Flame Angel, When Fish Go Bad!

[ca1ore]

I see threads all the time asking about the reef safeness of dwarf/Pygmy angels .... Well, my Flame Angel has turned into a holy terror, after over a year of being a model citizen. What caused the change I cannot say, but I have had to remove all of the clams from my tank and most of the LPS. SPS, zoos, and softies left alone. At the end of the day I like the Flame and Potters more than clams or LPS, so acceptable trade off for me, but it's a cautionary tale.

 

[inktomi]

Sorry to hear that! With most of the semi reef safe angels and butterflies it seems like clams are near the top of the risk list =\

It's too bad - both these animals are such beautiful organisms! It's too bad one likes to eat the other so much!

 

[lhm nole]

I love them but why I am scared to put one in my reef no way to catch it unless I dismantle the tank

 

[aandfsoccr04]

I hope my fortune is a little different from yours. I just added a 1.5" potters and 2" flame last night.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Had my flame now for over a year with no problems ( fingers crossed) they are unpredictable.

 

[ca1ore]

I love them but why I am scared to put one in my reef no way to catch it unless I dismantle the tank

Oh yeah, even if I wanted to catch them, chances are I'd have to pull apart the rockwork - which I don't plan to do :lol:

 

[Marshall O]

I have had one in my 125 mixed reef for a year now. Picks at SPS, but leaves all other corals alone (tons of Zoas, chalices, and fleshy LPS). I now have a 50 cube SPS tank setup and so don't mind the picking at SPS

 

[CoralsAddiction]

I love them but why I am scared to put one in my reef no way to catch it unless I dismantle the tank

Fish traps are helpful.

 

[PirateToast]

Interesting, my flame angel picks at rock but has never shown interest in coral. He is definitely the tank bully though.

 

[Rea17]

I had a flame angel that was a model citizen for over a year, then turned into an absolute terror overnight. Still haven't had the courage to get another one, maybe for my fuge next time

 

[ca1ore]

I hope my fortune is a little different from yours. I just added a 1.5" potters and 2" flame last night.

Well, at the end of the day they're all individuals, so my experiences don't necessarily translate completely; but I do think (having kept many dwarf angels for a long time) that more often than not they end up being a problem. That so many people report no problems may speak as much to a lack of longevity in our tanks than anything else.

The irritating part of all this, for me, is that I got rid of a LemonPeel angel that I had 'rescued' locally and put in QT because I didn't ultimately want to risk it in the display. Clearly that now proves to have been unnecessary.

 

[HumbleFish]

My Lemonpeel turned into a pretty bad nipper, going after all candy canes, blastos. I relocated those to the frag tank, so she next started eating my leathers & euphyllia (those are too big for the frag tank). My wife begged me not to kick her out, so I tried feeding 3-4x daily instead. It took awhile but she slowly stopped nipping... and now I'm only feeding the tank 2x daily and she's still being good a year later. So, I guess sometimes they can outgrow it. However, there are certain corals I dare not ever put in my tank.