Interruptus with P. Venustus?

[Cantonesefish]

I'm currently planning a stocking list for my upcoming 125 gal.

How would a Japanese pygmy angel get along with a P. (or C. or S.) venustus, considering they would be different sizes and the venustus angel would be added first?


Thanks,
Chris

[BangkokMatt]

I think you will be asking for trouble. Venustus are a very timid fish. Any sort of aggression will cause the fish undue stress. They are a very difficult specie to keep at the best of times. I wouldn't add to that difficulty.

[adtravels]

Originally posted by BangkokMatt
I think you will be asking for trouble. Venustus are a very timid fish. Any sort of aggression will cause the fish undue stress. They are a very difficult specie to keep at the best of times. I wouldn't add to that difficulty.

agreed this could be a very expensive experiment, plus they are both fairly large for dwarf angels, interuptus getting to 6 inches.

[copps]

The issue will not be mixing these two species, but rather attaining both of these species in good condition and getting them adapted. P. venusta are imported from time to time, but have a horrible track record... as does C. interrupta... If both are healthy though mixing should not be a problem... preferably the venusta should be added first. I added my pair of C. colini (very similar to P. venusta) to my system with an interrupta and they were not bothered.

One of the best things you could do when mixing any fish though is getting the new addition in tip top shape beforehand... Whatever beating they receive in the new system is much easier on a fish that is conditioned, fat, and healthy...

[LargeAngels]

Like John said, get them fat and conditioned before adding them. Venustus need some quiet TLC when you first get them. Have a qt tank with lots of live rock and plenty of algae growing on the rocks and sides. Keep the lighting down. Feed a little of everything (flake, pellets, mysis, shrimp, etc.) and see what it prefers. Even try freshly hatched brine shrimp. I've found that some of them prefer frozen brine in the beginning and can then be switched over to other foods.

My venustus are now pretty bold and have no problems with potters, flames, multicolors or larger angels or wrasses. But, I conditioned them first.

[Cantonesefish]

Thanks for the input!

Copps, I'm surprised to hear that the interruptus have a bad track record. I've heard they were fairly hardy. Has this begun to change?

Also, this is kind of a side note, but does anyone know what's been going on with the current taxonomy of the venustus?

[copps]

Once settled and kept in cool water C. interrupta does well and is a bold Centropyge. Ask anyone who's imported these guys though from Japan and they'll tell you they have issues and are far from bulletproof (Joculators on the other hand are pretty darn close!). It doesn't help that most of them are large either... I cannot stress how important it is with these guys to get a conditioned fish though... This all contributes to the high price of this fish, including very high freight costs out of Japan... Juveniles are collected deeper and very hard to come by and in high demand... of course all of this makes it a great species for aquaculture, and Frank at RCT will work with them again!

Venusta is as far as I know currently classified under Paracentropyge, which is a valid genus now...

[Cantonesefish]

Thanks, its good to hear Frank is getting back into breeding again.

Kyoshi Endoh, in his angelfishes book, wrote that the venustus was currently classified under Centropyge but that he chose to include in the Paracentropyge genus due to new DNA evidence... however I'm banking that it will go into Paracentropyge if it hasn't already.

[Mark]

I thinks Endoh's book was written a while back, and only recently translated. That's not to suggest it's a bad book, it's actually a must-have imo. But I think some items like taxonomy and even tank filtration suggestions have evolved since he wrote it.