Genicanthus melanospilos

[Rothie]

Henry-
I have a pair(not mated)of Genicanthus melanospilos arriving on Tuesday.This is the description the vender gave me-

"Males are usually around 4"-5" females around 3". THey're not collected in pairs, these are males female pairs that are getting along well together."

Would it be best for the fish if I ordered a second female at this time?These will go into a 300G reef.I am planning on adding a school of 8-10 lyretail anthias at a later date.
I would appreciate your input.

[hcs3]

hey rothie,

honestly, i think the choice is yours. pairs work very well, but a small aggregation of one male and several females will also work. if the question is purely whether a pair or a small harem is better, it's a toss up.

if it were me, i'd probably draw the limit at 2 so i had bioload available from a larger assortment of fish.

HTH

henry

[Rothie]

Thank you,Henry.
I'm also concerned about the angels and the anthias being too much of a bioload,since they both like to eat often and forage all day.Do you think this will be a problem?

[hcs3]

between the two species i think you'll be OK assuming you are conscience about your feeding. however, one concern is that both fish species are planktivores. be aware that some squabbling may be present between them. it might be wise to not let the angels get situatated and comfortable in the tank before adding the anthias. you may also want to carefully consider any other future additions of planktivores.

HTH

henry

[Rothie]

Thank you again,Henry.This is what I am trying to avoid.I want a very peaceful reef.I'm going to cancel the order for the Genicanthus melanospilos.Competition for food was also a concern.I will have to rethink my inhabitants.This is an open top reef,so that is another concern.