Difficult Angelfish...or Angels to be Avoided?

[forddna]

Please post which angels are difficult to keep and why, or otherwise angels that should be avoided and why.

I'm new to fish only tanks and don't want to get my little heart set on a fish that I have no business purchasing. Thanks, guys!

 

[geaux xman]

I've never tried the Regal Angelfish, but it is frequently mention that they're hard to keep. Sensitive due to capture techniques, shipping, and will die for no apparent reason.

I think the key to keeping angels is to QT them. 3 weeks of Cupramine and 2 treatments of prazi for a healthy, clean fish to add into the DT. For the most part, large angels take .5ppm cupramine very well.

will you be fish only or is this for our reef tank?

 

[happyjack]

rock beauties are supposed to impossible to keep longr then a few months

 

[dviper150]

rock beauties are supposed to impossible to keep longr then a few months

I have had mine for a year now. Doing great!

 

[forddna]

Thinking of going FOWLR with the reef. Not much of a reef anymore anyway.

 

[Monkeyfish]

I have had mine for a year now. Doing great!

You're the exception to the rule. Out of curiosity, what does he eat?

The more dififuclt to keep angels are:
Regal
"Rock Beauty"
Golden dwarfs

 

[dviper150]

He is eating pellets, mysis, angel formula, blood worms, and nori.

 

[jwm2k3]

He is eating pellets, mysis, angel formula, blood worms, and nori.

What is your feeding schedule? Once a day or multiple times a day?

 

[dviper150]

I feed my fish once a day. I alternate between the different foods.

 

[clekchau]

Only ones I've ever had trouble with was the rock beauty everything else were solid eaters even the red sea angel.

The hardiest are the French, Annularis and Mac IMHO, almost bullet proof.

 

[forddna]

How does the French behave?

 

[sandwi54]

french angel is very big and boisterous. care must be taken in selecting tank mates. it can harrass small tank mates when it gets adult sized. it's not super aggressive like emperor, queen, or passer, but rather just wants to stay dominant.

that being said, french angel is my favorite fish and unlike many angels, has a very puppy-like temperant like puffers do. if you were to keep a french, i would not keep other angels with it.

 

[runintoluck]

Personally the hardest angel I've kept is a Bandit (arcuatus). It took me 3 weeks to get it to eat but now it readily accepts ON angel formula and NLS pellets. Luckily, it just took a while for him to get used to its new surroundings. With the harder to keep angels, the difficult thing is getting a healthy specimen to begin with and getting it to accept prepared foods. I have kept an emperor, passer, french, queen, annularis, regal, and blueface (not all at the same time obviously). I would have to say the passer and emperor are up there in terms of aggressiveness, but the french I had was pretty passive. The blueface and regal were extremely shy, along with the annularis. It also depends on how big the angel is when you receive it and what order you want to add them in as well. As for the genicanthus family, I've had no trouble with either the spotbreast or the semifasciatus as both began eating immediately in qt. Just my 2 cents.

 

[forddna]

Thank you. I thought I remembered something like that about the French. They are beautiful, for sure.

 

[geaux xman]

well visually, which large angels really appeal to you? i think that would be a good start on narrowing down which angel to get..

 

[wlyon]

well visually, which large angels really appeal to you? i think that would be a good start on narrowing down which angel to get..

HaHa, I was about to ask the same thing.

 

[happyjack]

Personally the hardest angel I've kept is a Bandit (arcuatus). It took me 3 weeks to get it to eat but now it readily accepts ON angel formula and NLS pellets. Luckily, it just took a while for him to get used to its new surroundings. With the harder to keep angels, the difficult thing is getting a healthy specimen to begin with and getting it to accept prepared foods. I have kept an emperor, passer, french, queen, annularis, regal, and blueface (not all at the same time obviously). I would have to say the passer and emperor are up there in terms of aggressiveness, but the french I had was pretty passive. The blueface and regal were extremely shy, along with the annularis. It also depends on how big the angel is when you receive it and what order you want to add them in as well. As for the genicanthus family, I've had no trouble with either the spotbreast or the semifasciatus as both began eating immediately in qt. Just my 2 cents.

what fish do you keep with the bandit .Mine ate readily but was aggressed by my other fish and died quickly

 

[michael_cb_125]

Bandits do great if provided the proper environment.
I have had mine for almost two years now:



~Michael

 

[runintoluck]

what fish do you keep with the bandit .Mine ate readily but was aggressed by my other fish and died quickly

It lives with a maroon clown, purple tang, spotbreast angel and solar wrasse. The purple tang was in the tank first, but I removed it when I added the bandit. I then proceeded to introduce the purple tang back into the tank and although the tang tries to dominate the tank, the bandit actually fights back and holds its own. It flares its dorsal spines and lowers its head. I was personally surprised at how aggressive the bandit could be. Otherwise they ignore each mother most of the time. Hopefully, the bandit will fatten up even more over time like other large angels I've kept.

 

[sandwi54]

well visually, which large angels really appeal to you? i think that would be a good start on narrowing down which angel to get..

+1

Why don't you look through the list of angels and pick out the ones that you like the most, and we can give you further recommendations? i have kept 7 different types of angels but at the end of the day, i love french the most, and it happens to be one of the hardiest angels.