Emperor angelfish grunting . is it an indicator of a male?

[Hondatek]

So I have had my emperor for over a year now. He went from a little inch in size to now about 5 inches and almost fully changed . The past month has been full of a new behavior .....grunting . I was curious as if this is an indicator of it being a male emperor . Thanks

 

[patrickriley2010]

So I have had my emperor for over a year now. He went from a little inch in size to now about 5 inches and almost fully changed . The past month has been full of a new behavior .....grunting . I was curious as if this is an indicator of it being a male emperor . Thanks

as in making noise?

 

[Hondatek]

Yep . It's pretty loud too . I caught it on video but didn't realize the sound wasn't on .

 

[patrickriley2010]

Yep . It's pretty loud too . I caught it on video but didn't realize the sound wasn't on .

I dont know much about fish but i have never heard of a fish making sound! Thats wild! if you get it on video again id love to see it!

 

[Andy Sager]

I'm pretty sure it's a sign of territory claim or dominance. Not only from males but from all adults. Many fish grunt once they get larger. Heck, there's a whole group of fish called Grunts because of the grunting sound they make. ( The ocean floor is far from quiet )

I think sexing is better with the dorsal fin shape. I believe the adult male's dorsal will grow out to a point where a female's dorsal is rounded. (At least that was how it was explained to me.)

 

[Hondatek]

Ah that makes sense Andy . He has done it more today than I have ever heard before .today was clam day for my crew and usually once the puffer is done with it the angel and whitecheek tang go to town on the left overs. Seemed everytime the whitecheek got close he would grunt . Thanks and I will eventually get it on video and ill post it here.

 

[Andy Sager]

Years ago I had a customer with a 300 Gal tank with an Imperator, Blueface and Koran in it along with a small school of oriental sweetlips. He invited me over to his house to hear the "chorus" at feeding time. I couldn't believe the VOLUME of these fish. I guess I never heard it in the store over the sounds of the pumps and such. lol ( But it was LOUD!!!!)

 

[Hondatek]

That's really cool it must have been awesome hearing all of them . I didn't think it was the angel at first to be honest .I heard it once or twice maybe 4 -5 months ago and kinda brushed it off . Now(this past month ) its a whole different ballgame . Just in the past 24 hrs I have heard at least 15 grunts and I absolutely love it . I think mine might be a female but its not done changing yet.

 

[Andy Sager]

That's really cool it must have been awesome hearing all of them . I didn't think it was the angel at first to be honest .I heard it once or twice maybe 4 -5 months ago and kinda brushed it off . Now(this past month ) its a whole different ballgame . Just in the past 24 hrs I have heard at least 15 grunts and I absolutely love it . I think mine might be a female but its not done changing yet.

If it hasn't even finished changing pattern, it's WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY to early to determine the sex.
If you follow the link to this site, you will get a slideshow about the Imperator. It should help you better understand the fish. Take notice of one of the slides with a fish with a pointed dorsal and streamer while the other pics are of larger fish also but with the rounded dorsal. Emperor Angelfish by Benji Wemh on Prezi

Enjoy the pics (and the noise )

 

[Hondatek]

Thanks for the info and the link. I see what you are talking about with the dorsal fin. I think I saw a pic of the what I have seen called the redsea version emperor which the orange coloration on the fin in that link. Here is what mine looks like now.

 

[Andy Sager]

I have imported Emperors from many places around the world. The tail colors are different almost based on location (which probably is related to diet) so even tail colors aren't reliable (BTW The Emps we used to get from the Marshall Islands were even nicer looking than the Red Sea ones. The tails were much redder.)You have a nice looking fish there but too young to at the moment

Let it grow up some more. ( You saw that sexual maturity starts at about 3 years old so you may need to wait another year at least.)