Large fish that live in pairs or maybe as a harem?

[Flatearth]

I was planning a large tank(likely a 10 foot tank) and I was thinking "maybe there is some cool pairing fish I could get like a 15 inch clownfish?" but it seems like no such thing exists.

I know of a few fish that tolerate the opposite gender, but not any that actually have pair behavior like the clown fish do.

Apparently green wolf eels(female is brown) will pair, but no mention of any special pair behavior was mentioned.

Some triggers pair, and I enjoyed my blue throat pair when I had them. Not like a clownfish level of pair but still pretty neat.

Naso tangs will supposedly pair (only the male has streamers as an adult) but again no mention of unique pair behavior. The Naso is interactive and appears fairly intelligent so that gives me hope for some unique pair behavior but also wouldn't shock me if they didn't have any.


I know wrasse can "pair" but it is more like abuser and victim unless some of the larger species actually pair but I doubt it.

So aside from the ones I mentioned does anyone know of larger pairing fish?

 

[Tang fastic]

Pair of dragon wrasse maybe but you will need deep substrate

 

[Tang fastic]

They get like 30 cm or 12 inch long

 

[Tang fastic]

Or a pair of yellow goatfish but they might get far too big 20inches

 

[Flatearth]

I appreciate the response, but I don't think either of those are what I am looking for.

I can't find any data on the dragon wrasse that would make me assume it isn't like every other wrasse in that pairs aren't really pairs at all. Just the male bullying the female so the female does not become male.

Goatfish spawn in large groups, there is no pair/harem they all just get together and mate.

To be more specific I am looking for a fish that lives as a male/female couple, not just a fish that will tolerate a 2nd fish of the same species.

 

[Tang fastic]

Bignose unicornfish

 

[Tang fastic]

Or blonde lipstick tang

 

[Dburr1014]

Genicanthus angels
Totally reef safe. Singular, pair or herem. Some up to 9"(I think)

I have a pair of bellus in QT right now.

 

[OrionN]

Pair of Copperband butterfly, pair of various large angles like French, Regal, Majestic
Harem of dwarf angels.
I was fortunate to have a pair of CBB and had pair of Regal angel. Sailfin Tangs of both species live and spawned as pairs in the wild.

 

[areefer01]

I'm not sure how large you are talking about but you could always get 7 to 12 Pink Square Anthias. Captive bred, Biota, and they get close to 8" in size if well taken care of. I have 4 that I picked up a while back and they are slowly growing. Great fish. Love the interaction between them. Healthy.

Bonus is that since they are captive bred, raised, and already eating you get to watch them grow from youngsters. So will be able to enjoy them for a very, very, long time.

 

[Reefering1]

Pair of Copperband butterfly, pair of various large angles like French, Regal, Majestic
Harem of dwarf angels.
I was fortunate to have a pair of CBB and had pair of Regal angel. Sailfin Tangs of both species live and spawned as pairs in the wild.

Beautiful!! Did you get the cbb's as a pair, or one after the other and they paired?

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Pair of Copperband butterfly, pair of various large angles like French, Regal, Majestic
Harem of dwarf angels.
I was fortunate to have a pair of CBB and had pair of Regal angel. Sailfin Tangs of both species live and spawned as pairs in the wild.

That's bada**

 

[Kmst80]

Pair of Genicanthus melanospilos

 

[Flatearth]

Pair of Copperband butterfly, pair of various large angles like French, Regal, Majestic
Harem of dwarf angels.
I was fortunate to have a pair of CBB and had pair of Regal angel. Sailfin Tangs of both species live and spawned as pairs in the wild.

This is very cool, I didn't think larger angels would pair but it makes sense given that the dwarfs are able to.

 

[OrionN]

We know that Majestic Angel, French Angel, Regal Angel, Sailfin tangs , a lot of the Butterflies are all live as monogamous pairs. Most of the dwarf angles has territorial harems of one Male abd a group of females. These are not similar. Dwarf angels are protogynous hermaphodites while large angels are mostly not hermaphodites. Completely different reproductive mechanism.

 

[jsmkmavity]

Moorish idol pair. Male leads female to sponges to eat.

 

[jsmkmavity]

Also, the blue throat triggers you mentioned make a great harem display.

 

[Dcal]

We know that Majestic Angel, French Angel, Regal Angel, Sailfin tangs , a lot of the Butterflies are all live as monogamous pairs. Most of the dwarf angles has territorial harems of one Male abd a group of females. These are not similar. Dwarf angels are protogynous hermaphodites while large angels are mostly not hermaphodites. Completely different reproductive mechanism.

could you point me in the right direction for finding info on how to pair sailfins?