Coral Beauty in a coral reef tank??

[marilynrn711]

my coral beauty was great for about 6 mos then noticed I had no PE during the day. This has gone on for about 4 months now. Last week I caught her actually ripping off the flesh of a coral. I have great PE at night but dont know how I am going to keep her or catch her for that matter.

 

[Blazer88]

I guess since this thread has been dug up I can give an update on how my CB did. She was extremely mean to everything in the tank, killed two firefish, kept my clowns covering in the corner, picked at my Brain and almost killed it, as well as some sofities and SPS. All in all, I was happy to get rid of her for $10. I won't ever risk a dwarf in a reef again, it just isn't worth it. Best of luck who decide to put 'em in!

 

[marilynrn711]

I would never have one either. I wish I could catch mine.

 

[TrojanScott]

had one for 6 years with no problems. My current one is a year old, and no problems. Keep 'em well fed. Beautiful fish, I love keeping them.

 

[Black71gp]

mine has never touched anything.. had him over two years.. pics on rocks. but nothing else...

 

[Mdoug25]

I had one of these for 5 years and only observed a few potential problems:

1.) Seemed to be very territorial (added after a Blue and Purple Tang, the only two fish larger than her within the tank) and she basically claimed the entire left half of my old 55 gal. The two tangs rarely ventured to the that side after establishent.

2.) Seemed to attack and pester most fish smaller that were indroduced after her. Never messed with smaller fish that were introduced prior.

3.) Never had a problem with stony corals, and most soft corals or clams but she did devour what few zooanthids I had prior to introduction. Also, I had a sand sifting star fish that lost most of the leading legs/feelers to her.

For me, the fish worked fine...once I understood what I could and could not have. I would probably not risk getting another though.

-Mdoug

 

[NexDog]

As with all fish - depends on the fish. My coral beauty is not agressive in teh slightest. He actually thinks he's a Clarkii clownfish as he's always hanging out with my female Clarkii and almost doing the clownfish twitch. Doesn't eat SPS but now suddenly after a year he's started to nip at the brain he's co-existed with. Gets along great with the other angels although chased the flame angel when it first went in.

You just can't generalise with fish. If you ask around I'm sure you can find someone with a Perc with a penchant for acros and gobies that host in a BTA.

 

[larac]

Mine is a model citizen. Although she swims constantly over the entire tank (a plus imo) she is not territorial, gets along great with the other fish, and has not bothered a small blenny I just added.

I have noticed she will pick pods and algae off corals, but does not bother any corals (soft, lps, sps) that I have.

 

[Tyrosinase]

For all the people out there that are having problems with their coral beauties, do your tanks contain any algae in them or are they sparkling clean? As someone mentioned before these fish are grazers. If you don't provide or have any algae in your tank for the fish to graze upon the fish will find some on its own. Unfortunately, this means it will start to pick at the slime that corals produce.

 

[tigerfish]

Here's a thought,
If I want a Flame angel, and don't have unwanted algae growth, then how would one promote algae growth to feed the angel and maintain a healthy tank?

 

[Blazer88]

My tank had quite a bit of algae when she was in there so lack of grazing opportunities definitely wasn't the problem. She did like Nori though when it was offered.

 

[NexDog]

My tank has zero algae and I have many algae eating fish or general grazers including a yellow tang, coral beauty, flame angel and juvie emperor and they are all healthy. I add nori every few days but only the YT and CB eat that. The flame and emp are happy to pick at the rocks but all the fish feast at feeding time which is twice a day. The get brine, baby brine, mysid, formula 1 & 2 pellet and 4 different types of granule/flake type foods. So tanks don't need algae but all tanks will produce some - just the grazers will mow it down. Good feeding and nori is the key.

 

[speckled trout]

Dang, I have a CB and a Flame in my 105g. It's loaded with softies. Not only do they leave the coral alone, but they also leave each other alone.

I originally set the tank up for fish only. They were both fairly small when introduced and never messed with each other. I gradually added the coral over time and haven't ever noticed anything more than the occassional nip at one of my gorgonians by the flame. The gorgonian is so used to it that it doesn't even evern retract its polyps anymore.