Angelfish

Jetmech2000

New member
I'm wanting to get an Angelfish to put in my reef tank. I know there is a 50-50 chance of them eating the corals. I was wondering which angelfish people have had the most success with. I went to the LFS to look at some and the guy was kind of an a**. He acted like I didn't know anything and he came across rude too me. He said that all angels will end up eating the corals. Wasn't going to argue with him, but I've seen some nice TOTM with angels in them. I have a 220 display tank with a nice coral collection and few fish. Any input on angels would be great.
 
Coral Beauty, Cherub, Potters, and a few other Dwarf Angels are some of the more reef safe angels. My experience with angels has always ended badly, they either nip right away or eventually, to bad as they are beautiful fish.

If have clams they will nip them for sure, lps next and then sps. As large as your tank is the nipping my be spread out enough to not be of concern.

I guess it comes down to how willing are you to take the chance.

I agree with the guy at your LFS,.....sorry. :(
 
You're right they are a crap shoot, but that said here is one I would highly recommend to give a try.

0924151-054.jpg


http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+3&ddid=280391

I have a Cherub and he is great as long and I don't have any SPS. He touches nothing else accept for an occasional nip but all in all he's a good fish. Friendly with all the other fish and loves to hunt and peck on the rocks. Oh and he's a piggy eater.
 
You're right they are a crap shoot, but that said here is one I would highly recommend to give a try.

0924151-054.jpg


http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemDisplay.cfm?c=2733+3&ddid=280391

I have a Cherub and he is great as long and I don't have any SPS. He touches nothing else accept for an occasional nip but all in all he's a good fish. Friendly with all the other fish and loves to hunt and peck on the rocks. Oh and he's a piggy eater.

The Regal is a beautiful fish. I might give that one a try.
 
Is it better to feed the angels less more often? I feed my fish once a day. I feed them brine, PE Mysis and algae every evening. I was thinking that maybe I should get the apex auto feeder and have it feed some pellets during the day. Would that help the angel from picking at the corals?
 
If going for a regal...go for a red sea or indian if possible...


a large angel..and some smaller with a tang or trig or 2 always makes for a great tank!
 
Is it better to feed the angels less more often? I feed my fish once a day. I feed them brine, PE Mysis and algae every evening. I was thinking that maybe I should get the apex auto feeder and have it feed some pellets during the day. Would that help the angel from picking at the corals?

with baby/smaller fish, you might need to feed 10+ times a day...3-5 is probably what most do...keeping them full also should keep any aggression to a min...
 
You could also look at any of the angels from the genicanthus genus. They are the best thing to a completely reef safe angel you can get. That said I have a trio of bellus in my 250 along with a regal. All are model citizens. I feed at least two times a day
 
sorry, I totally ignored the coral issue...not an issue for me as I currently don't have any but there are many threads and great people in here that can answer...
 
I've had a flame and a chrysus in a sps dominated reef.

Chrysurus munched zoas and brains. Also plate corals. Left Acans and euphyllia alone.

Flame didn't nip (at least I didn't see him)

I also currently have a coral beauty hybrid in my reef. No nipping as far as I can see.
 
my coral beauty doesn't bother any of my softies or lps. I also have a Lamarck angel. they are absolutely reef safe.
 
I've had a flame and a chrysus in a sps dominated reef.

Chrysurus munched zoas and brains. Also plate corals. Left Acans and euphyllia alone.

Flame didn't nip (at least I didn't see him)

I also currently have a coral beauty hybrid in my reef. No nipping as far as I can see.


Thanks that's helpful.


Also, I mainly have SPS ( acro's and monti's). I have a few zoas and a 30+ head of a hammer/ frog spawn hybrid.
 
Very kind of you, thank you, and I appreciate all that you have been doing in here...

You're welcome and thank you. I try my best and do my best with what I can. I'm also trying to learn, those damn carpet anemone's get me confused with which is what. I just thought a big anemone on the xxx thread was a RBTA because of the long tentacles it had. For some reason I felt it was. Well it's are mag, the mags get me every time LOL
 
Anyone else have any success with an angel fish in a reef tank?

Yes, I mentioned my Cherub Angel in my first post when I posted the Regal Angel for you. I've also had Flame angels, Coral Beauties and a very large Emperor Angel. I had all in reef tanks accept the Emperor, Minor issues with the Flame and zoa's other than that no problems accept my Cherub eating SPS.
 
In my mixed reef, I have a Golden, Potters, Regal, multibarred and pair of watanabei females. The golden nips as some LPS on rare occasion with no harm. The multibarred has been severely nipped some of my LPS but does not kill them. Also you should know my multibarred has been with me 6 weeks and never eaten any peeped foods I can tell. This may be why it is my worst offender. The regal has tasted my clam a couple time but has not killed it...yet. The potters and watanabei are model citizens.

Buy the fish you want. Buy a good fish trap and have a way to offload them. Just because one particular fish of a sp. eats your coral does not mean that every fish in that sp. will. they are all individuals. If a fish you cannot live without eat your coral don't get those corals.
 
We have a flame, blue face, regal and goldflake in our reef but it was planned to be around "reef safe with caution" fish so it is primarily SPS dominate with a few softies. So far the only causalities are the 2 colonies of zoathids that were in the tank.
 

Similar threads

Back
Top