coral beauty eating polyps?

[Mangodude]

My coral beauty picks at everything, which keeps the tank nice and clean but i'm worried he's nipping at my sps polyps too. I never have ANY polyp extension but the sps stay colored up like normal. Looks like there's not even any polyps that could come out anymore. He's the only one in the tank that nips at anything too..

Do you think if I fed more he'd stop nipping at the sps or is the only way to get PE getting rid of him? I know angels like to nip at zoas/sponges but I wasn't expecting my acros..

is this a concern with all the angels?

 

[andbob25]

They are listed as questionable and every angel is different i had to tear my 210g apart to get a coral beauty out after it eat two colonies of sps over night and i feed pretty liberally. With that said if it is not actually eating the coral it may just be picking algae off the coral. Some people have enough coral that they don't mind a little nibbling here and there. But my suggestion would be to remove the fish and if you must have an angel look for at the bellus, lamarck or watanabei. They are listed as reef same and i have owned a watanabei and currently have a Lamarck and have had no issue with them.

 

[bobkill]

Just bc he is a model citz one day doesn't mean he won't wreck it -

 

[Dapg8gt]

I had the same problem with a coral beauty. He would also eat my Xenia.

 

[Allmost]

once he starts, he will never stop.

but feeding it more [2-3 times a day] will make it do less damage. it will still go for a snack though. IT HAS TASTED ACROS lol

also dont forget the importance of Dither fish when it comes to keeping angels busy .

 

[Duc1098]

I have a Coral Beauty that I have observed nipping and some Zoa polyps but no major damage. The Neon Velvet Damsel I had was a different story, he would take a whole large polyp off in one swipe. Needless to say he had to go. Also, if you haven't invested in one yet, a fish trap is a great tool for getting fish out of the tank that is loaded. The one I have is pretty simple to use and takes some time to get the fish you want, but it keeps me from having to remove anything from the tank.

 

[Mangodude]

Thanks for the tips guys. He'll be coming out this weekend!

Duc, a fish trap sounds appealing but I have maybe 50lbs of rock in a 150g tank so its not too hard to find where they're hiding

Another method I used on my last tank was taking window screening and blocking off half or third of the tank where the fish was. Limits the area down in long tanks.