dwarf angel's reef compatibility

[Dorado13]

I really want either a flame angel or coral beauty but have heard some horror stories about them nipping at corals. But at the same time, other people have said that they are model reef inhabitants that don't bother anything. I'm just wondering how many people have had either good or bad experiences so that I can see whether or not I should take my chances.

 

[buiboy]

Good experience with a coral beauty here.

 

[ACBlinky]

I have a coral beauty, a flame and a flagfin angel in my 65g. They were all fine with the few corals I had in the tank (hammer, Xenia, GSP, shrooms & zoas) for a while. I moved a few of the corals to another tank and left just the Xenia and GSP, and soon after one of them discovered that Xenia tastes good... he taught the others, and now they all trim it regularly.

They can ignore corals, rip into them right away, or be model citizens for years and suddenly develop a taste for coral mucous or the corals themselves. Angels can be a risk, but one worth taking IMHO.

 

[Purple Haze]

Slim pickings it seems on Pygmy Angel info. I've been searching myself these past few days.

I'm more interested in the feasability of a Multicolored Angel in a mixed tank.

Good luck.

 

[Wolverine]

Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7455767#post7455767 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dorado13
I really want either a flame angel or coral beauty but have heard some horror stories about them nipping at corals. But at the same time, other people have said that they are model reef inhabitants that don't bother anything. I'm just wondering how many people have had either good or bad experiences so that I can see whether or not I should take my chances.

Both of those fish are in the 50:50 range. No matter how many people reply to this thread, you ultimately have to accept that you're taking some risk in putting that fish in your tank. If you really want one, as you say, then give it a shot. It might eat your corals; it might not.

Dave

 

[RichConley]

Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7459295#post7459295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wolverine
Both of those fish are in the 50:50 range. No matter how many people reply to this thread, you ultimately have to accept that you're taking some risk in putting that fish in your tank. If you really want one, as you say, then give it a shot. It might eat your corals; it might not.

Dave

Wolverine, there have been multiple polls ad nauseum about this. Generally the response is 75%+ are safe. Your general point is correct, but saying their 50/50 is misleading.

 

[jafoca]

I have an african flameback angel, he is safe with clams and coral!

Great fish!

 

[Wolverine]

Re: Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

Re: Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7461921#post7461921 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Wolverine, there have been multiple polls ad nauseum about this. Generally the response is 75%+ are safe. Your general point is correct, but saying their 50/50 is misleading.

I would argue that the polls are misleading due to uneven response rates. Someone with success with an animal is more likely to respond than someone who did not have success. Many will also respond with success if their most recent one was reef-safe, but not consider the fact that the 2 they had previously were not.
The polls also don't take into consideration someone who has had the fish for a month or two, but the fish hasn't gotten to the point where he starts sampling things.

Dave

 

[Edge]

Ive had a cherub for about 2 years in a softie tank and it has yet to nip on anything as far as I've seen.

ED

 

[Wolverine]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7473398#post7473398 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Edge
Ive had a cherub for about 2 years in a softie tank and it has yet to nip on anything as far as I've seen.

IME, the argi complex of angelfishes (including cherubs and flamebacks) are much more reliably reef-safe than flames and CBs; I've only seen one that ever picked at corals regularly. Of course, that comes at the price of them being less fish safe if it's a smaller tank.

Dave

 

[bryceps]

I've just kept my coral beauties well fed, and they've been great!

 

[RichConley]

Re: Re: Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

Re: Re: Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7473334#post7473334 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Wolverine
I would argue that the polls are misleading due to uneven response rates. Someone with success with an animal is more likely to respond than someone who did not have success. Many will also respond with success if their most recent one was reef-safe, but not consider the fact that the 2 they had previously were not.
The polls also don't take into consideration someone who has had the fish for a month or two, but the fish hasn't gotten to the point where he starts sampling things.

Dave

I would argue the exact opposite. THat people who have had problems are more likely to complain than people who havent had problems are likely to complement.

I've had 3 dwarf angels, adn all of them have been perfectly reef safe.

 

[lilleahseafreak]

i mainly want to know WHAT corals they tend to nip.

i know some one who has one of them blue and white striped angels in his tank and it only eats zoanthids...

i just got a coral beauty last night and so far all is well but i would like to know which of my corals are most likely to end up on the menu.

the corals/inverts in this tank consist of a Pectinia (an odd lps coral w/ a nasty sting that left my fingers w/little white blisters after handling it) hammer, torch tip, frogspawn, zoanthids, mushrooms, star polyps, polythoas, candycane and many kenyatree type leathers, a big coral banded shrimp, a big bubble tip brittle star and a feather duster.
the guy at the store said that coral beauty agels will only nip SPS corals, i have 3 tanks and the few sps corals i have are in another tank.

but what i have read online says they like to nip LPS corals....

so what corals DO they like?

 

[danlun]

I have a coral beauty and i think he ate some of my hammer coral. I had a hammer with 3 heads, they were all healthy until one day after coming home from work, I found one of the heads was damaged and missing some of the little sprouts. I have a coral beauty, a tomato clown, a pseudochromis, a lawnmower blenny, and a sand goby, plus 4 peppermint shrimp and 5 turbo snails. I don't think any other of the fish would have eaten the hammmer, so i think the coral beauty has to be the one to eat the coral. Anyway, he, or someone finished off that branch of hammer and did not touch the other. I also have frogspawn, shrooms, xenia, sunflower coral, gsp's, and zoo's and none of them have been damaged other than that 1 incident. I have had the coral beauty in there for about 4 months. The "inicident" occurred about 6-8 weeks after I put the hammer coral in the tank. But I think that they are pretty safe still. I just put in a longnose butterfly yesterday and so far so good.

 

[chrismcfc]

I Have a flame and a regal in a mixed reef with no problems.
Great fish, very active and playful in the current.

 

[luvtolean]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7479973#post7479973 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lilleahseafreak
i mainly want to know WHAT corals they tend to nip.

i know some one who has one of them blue and white striped angels in his tank and it only eats zoanthids...

Zoos.

I had a pygmy that ate them in a 7 gallon. This tank was too small, so it's not a real good example. I took it back to the fish store, who had never had a pygmy eat corals, despite having them in display tanks. He said tangs are more likely to eat LPS than pygmys are to eat corals in his experience!

I have another pygmy that's been with me over 2 years and even if not fed for several days while I'm out of town, it doesn't touch the corals. I had a flame that acted the same.

A multicolor should be fine too.

 

[TWallace]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

I would argue the exact opposite. THat people who have had problems are more likely to complain than people who havent had problems are likely to complement.

I've had 3 dwarf angels, adn all of them have been perfectly reef safe.

My thoughts exactly, Rich. In my experience, people with a negative experience are much more vocal about it than people with a pleasant or neutral experience. There's some saying regarding something similar. A customer with a good experience will tell a friend. A customer with a bad experience will tell 10 friends.

 

[woodywoo]

I just got a Biocolor that is beautiful. On the first day I didn't see anything. Now a week into it. I see damage on some of my SPS and LPS. But that was before I saw him eating now he is eating so I will wait to see a week from now!

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7485024#post7485024 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luvtolean
He said tangs are more likely to eat LPS than pygmys are to eat corals in his experience!

My experience says the same. It also says theyre more likely to bother clams. Centropyge get a bad rap.


FWIW, my potters, is 100% reefsafe if everything is healthy. If I put a coral in that is dying (IE something thats already sloughing flesh) hes all over it.

I had an acro fall into a hynophora a couple days ago, and he was all over that. As soon as I fragged the acro and took out the burnt parts, he couldnt care less.

 

[Wolverine]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: dwarf angel's reef compatibility

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7479095#post7479095 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
I would argue the exact opposite. THat people who have had problems are more likely to complain than people who havent had problems are likely to complement.

There's a tremendous amount of pride in this hobby (arguably in this society), and people are often very reticent to admit mistakes. I've seen it countless times where someone will come on here (or on other boards) and ask whether they can have a given fish in a given tank; let's say a blue-ribbon eel as an example. They're told not to get it. Their next post is a set of pictures showing how great their new eel is doing, with updates for the next 3 months. Then 6 months later they show up with a thread about their wonderful snowflake eel. This isn't about complaining about companies (in which case I agree, people are more likely to complain than not); this is more an issue of admitting that something you tried against advice failed.
People also like to say that they've had success when others told them they wouldn't.

As to the question of what corals they eat, classically it's zoanthids and softies, but they can eat anything (such as danlun mentioning it going after his hammer). I've also seen them eat SPS. They're more likely to eat something like Xenia, but they don't always follow those rules.

Dave