Centropyge potteri, Potter's angelfish; Who's kept them?

Couple more advanced questions on this fish, after hours upon hours of researching, there are still some question I can't get a definitive answer to. For example:

Some consider them a sub-tropical species and suggest lower 70's for water temperature, (including John Coppolino) while others say upper 70's and even up to 80 has had no ill effects. Some collectors report finding them in tide pools occasionally. In the past couple years the water temperatures have been just under 78*F. However many studies show that temperatures on the reef slopes (where potters tend to be found/collected from the most) fluctuates from 74 to 81 (lowest low in winter and highest high in summer). Many sites recommend tank temperatures from 72-78. Unless this fish is collected at the deeper end of its range (120m) then these lower end temperatures are more extreme than what it is used to.

My question here is at what temperature did you keep yours at? Doesn't seem like such a big deal for other fish, but it seems a lot of the Potter's random death syndrome is attributed to elevated temperatures.

Next, I can't seem to find which corals this fish is found amongst typically besides porites compressa. It seems this species, amongst other dwarf angels, prefer not to eat the actual polyps of a healthy coral, but just the slime produced by them, with favorite corals being Lobo's, Trach's, Welso's, and zoanthids. This habit doesn't involved directly eating the coral, but it does stress the coral to death.

Would I be crazy keeping these corals with the intention of being solely for the angel? Do you think it would eventually develop a taste for the slime/mucous of other corals, acro's and other SPS for example, which are typically ignored in the wild.

Also which algal supplement did you find your fish ate the most? Nori, spirulina or just boiled greens? Also, I found that potter's in the wild tend to favor golden/brown diatoms. Are there any diatom based foods?

I'm about 6-7 months out from ordering one, but I just want to make sure I do everything in my power to ensure long term success. Hopefully I'm not over thinking this. lol

 

I have kept mine for over 2 years now. I have had it in an SPS system, and have never seen any polyp pecking, or signs thereof. It is in a newer mixed system now, with few corals. I keep my temp controlled at 78.5, and it stays within .1 of that temp all year round. He is one of the most vibrant Potter's I've ever seen, and has always kept his color. I tried to feed Nori, and he was disinterested. I feed Spirulina Brine, and PE Mysis, and he eats like a pig. I notice him pecking at the rock often, at diatoms, or other microscopic organisms, but never coral. I recently introduced a Yellow Tang to my tank, and the Potter's was not impressed. He was semi-aggressive during the first day, constantly rubbing his hind-quarters against the Yellow Tang's face. I'm not sure what type of dominance display this is, and it is the first I have seen from him. All in all, I think it is a very docile fish in my experience.

 

I've had mine about a month. Seems to be a model citizen except for acans that are not doing well. And also seems interested in my merulina. I have seen him peck at it but not significantly. Super bright orange fish. My tank is 78.5°

 

Yeah It seems they mostly go after LPS or dying corals. Do you run a chiller and a heater to ensure minimal temp swings? Oddly enough, I have the hottest room in the house (keep my AC vent closed) at about 79* however this keeps my tank pretty stable at 79* even during the hottest months of summer. It seems once they are adapted to tank life, they become semi-aggressive like some of the other members of the centropyge genus. I will be keeping mine in a 34g with about 45-50lbs of LR, either alone or with a marine betta, haven't decided one way or another. Very beautiful fish, especially one like yours lacking so much orange.

So far so good. Funny how your fish is so opposite color wise from FoD's. beautiful nonetheless.

 

Surely more than 2 people have kept a potter's angelfish?

 

Have you decided to go ahead with the Potters angel? I have always wanted one and almsot added on to a 46gal system I had but ended up with a flame angel. Now that I have a 90 gallon system currently being set up I am kinda of likign the idea of revisiting the Potters angel idea.

 

Hey, thanks for your reply in my other thread.

Im still going with a potters, i have not purchased one yet as im waiting for my tank to really mature some. It would be nice to have someone else on the forum purchase at the same time, or atleast relatively close, so we can share experiences as we go. Let me know what you decide on. LA/DD has been getting some nice healthy ones in recently.

 

I wish you the best of luck. Something else with the Potters is they seem to always be collected in harems which we could not replicate in small tanks without aggression issues.

I am a bit away from making new fish purchases, I need to do some work to the room the 90 will be set up in and then set it up, cycle, etc. Probably want to wait for the tank to establish a bit and set up the refugium and let that establish as well before adding the angels. I do want to ad a Potters if I can find a nice one to the 90 once ready though so I will be following your progress and hopefully great success!!

Being a 90 gallon I may also go a slightly different route and add a few different dwarf angels which could impact long term survival. I researched it in the past and many have great success with multiple angels together in 55gal+ systems but I want to read up on it for awhile before I make any final decisions. Half the battle is finding smaller younger specimens to purchase. I will have a QT tank for all angels and will purchase them all at the same time to go into a 65gal QT system together to observe behavior for a couple months before adding them to the DT.

 

LA/DD gets harems in every now and then. From my understanding you can do 1 male and 2 females without problems. Personally i wouldn't mix dwarf angels even in a 90, especially with a Potters; a fish that has such a reputation, why add any other factors that could lead to its demise.

I have heard many people advise against QT-ing potters angels, simply because the QTs aren't usually established enough to properly house a potters, and then there is the added stress of going into another tank (DT).

If you do go decide to mix angels, i would look at fisher's pygmy angels, they're often found together with potters and sometimes even hybridize.

 

Yea Im not sure the exact direction I want to go at this point and I am nervous to mix with a Potters given their finicky nature. Before saltwater I did cichlid with good success and something I learned with them was you need to either go full force or not at all, anywhere in the middle ends in disaster.

By this I mean in mixing and numbers, with cichlid and aggression if you add only 2 or 3 fish you will usually end up with trouble. If you add 10 males and 1 female, you WILL have trouble. If on the other hand you added 10 males and no females, a pecking order would be established and aggression so spread out that no one suffered. Another thing I found to work with great success has been when dealing with smaller agressive species, if you throw a single much largernonagressive or mildly aggressive fish into the mix they become king and all the little guys will behave. I used to do this with Jack dempsy cichlids, green terros, fire mouths, convicts, etc and keep a large oscar or pacu in the mix to keep the order and noone misbehaved. As soon as I lost the big fish though, all the little guys fought to the death ( Was 8 hours away at college with parents watching the tank).

I have not experimented much in SW but have wondered if something along these lines would work. Unfortuantly SW fish are MUCH more pricey to play with and wild caught making things more difficult. I'm at work right now so dont have the IPAD but I bookmarked a link to reefcentral tank of the month where the author and owner of the tanks has an angelfish obsession and has kept countless angels longterm together in various sytems including the super expensive rare guys and the difficult to keep regal angels and what not. I will have to find it for you it was a very interesting read and basically said there is a lot of outdated information out there and a lot of false myths and its not so much about what you can mix but when and how you do it. I was hoping to try and find a username so I can try an contact him to pick his brain on tips for success as he has mixed angels in larger tanks and tanks smaller than mine and has had long term success. He does QT everything though and tries to buy t hem as small as possible which I think is a huge factor in mixing, once again from the cichlid days. Seems like if you buy a bunch of babies as they grow up they tolerate each other and learn to live together. Once full grown you cant add any new comers as the new guy will be beat and killed.