knows its there! As for the frozen brine shrimp and mysis shrimp, it just stayed hidden in the rocks.

I'm uncertain as to whether I made a good purchase now...

it took me about 3 days for my singapore angel to eat the last thing i tried is dried seaweed i 2 or more places in the tank and finaly late in the 3rd day it took a small nip and now eats like all the rest(firefish, blue tip damsel, clown, 2green chromies, and a coral beauty in a 75 gal) all doing good and healthy.

[Ninong]

Those are both good suggestions. I have had luck with Cyclop-eeze in "wafer" form.... It is flakes, seems to stimulate my fish by smell maybe???

I have not yet tried the flake version of Cyclop-Eeze (it's new) but I do use the freeze dried version. It has the strongest smell of just about anything I have ever fed my fish and they certainly go for it as soon as it hits the water. I soak it in a cup of tankwater for at least five minutes first to hydrate it so that it won't all go over the overflow as soon as it hits the water. I also deliberately pour it from a height of about six inches above the surface in hopes that most of it will make it into the water column instead of floating on the surface. I would love to find the frozen version but it's not available down here in the third-world part of the country. In fact, none of the LFS around here carry any Cyclop-Eeze products, not even the freeze dried cans. I have to order it online. I tried to get one store to carry it but they said it was too expensive. That's the same thing they said when I asked them to carry D.T.'s live phytoplankton.

[Ninong]

Well, at least you know for sure that they will be in the Rose Bowl against probably Cal but maybe Texas. This BCS point system is too complicated for me to figure out when it's this close. I guess we'll just have to wait for them to publish the final results later today.

Looks like Texas will be playing Michigan in the Rose Bowl: http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/t...w-bcs-poll.htm

Texas finished 6th in the AP poll and 5th in the USA Today poll but they pulled ahead of Cal in the BCS computerized rankings even though Cal finished 4th in both human polls (assuming you include coaches and sports writers in the human category).

Looks like Cal (ranked 4th in both polls) will go to the cheapy Holiday Bowl. The Rose Bowl will feature Michigan (13th in the AP poll) against Texas (6th in the AP poll).

Remember last year when USC didn't get to play in the BCS championship game? LSU played Oklahoma and beat them. That made LSU national champions, except in southern California where USC claimed the title because they finished first in the AP poll. That happened because the AP poll had USC ranked #1, LSU #2 and Oklahoma #3 at the end of the regular season vs. the BCS rankings of Oklahoma #1, LSU #2 and USC #3. Since LSU and USC both won their bowl games, the AP ranked them USC #1, LSU #2 but the BCS ranked them LSU #1 and USC #2. LSU ended up #1 in the BCS ranking and the USA poll but only #2 in the AP poll.

[Poseidon]

I feel bad for Cal... They really deserved the Rose!! And who is going to watch the Fiesta bowl??? Pitt? Come on!!!!

Sorry to Hijack your thread Sam... Do you have access to the Cyclop-eeze?