Ethical question: What would you do? UPDATE: HOLY COW I CAUGHT HIM ON THE 1ST TRY!

[my2rotties]

Well Laurie, I don't know what to tell you. You know what I have told you about the king angel. When I had my Emp he always hid a lot anyways. Just the nature of the fish to be honest. Why not set that tank as an aggressive tank with fish that the King won't mess around with. You know, lion fish and the likes.

You know how much I LOVED Griffie but he started killing other fish and now he is in the best home possible where his new owner adores him. I had to rehome my Sohal tang as well, and when I took him out fo the tank it was instant peace. I had no idea of how bad things really were until he actually came out. I had him in my holding tank in the basement thinking maybe I would isolate him and then put him back into the display... when I saw the instant peace, I knew it would not happen.

My Emp used to eat zoas and things like that so the reef tank may not be the best choice. However if you want to sell your Emp, I will meet you in Red Deer if you want... mind you, I have my Regal angel and don't know if he would cause grief with him.

If I were you and HAD to keep the King, I would rehome some fish and set it up as an aggressive tank. It would be way cool as well.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

the emperor is in constant hiding, where the fox face is still out and about. we feel bad as there is some nipped fins, but the foxface doesn't mind much otherwide he wouldn't come out.. her would be hiding in the corner like the emperor.

also the foxface is not an angel so you would mostlikely have less agression with the foxface than if you left the emperor. thats why he is in hiding all the time.. the big guy goes after the emperor so hard that he is just staying in that little corner. I think getting rid of the foxface would be the worst way to go.. one of the others should be the one to leave. or buy a 600 gal tank

Steve

After thinking a lot about this last night, I really thought about what you said about how the foxface is able to defend himself and how the emperor needs to be the first to move since the king has cornered him. So this morning I talked to Steve and he was ok with the emperor moving to the reef tank. I figured I would take this step first and then continue to monitor the king's aggression towards the foxface and if it gets really bad (goes further than just a nipped tail) then I will look into re-homing the foxface. Right now the foxface swims out in the open and doesn't let the king's bad behavior bother him.

Originally Posted by my2rotties

Why not set that tank as an aggressive tank with fish that the King won't mess around with. You know, lion fish and the likes.


If I were you and HAD to keep the King, I would rehome some fish and set it up as an aggressive tank. It would be way cool as well.

This is basically what I'm doing. The original plan for the tank was to be a tank of a few angel fish but now it will be more of an aggressive tank, which it basically is. The tank has the king angel, foxface, bursa trigger, lunare wrasse, miniatus grouper and blue spot toby puffer. Maybe later down the road I will add a lion fish.

[fishoholic]

Well that was easy So I was expecting this 1-2 hour, arms soaking wet, a few bad words and getting really ticked off attempt after attempt before I would actually catch the emperor.

I ended up basically catching him on the first try I know he only comes out of hiding to eat so I poured some mysis into the tank and in one quick move I swooped the net under him and then I literally almost fell over (in shock) when I realized he really was in the net I have tired this in the past many many many many times and it has never worked before. I actually said "Holy (insert bad "S" word here) I can't believe I just caught him" It even took me a few seconds to realize he really was in the net, I was all like "He can't be in there that was too easy" but there he was, so over to the reef tank he went. FYI my 2 tanks are right across from each other with just a few feet separating them.

So I'm happy to say the emperor seems to be setting into his new home nicely. He hid for a few minutes and now he's swimming out in the open front and center. Best of all he's not getting picked on and he's not picking on anyone. Let's hope it stays that way and lets hope he doesn't like Steve's zoos.

[fishoholic]

Emperor in his new home

[Marlin65]

Looking good lets hope he leaves your reef intact and you will be good to go.

[Delphinus]

[BlueWorldAquatic]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

I ended up basically catching him on the first try

That's probaly because he wanted out. And was waiting for you to decide.

I had a Lionfish in the store that was in one of my tanks for 2 months, and when we finally sold him, he literally jumped into the bag. The customer couldn't belive what he saw.

I told the custome he wanted the "Hell" out of the store, and new a good home awaited him.

Ken

[Leah]

Way to go Laurie..... sure looks good in there. Keepin my fingers crossed that he plays nice.

[BlueTang<3]

i had a yellow headed sleeper goby a big one like smokie size and he would burry everything cost me lots of corals tried for weeks to catch him then one time i had the net and my gf held seaweed other side he was crazy for seaweed darted right into the net almost blew it out of my hands lol sounds like you got lucky

[Willito]

Down the road if you want to try the same fish combination again, you can maybe try this.

Get rid of that large King Angel and buy the smallest one you can find, perhaps 3". But before doing that, think of all the other angels that you would like to add and do that first. Starting with the smallest or most timid ones. Let them settle in for a couple months and then add your meaniest fish, King angel. This strategy worked for me. I have had two Emperors, one regal, one blueface , one majestic, one asfur, and 3 flames. All in a tank half your size. And this was just angels we're talking about, the tank also had 9 tangs and some other fishes. Angels treat each other much better when crowded. The more space they have the more territorial they become, your tank is a perfect example.

IME, this method worked for me as the fish were still young, between 4-6". I don't know how they would behave once they all reach 6-7" plus. My guess is that the agression of the largest emperor would rule the tank and if it pairs up with the smaller one, who knows how it would turn out. I had this combination of fish for a year and changed it over to a reef. I currently still have a pair of Emperor and one Regal happily swimming together. Fingers cross for the Emperors to pair up.

All that aside, we're talking about the King Angel here, would think very hard before mixing it with other angels.