Richard Mersberger
New Member
I'm interested in adding a pair of angelfish to my 220 gallon reef. I'm interested in the angels belonging to the Genicathus genus such as the Watanabei, Spotbreast, Lamarck's and Masked Swallowtails. My question is regarding the Watanabei angelfish. I love the colors and I want a pair of angels that are planktivores but everything I read regarding this species states that they are difficult to care for but they never elaborate as to why. Is it the diet? Is it how they are collected? Do they have any specific requirements that makes them difficult to manage? Would it even be adviseable with my system? My LFS also has a mated pair of spotbreast angels that they have had for the last 2 months that I can purchase. Both are healthy and eat well but I prefer the colors of the Watanabei's a little more. I don't want to purchase such an expensive pair of fish to just watch them die. Any help or info. would be appreciated.
My 220 has been running longer than 5 years.
- approx 350# of established LR (14 yrs old)
- 4" DSB
- I run a carbon and a phosban reactor.
- Berlin filtration with a Reef Octopus 220 SSS protein skimmer.
- 40 gallon sump with refugium contains 15# of LR and 1# of Gracillaria and 1.5# of Chaetomorpha macroalgae.
- 2 Hydro Koralia Magnum 8 powerheads, 3 Ecotech MP 40's and 1 Ecotech MP 60.
- 3 Ecotech Marine 30W Pro Radions.
- inverts include a coral banded shrimp, fire shrimp, serpent star and various reef hermits and snails.
- fish include a sailfin tang, magnificent foxface, midas blenny, tribal blenny, orchid dottyback, sixline erased and 2 barnacle blennies.
- corals include 2 green star polyp colonies, green hairy mushroom colony, 3 separate mushroom colonies, a yellow Fiji leather, 2 Aussie green toadstool leathers, 2 pink and purple toadstool leathers, 2 Brown toadstool leathers, a purple tree coral, LG green implosion palythoa colony, LG red people eater palythoa colony, purple cauliflower colt coral , lavender pipe organ coral and 2 large zoanthid colonies.
My 220 has been running longer than 5 years.
- approx 350# of established LR (14 yrs old)
- 4" DSB
- I run a carbon and a phosban reactor.
- Berlin filtration with a Reef Octopus 220 SSS protein skimmer.
- 40 gallon sump with refugium contains 15# of LR and 1# of Gracillaria and 1.5# of Chaetomorpha macroalgae.
- 2 Hydro Koralia Magnum 8 powerheads, 3 Ecotech MP 40's and 1 Ecotech MP 60.
- 3 Ecotech Marine 30W Pro Radions.
- inverts include a coral banded shrimp, fire shrimp, serpent star and various reef hermits and snails.
- fish include a sailfin tang, magnificent foxface, midas blenny, tribal blenny, orchid dottyback, sixline erased and 2 barnacle blennies.
- corals include 2 green star polyp colonies, green hairy mushroom colony, 3 separate mushroom colonies, a yellow Fiji leather, 2 Aussie green toadstool leathers, 2 pink and purple toadstool leathers, 2 Brown toadstool leathers, a purple tree coral, LG green implosion palythoa colony, LG red people eater palythoa colony, purple cauliflower colt coral , lavender pipe organ coral and 2 large zoanthid colonies.
