best corals for angels

[agreeive?fish]

ok i am SLOWLY setting up a reef..(got lights, tank has been leak tested, dry sand in, some dry rock in and ordered salt friday buts thats where it stands at this moment after 6 months some well seasoned live rock in the sump of my fowlr)

i want to have a regal angel or a scribbled angel and a flame or potters in the reef, so while planning my set up which corals are best suited for angels..still undecided exactly which direction iam going with the specific angel but i will set up another for the other angel i dont do in this set up...these 4 fish are the reason iam in saltwater.

 

[3dees]

those fish are not reef safe. maybe some leathers, but your best bet is fowlr.

 

[Psychomantix]

Any coral you put in has the potential to be eaten, and likely at least nipped. If you are dead set on getting coral, I say go for something cheap and fast growing like GSP or Xenia. I think a large tank full with just GSP is actually quite stunning.

 

[Reef Frog]

I've always wondered what corals or anemones have a decent chance of living in a FOWLR. I always thought several soft corals or maybe some polyps might coexist with Angels and other typical FOWLR coral eaters.

 

[Psychomantix]

For what it's worth, I have both a flame and a potter's angel in my reef tank and don't really notice any damage to my corals.

 

[jsbull]

Since you already have a FOWLR tank, maybe you could put the angels in there and move some of the other fish into the reef tank.

I have read that Coral Beauty angels are 95% reef safe, while Flames are about 70% reef safe. It all depends on the fish, and I guess how hungry it gets.

 

[davehead86]

Angels nip at rocks to eat stuff. This is why they nip at corals, its just another rock to see if there is food on. Now from what Ive read a CB or Flame will handle a BTA just fine. Im wondering if any of the soft ones are best for these type of angels because they DONT resemble rocks to nip at and find leftover food.

Just an observation from me on what I have read on here.

 

[jrr98002]

FWIW back in the day when I had a flame angel it did leave my softies alone, but did nip at anything stony. It didn't kill any of them, but did do noticeable picking.

 

[davehead86]

FWIW back in the day when I had a flame angel it did leave my softies alone, but did nip at anything stony. It didn't kill any of them, but did do noticeable picking.

Ive seen this kind of comment on several different forums.
I think this statement rings truer than people realize.

 

[snorvich]

For what it's worth, I have both a flame and a potter's angel in my reef tank and don't really notice any damage to my corals.

Yet. However two algae grazers in your sized tank is likely to present problems as thre is inadequate natural food for two. When/if that happens, they will likely go after the zooxanthellae found in many corals.

 

[artieg]

I have 4 angels in my mixed reef tank (emperor and queen, and a lemonpeel and another pygmy). Had the following corals setup for 6 months now, here are results.

Successes: (1) Hammer coral thriving like crazy. Three heads turned to 12 heads in 6 months. Nobody touches it. (2) Torch coral doing well. (3) Purple mushrooms thriving, Queen tasted them once and never returned. (4) Maze coral growing slowly. (5) GSP doing well, expanding but perhaps not as much as it would without occasional nips. (6) Encrusting monti - no issue, expanding normally. (7) Kenya tree - doing fine, honestly I am glad it gets pared back a little so it doesn't take over the tank.

Failure: (A) Xenia gets eaten within days. (B) Bubble coral too fragile and sensitive to all the jostling. (C) Stylophora Coral, doesn't like the occasional attention, slowly losing that one I think. (D) Acan - this is like filet mignon to my angels.

Of course, also need to note, I am running a mixed reef on Reef Crystals with nothing but a massive sump and skimmer; no reactors or similar gadgets. So that may account for some of the failures above too.

Also, I had a pair of decorator crabs in there for a while. Those, much more than the angels, wreaked havoc. I caught the decorator crab literally giving a haircut to the torch coral one day, just clipping off tentacles like a barber.

I only buy small frags, so I can see what likes my lighting, water flow, angels, etc. I certainly would not buy a softball sized gorgeous colony and put it in here.

 

[scooter31707]

IME, acans, soft tissue LPS, and toadstool leathers have been destroyed. This came from a Regal, Cream, Majestic, Asfur, and Blueface angels.

 

[Sk8r]

Probably discosoma mushrooms and xenia.

 

[anthonys51]

i have 4 angels in my 265 currently and none have hurt any corals. i actually started with the flame and coral beauty in my 57 first before upgrading to a much larger tank.
like steve stated i think mostly its a food source issue. if your angel is hungry it will go after the food in your tank (corals and algae) IMO you need well seasoned tank before you try all 4 of those. Also i would have a lot of rock, more places for the angels to graze. also i would wait to my corals are growing a lot before adding the angels. this isnt to say angels cant wipe out a large coral, just i think in this hobby corals die because of in-prefect water chemistry and we tend to blames asteria stars, bristle worms, fish and other things. also on a side note, i know 4 people who kept regals in a reef and they all said they couldnt keep zoas. so if your in love with zoas i would pass on the regal.