Faith meets Fabio

This morning Faith was introduced to Fabio!
A divider was placed in the tank so that Faith would be safe if things did not go well.
As you watch the video you will see that Faith is a very confident and relaxed fish.
The female bandit "Mattie" on the other hand is not very happy with the change.

Several minutes after the first video, Faith slipped through the divider in an effort to meet Fabio.
Mattie was not pleased but Faith is a tough little thing and stood her ground pretty well.

While watching the fish as I videoed it became clear that Mattie the female bandit did not want Faith interacting with Fabio. Faith is doing a good job of getting away from Mattie while not giving in too much. Watch Fabio at the end of the video where he's staying as far away as he can from the ladies.  I didn't know he was such a chicken!

I felt that Mattie was getting in the way of the introduction between Fabio and Faith so I put the divider back in with Mattie on one side. It appears that Fabio has a stronger relationship with Mattie than I had realized and he hangs out near the divider ignoring Faith.

At the end of the day I moved the bandits to their own tank so that Fabio and Faith could be alone and hopefully get to know each other better.

Well this morning has been a trying time of fish wars! And thankfully all has ended well. :) As we wait for Faith to complete her quarantine we have additional fish that were donated to this project. Two Centropyge joculators (Jaws, the Jersey joc and Connie from Connecticut) as well as a bonded pair of Centropyge acanthops (not named yet if anyone has suggestions). Because they have been in captivity and came from very good homes their quarantine period was shorter. Three of the fish had lived together previously and today I tried to introduce all four fish into the same tank in the hopes that they could all get along. I have had positive results doing this in the past, but not today! Here is a video taken minutes after the introduction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shr2sNtFQw4

The tension mounts....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN-8gEHL5Do

So the species were devided and here we have Jaws and connie. Connie is putting up with Jaws and letting him know by her posture that he can be the dominant fish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoYLwoM2TbU

Here they have settled down a bit. I've added my pair of mandarins as tank mates as they are a calming influence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRxKJ1bKWOY

And here is the C. acanthhops pair. They have moved into a short term apartment and will be upgraded soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt0vO0pAA6Y

All fish have calmed down and ate this afternoon. It will be a while before Jaws and Connie are mature enough to spawn. The acanthops pair will most likely spawn sooner. And next weekend is when Faith meets Fabio. So tune in again!

today's video 8/13/2013

Here is a short video of Fabio with his roommates the bandit angels. For perspective on their size, the clay flower pot on it's side is 6 inches in diameter.

And here is Faith in her quarantine tank.

Fabio and Faith will be introduced to each other when Faith finishes her quarantine which will be the end of August.

Fabio and Faith

My name is Karen Brittain and I am passionate about raising marine fish to help take pressure off of our coral reefs and to provide happy and healthy pets for marine aquariums. I was born and raised in Hawaii and have been involved with the breeding of fish for over 30 years both professionally and personally. This is the niche where I feel I can make a difference and contribute towards something important to our planet. On this blog you can follow the story of Fabio and Faith, two Japanese pygmy angelfish brought together by an amazing group of people. Read how it all started here  http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2309714

Future updates will feature marine aquarium fish including Fabio and Faith and the journey of captive breeding these fish from egg to fry. I hope you all enjoy the posts and sharing of larval rearing information as we progress.