Flame angel , please advise

[CaptNemo]

Hello everyone.
I know people asked this question a 1000 times already but i can't find any good infor on it. Most answer would be
"it will nip at coral, clam. your tank is too small, you are a terrible person"
This kind of answer doesn't help me at all.

Back to my story.
I just got a 37 gallon Oceanic tank. I believe this fit the minimum tank size requirement for the Flame angel. So please don't tell me that the tank is too small for it. if the tank is indeed too small, then think of me as a bad person that like to torture fish for fun.
To me, i like both coral and fishes and i especially love the angel fishes. My dream tank would have some corals and a Flame angel and two blue damsels.

So i need your helps on this.
if you kept a flame angel before or still keeping it
please list :
1) how long you have it for
2) how long before it nip your corals
MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION:
3) What kind of corals it eat or bother and what kind of corals it will leave alone.

I am trying to plan ahead so i can keep some corals and a Flame angel.

thanks alot everyone.

 

[AnimaliA]

I have had one flame angel for 3.5 years that never nipped at corals unless there was a 'pod or some tasty algae it wanted to get to. I have a friend who has had a flame angel for over 5 years that loves to eat clam mantles and nips at LPS corals like they were chocolate...

Sorry, I know this isn't what you want to hear but it really does depend on the personality of the particular fish you purchase.

Good luck

 

[Illuminati]

1) Had one for a month before it died for no apperant reason
2) I think it nipped at a purple gorg, gorg had no polyp extension, flame died and the gorg came back looking great. Orange gorg in the same tank was fine throughout.
3) I have heard clam mantles are the main thing it will nip. I also know several people that have them in LPS and SPS dominated reefs. There was a local who had on that ate xenia but that is the only problem that I personally know happened.

Also:
Great sized tank, not to small by any means. I had mine in a 24 nanocube and that is to small.

Pick the tankmates carefully. My flame never messed with the other fish but they were kind of spooked when he was in there since he was so big and active.

Look into their feeding habits. I had to buy a special herbavore food for mine, they need plenty of algae.

Good luck

 

[Doglover_50]

Had mine about 5 months in a 70g tank, died suddenly with no warning, no other health problems in other livestock.
As for nipping--never nipped at any of my softies or LPS, not a lot of SPS in my tank. No nipping at any of my 4 clams, including my 2 purples.
I hear there is a LOT of variability in nipping with each specimen. So you kinda get lucky--or NOT. If not, you'll probably just have to fish it out and give/sell to someone else.
I think your tank size is small, but sufficient for a flame.
Put flame in last as it will be more aggressive than most other fish.

 

[CaptNemo]

Thanks for your advises so far.
like i said, i love angels fishes, i got a queen angel in the 180gallons at my parent house. but it is a fish only tank, looked so bare and unattractive. i would like some corals with the fish.
yeah, right now i am just doing research and will decide which corals to put into the tank with the Flame angel. This is a hobby so sometime i have to spend alot of money on it. I believe it is worth it to gamble on the flame angel.

anyone else?

 

[salty3]

I havnt owned one but I have read you have better chance with a coral beauty. I have aslo read it depends on the fish basicly flipping a coin, but thats a 55.00 coin at that. Good luck.

 

[acrodave]

all fish that eat coral are 50/50 i know clams and open brains are a fav.but wiht any fish if u feed it a nuff it will not have to look for food somewere eles like corals.... scott michael says u can put them in a 20g

 

[A Canfield]

I've had my Flame for 4 months.............He's GREAT!!!
Never touches the corals.
I can watch him all day glide through the openings in the rocks and pick at the algae.

 

[61scout80]

i have one for about 2 months now in a FOWLR 29 gallon. he eats like a pig (flake, nori, brine, mysis, angel cubes), and interacts with my false perc clowns. it does what ever the clowns do, including trying to hang out in the anemone before i moved the nem to my 10 gallon coral tank for the safety of the flame angel.

I have no corals or clams with it, but it will occasionally grab on to the leg of my brittle star and pull violently trying to break a piece off, makes me think he would surely pick at anything soft.

 

[smithcreek]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9591819#post9591819 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 61scout80
i have one for about 2 months now in a FOWLR 29 gallon. he eats like a pig (flake, nori, brine, mysis, angel cubes)

That's part of the trick. Angels are wild caught, so may depend on what they were eating before they were caught. If you have a QT tank put him in there and get him used to eating as many different types of food as you can. If he's used to all those foods he may be less inclined to taste everything in your tank.

 

[Tex007]

touchy at best....everyone with flames in a mixed reef system under 1yr and says it wont pick at corals are all, IMHO, invalid and irresponsible claims and should be taken with a grain of salt.

if it were my SPS, clam's etc etc..no way I'd take the risk. If your gona do it, do a FOWLR and softies.