Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

Pairing Chrysiptera cyanea damsels (Fiji Blue Devils)


SunWyrm

Recommended Posts

Wondering how I should go about pairing up these guys in a nano tank. If at all. Hoping I can get some input from anyone else who's kept these as a pair before.

A little backround on my current girl, I had my previous pair in an Aqueon Evolve 8g for awhile until the male died (moved houses, only my female damsel survived out of 40+ fish).
They had been an established pair in a 90g, then in a 360g before I moved. Before, I got my previous male off Divers Den and just stuck him in with two females, and let him do his thing.

Now she's been living the single life in the fuge of my current display, but she has great personality and I'd love to get her back in her own display. So I've set up the Evolve again at work; different caves and barnacles, space for digging, the perfect casa.

Then I walk into a store and impulse-buy a young, all-blue male for $3, couldn't pass him up. Super pretty and personable, and he's been chillin' in my 20g QT. Just as a side note the previous male had an orange tail. Not sure if the difference will matter to her.

So now I'm hoping to see if anyone else has any thoughts on who to put in first, how to introduce them, if I should let them pair up in a different setup first (her space or his) or put them both in the new tank at the same time.

If it all goes poorly, then I can always just set up a new casa for him and get a new female that's more his size/age, and she can remain retired here at work.

Or should I just go with the backup plan from the start, and not try to pair my older female up at all?

Link to comment

Not completely. Females have transparent fins, while male's colors may vary depending on location. Such as orange on the tail, belly, mouth, only ventral fins, or completely blue. (Mine has a little yellow on his body, but it's not a noticeable amount as in most pictures).

Multiple sites list different locations for all blue, such as Okinawa, Western Australia, and the Philippines, but I'm not sure which is correct.

On mobile but I'll post pics later.

Link to comment

Found a couple pics of the color differences.
nkxlsMi.jpg

My new male is more like the below, once I get him out of QT I'll get pics of him. No black, but a little more yellow in the dots on the body.
ri9deFz.jpg

Good example pic of a female
DJyg8td.png

My female in her old tank (soon to be new tank), cuz she pretty.
aS709kF.png

But I didn't start this thread to talk about the differences between male and female (though I think it's neat), but on how to go about introducing them in a nano tank. Maybe I'm fussing over it too much. I'll just have to toss them in and see how they do together. Worst case scenario I set up another tank. Guess I'll go start a build thread. fingerscrossed

Link to comment

Not sure about other Chrysiptera species, but cyanea is definitely sexually dimorphic. I haven't read of anything on sequential hermaphroditism for this species either.

Link to comment

I think Chrysiptera are all protogynous hermaphrodites and cyanea is sexually dimorphic. I thought Fiji blue devils were Chrysiptera taupou though.

 

I've kept C. cyanea in mated pairs before and I too am short a male just now. In the past I just introduced the fish together so I can't really make any suggestions beyond the usual turn out the lights and observe for aggression. I'm interested in how this turns out since I'm looking to do the same soon.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I'll keep this thread updated with how it goes then.

And you're right, I was confused as they are both commonly referred to as devils, but the difference is fiji blue devil (taupou) vs blue devil (cyanea). :huh: My bad!

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...

After a lot of digging, found out the all-blue males are from Maeda Point (and surrounding area), Okinawa. Mystery solved!

Still haven't gotten around to introducing them; the female has been in the tank for over a week now (and loving all the attention), but I haven't even tried to catch him yet since I have to rip apart his tank's rockwork. Going to diy a mesh netting box for the intro to see how they do together.

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Long overdue update as I've been apprehensive about adding the male, as well as lazy: added a diy net acclimation box last week to get her used to it. Seen here:
lvCLWj7.png

And today he was introduced! Lots of tail slapping at first from her (I underestimated their size difference; shes quite a bit larger than him) but he's been displaying and flashing around.

There's a lot of biting through the netting as well. We'll see how it continues, but its going MUCH better than I had anticipated. I thought she would be aggressive and he'd hide at the top of the box, but he's very bold.

 

Not letting him out of the net box for a few days, as I'm sure there would be some major damage in this small of a tank.

We'll see if it all fails and I have to take him home again.

Link to comment

Progress!

He's been in there for a week, and while there was a lot of aggression, it's eased up a bit with them eating next to each other with the net between them (food is the way to anyone's heart!).
Yesterday I unhooked the diy-net-thing and let it fall about two inches into the tank, and neither fish cared and just stayed in their area. This morning when I fed them, there was a bit of chasing after the food, and he ended up in the tank, and her in the net. Letting him find a few hiding spaces and get comfy in the tank for a couple hours before I lower the net again to release Mrs Crazy. She is so not happy about this net situation.

 

If it's going to work at all, it's going to take awhile.

I found a thread from when I introduced my last male, and had forgotten how timid these guys are. He was just as bossy as her before he died I'm sure this guy will get more confidence eventually.

Link to comment
  • 1 year later...

Don't think that you can really see the difference between male and female. I just both several and all have completely the same colour scheme. Just like the other 100+ at my LFS.  What I see is difference in behavior.

IMG_6264.JPG

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

Still a lot of aggression (teratorrial and impressional) although the boss of the tank (Very smal Yellow Tang named Cato) interfeers adequately. Both fish have their own spot in the tank. During feeding they nicely swim together (it's a start....).  

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...