Cherub Angel Pair

[therealman1]

Right now I have a single cherub angle in a 32 gallon bio cube. Upon completing my 120 my wife wants to move our angel into the new tank and to get him a girlfriend. Has anyone had any luck with keeping a pair of cherub angels? Where would I begin? I think I am lucky with the one that we have right now because I know that they can be the biggest bullies but ours is quite docile.

 

[pcon]

I have paired them before. The angelfish are protogynous sequential hermaphrodites, they start life as females and the dominant one transitions to male. This transition can happen quite quickly, as little as 60 days. Unfortunately the cherub angelfish don't have any obvious sexual dimorphism so they can't be sexed without more invasive processes. I typically will start with a medium and a small angelfish and introduce them to a tank at the same time, this avoids either one taking the tank as their territory. Other strategies that work include using tank dividers and acclimation boxes. There is not a 100% success rate, so be observant and prepared to pull the fish at signs of fin damage or cornering. Some aggression and chasing is to be expected but if it escalates to damage or one fish pinning the other near the top of the tank or in a corner generally never gets better. A bit of luck and good specimens to start with are all you need. I am a huge proponent of keeping dwarf angels as pairs, their couple interaction and spawning dances are quite beautiful and interesting.

 

[OrionN]

in a 120 with plenty of rock, you can easily adding a small group of Cherub angels. Just add small ones and they will be fine, settle into a harem. I would add two or three more. You really don't have to add them at once, one at a time is OK.
With Cherub angels in a 120 gal tank, even if you add another that turn out to be a male, the two males will chase each other until one reverted back to female.
It can be a little rough for the looser so it is best not to add another male, but even if this happen, they will be fine.
Even though dwarf angels are protogynous hermaphrodites, there are several clear documentation that they can and will revert sex when needed.

 

[pcon]

@OrionN do you know anyone who has successfully kept a harem of xiphypops long term in captivity? I have tried, and I know several people who are more experienced than myself who tried, and no successes. While you have had your flames for a while now, and one or two others have also been successful with flames, coral beauties and lemon peels, these are quite a different genetic clade from the xiphypops. I would hesitate to extend your experience, and advise people to take this course of action unsolicited and without warning.

 

[OrionN]

I keep a trio of Cherub long term before. IME, my current flame angel harem is very much similar to Cherub that I keep in the past. I also keep mixed pair of Cherub and Flame-back angels. They spawned regularly too