Emporer angel

I think that it is common knowledge that they are not reef safe. Did you research this before you just bought one. Either say good bye to the Emporer or good buy to some of your corals......I always thought fish were much more interesting anyway!
 
I understand they are not reef safe. Was looking for experience as too what type of corals they prefer or all. Some on here claim that angels tend to pick on corals only when the coral is stressed or suffering. I think you will also find a fair amount of reefers that have attempted or are currently housing an emp. The emp I am getting is about 2 inches and I have also heard they can be more troublesome as they get older, but O.K. for awhile.
 
he will be ok as a baby. but like most angels will start to pick at corals and sponges. and the biger the angel the more damge it does.
 
Do they tend to pick before or after their change. My thought is too keep him until he grows a little and move him into a different tank. Just curious how long that might be.
 
I have an adult Emperor in my mixed reef and he has been a model citizen, albeit due to the fact I mostly keep noxious LPS and some softies in the tank. I would never think of putting a clam in there or any of the "meaty" LFS like open brains or scolemia, ricordia,etc. My old Juvi Emperor wiped out a rock full of mushrooms in a matter of a couple of hours. I heard they are hot or miss when it comes to SPS, although they will nip if the the coral is unhealthy.

BTW, obtain a smaller adult species from either Sri-LAnka/MAldives or the christmas islands for the best coloration. Most of the juvi's available are from the Indo region and never really change into the more vibrant colorations seen in adults, regardless of what diet you feed.

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Your Emp is beautiful, how big is he ? I've got an Emperor who is probably slight younger than yours, he hasn't got his lines straight yet, their still in a bowe. But he has got his adult colours. But about the subject in this forum, as I say, my emp is still very small but has his adult colours and he was ok with soft corals but nips at anemones. I think that if you feed him well you could keep him with soft corals, but i wouldn't recommend to put them in a tank with LPS or SPS.
 
Gorgeous fish...I am going to pass...too risky...would probably do O.K. for awhile, but not worth the headache and stress of wondering when you will devour my tank.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11658767#post11658767 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Davíð M.
Your Emp is beautiful, how big is he ? I've got an Emperor who is probably slight younger than yours, he hasn't got his lines straight yet, their still in a bowe. But he has got his adult colours. But about the subject in this forum, as I say, my emp is still very small but has his adult colours and he was ok with soft corals but nips at anemones. I think that if you feed him well you could keep him with soft corals, but i wouldn't recommend to put them in a tank with LPS or SPS.

Dave- My emperor is about 5-6 inches and he has filled out quite a bit since I purchased him from LiveAquaria about two months ago (Not a Diver's Den specimen either.). He is the boss of the tank and eats like a pig (PE Mysis, Clams, Angel Formula, etc.)
I will be adding a juvi goldflake and possibly a blue line when they come back into season. Both are fairly passive and will let the Emperor remain the boss in the tank. I have read of larger Emperors wreaking havoc in reef tanks, decimating clams, LPS and some sps. I happen to like fish better than corals, so I am willing take a chance of him maybe nipping at some of my LPs. I am obsessed with keeping euphyllia, and I think they are too noxious for him to mess with.
 
From the above posts this is all contrary to my research on the subject. Those of you saying not to keep with SPS or clams, have you tried? From my own experience this is what I found.
I bought a 1 1/2" juv. He went into my reef display containing Soft, LPS and SPS. He ate like a pig and was soon trying to boss about anybody that would take it.
As for what he ate of my coral stock the list is as follows. None.
That includes shrooms, Xenia, leather, hammerhead, frogspawn, acro, and monti’s. Now this list is not exaustive and he was a juv. I say was because I lost all my fish over x-mas to ich :(.
In my research into others experience the following seemed consistent. All loved to eat button polyps. That was it. As for the others it was clams, open brains and shrooms that seemed to attract them. But all this depended very much on the fish and if it was purchased as a juv or an adult. A juv trained to take frozen, flake, pellet, nori and kept well fed would often ignore most corals.
I hope this helps and don't be put off by stories of what my fish did. They are all different and beautiful fish. Will def be getting one for my new 200g SPS setup.
 
Interesting...so much conflicting info...each and every emp and angel seem to be different...I don't think I want to take the risk of him wiping out my corals...however, I have yet to hear from too many people on this thread where the emp has devastated a coral population...seems like a bunch of hearsay...a local LFS of mine has a 10 inch full adult in a mixed reef and he doesn't touch anything.
 
Charlie - my Emperor was a model in my 180 reef till he hit 5.5-6". He then proceeded to eat every piece of coral that I had with my Blueface and French.

Till this day, anything that goes in my tank will get eaten (latest includes a Condi anemone, carpet anemone, long tenticle anemone)
 
It seems like this is a classic case of "not all fish are the same".

I bought my emperor as a 3" juvenile a couple of years ago. He's now a 6-7" adult. As a juvenile he was a perfect reef citizen, never touched a coral. Was very well fed on a varied diet and always looked fat and healthy.

However, when he started to change to his adult colouration he turned from Dr Jekyll to Mr Hyde in one fell swoop. Despite continuing to be well fed, he ate every single zoa, brain, ephyllia & bubble I had in my tank (other than one bubble that I managed to squeeze into my nano). Since completing his change to adult colours he has devoured my xenia and has started nipping my sarco's & sinularia's. Doesn't appear to have touched my mushies...yet.

I too much prefer my fish to the corals so my tank is now officially FOWLRAAFCCMEHE - "Fish Only With Live Rock And A Few Choice Corals My Emperor Hasn't Eaten" :D

Wouldn't swap him for anything in the world.

PS - I have a Maxima Clam which he hasn't shown any interest in at all and I have never kept SPS
 
Gillubaby,

My emporer is currently changing..... the likeness and rate of change is so similar to yours its uncanny...... you would swear its te same fish...... I'm trying to do a month by month thing like you did, and its as though it were teh same fish..... at the current rate mine has abotu 3 months to go to be the same as your one.

Any recent pics of your emporer..... more recent than the "May 07" image on your site?
 
Hi Matt, sorry for the delay in replying but I haven't been online much in the last couple of weeks. Making up for it now though ;)

Its bizzare how alike some fish can be. I'm glad someone's Emperor is changing like mine did as it seemed quite quick in comparison to a lot I've read about on here and other forums. Must be all the corals he ate :D

Hmmmm, these are the latest pics I have of my Emperor:

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Really need to get my finger out and take some more, he is sooooo cool.

Looking forward to seeing the pics of your Emperor ;)
 
Hey Gillian - nice pics - I feel all fuzzy and warm knowing mine is going to be like that ;)

What lighting do you have?

I'll try and get some pics tomorrow - will have to get round to my Mums house and nick her camera...... I broke my one.... broke the Mrs camera too for that matter!

Mine is about half way between your 4th last and 3rd last pic on your site..... I got mine in June 07, I think....... so I;ve had him 8 months..... give or take a month, mine is the same rate of development.

I think alot of people that have emporer angels have them in either FO tanks or reef tanks.... in the former the water quality is usually not as good...... in the latter they usually are not fed as much because of fears of polution...... where as I put mine in a reef tank, and fed him like there were no corals in it..... so he has the best of both worlds :)

Hasn't eaten any corals yet...... but I won't hold my breath!
 
Here is a pic of my emperor - it is exceptionally bad quality.... sorry about that...... crappy phone pic I'm afraid!

He's about 6.5" long, including tail.

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Wow, he's gorgeous Matt. Not far off, as you say. Going to be a cracking specimen in a couple of months and I'm glad he hasn't tried any of your corals yet. Fingers crossed he won't.

The tank is lit with 2x250w metal halides in the middle, the ends are dark.
 
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