Angelfish Behavior

[ralphie16]

I am interested in the Personifier Angelfish (specifically the Chaetodontoplus meridithii). I know this fish is not the same specied as personifier but it has a 50% smaller maximum size and looks almost exactly the same.

I have two puffers and a butterfly established in the tank already. (125 gallon). The 125 gallon tank is being converted to a community tank in the future to make room for a 300 gallon FOWLR I have sitting empty right now.

Porcupine Puffer: 3"
Panda Puffer: 3"
Teardrop BFF: 4"

Will adding a juvenile angelfish that I mentioned be acceptable to the current livestock? The two puffers have been model citizens since I purchased them. The teardrop butterflyfish (according to Scott Michael and other published works)is able to hold his own with more boisterous tankmates. So far he has done wonderful with a picasso trigger that was already established before the bff came.

Will the angelfish I mentioned be suitable?

[leebca]

The Angelfish should do well. There is no accounting for personalities, so one or both of the Puffers may take exception. The Butterfly should not care.

Even if the inhabitants 'get along' you may find the Angelfish hard to feed. Angelfish usually are shy about eating and it may take months after coming from the QT into the display before this fish has the courage to fight for food. In the presence of any other fishes who are 'assertive' when it comes to eating, the Angelfish may be 'put off' and slowly starve. Most Angelfish prefer to nibble throughout the day. Some don't tend to 'load up' voraciously at feeding time.

Much will depend upon the 'attitude' during feeding of all the concerned fishes. Although most of that list can be fed a carnivore diet, the Angelfish will expect an omnivore diet.

[ralphie16]

I am much more concerned with how the angel will act with the other fish. The BF and puffers are model citizens and they all pretty much only eat off my chopsticks (i did my best to condition them to except a majority of their food from the chopsticks I use). Eating is a controlled situation in my tank, so hopefully the angel should be free from competition for the most part.

Do you know about the color differences between the male and female? I read from many published sources that the males have the blue face with the spots while the females have much more 'muted' colors. So if acquire a juvenile, there is a 50% chance its a male? Or if there are no other personifiers then it will always turn female?

[leebca]

I'm afraid I am unaware of any marking difference in this species, with regards to gender. You may want to perform an Internet search to see what might come up.

[Ninong]

I am interested in the Personifier Angelfish (specifically the Chaetodontoplus meridithii). I know this fish is not the same specied as personifier but it has a 50% smaller maximum size and looks almost exactly the same.

This is another one of those situations where online vendors have chosen to use the same common name for two different species. Not only that, many of those vendors are misspelling the scientific name. The correct spelling is Chaetodontoplus meredithi, not C. meridithii as claimed by the likes of Drs. Foster & Smith. Obviously it's a dedicatory name honoring somebody named Meredith. Here is it's ITIS listing -- Taxonomic Serial No.: 610513.

Here is the write-up on C. meredithi in fishbase. There are only two English common names for this species recognized in fishbase: Queensland yellowtail angelfish and Meredith's angelfish. I guess they're trying to avoid confusion with C. personifer.

One online vendor, The Marine Center, is insisting that C. meredithi is just a new name for C. personifer but both fish are identified as separate species in fishbase and both scientific names are currently valid in ITIS. C. personifer Taxonomic Serial No.: 610517

So if acquire a juvenile, there is a 50% chance its a male? Or if there are no other personifiers then it will always turn female?

If you acquire a juvenile, it will be neither male nor female. By definition, juveniles are sexually immature. Since angelfish are protogynous hermaphrodites, it will become a female first. Eventually it may become a male under the right environmental conditions. The dominant gender is male. All species studied to date in the Family Pomacanthidae (Angelfishes) are protogynous hermaphrodites.

Here is the Australian Museum's page on this species.


Chaetodontoplus meredithi



P.S. -- Most fish in the Order Perciformes are protogynous hermaphrodites. Clownfish (Amphiprioninae) are an obvious exception that I can think of off the top of my head. They're protandrous hermaphrodites -- males first.

P.P.S. --

[ralphie16]

Thanks for the great info but the key peice of info I am looking for is whether both sexes have the bright yellow spots on the face or only the males.

[Ninong]

Thanks for the great info but the key peice of info I am looking for is whether both sexes have the bright yellow spots on the face or only the males.

If you follow the link I provided above to the Australian Museum's website, they give you the description of this fish as an adult and as a juvenile. There are three different photographs on that page. The bottom photograph is of a juvenile.

Since they give no information on sexual dimorphism and since I couldn't find any on any other sites, I assume that there is no sexual dimorphism in this species.

Here is their description:

"The Yellowtail Angelfish can be recognised by its colouration. Its head is blue with yellow spots. Juveniles have a white band behind the head that darkens as the fish grows. The nape, breast and caudal fin are yellow. The body is black."

If the females didn't have blue heads with yellow spots, they would have said so.