golden dwarf angelfish... should i get it...?

[flipteg]

there is a golden dwarf angelfish in the store near where i live right now... December last year, i picked between this fish and the potter's angelfish... i went with the potter's angelfish, but it only lived for about 5 days... a few weeks later, i bought another potter's... it was with me for about 2 months... it seemed to be doing so well, and all of a sudden it died for no apparent reason... it was eating, very active... all tank mates were fine...

the store that has the golden right now is the only store that i know that sells them... since last year, this is only the third one they have gotten...

i've been eyeing the golden angelfish for almost a year now...!!! the reasons why i don't want to get it is, first of all the price... the store is selling it for $100... i can probably talk them down to around $85... but that's still $85... and considering i haven't done well with the potter's, i'm kinda reluctant... another reason is because i have 4 pieces of SPS corals, although my tank is still dominated by LPS and soft corals...

my tank is a 30 gallon cube that has been up for one year on October 14... the fishes in there are a percula clownfish, hi-fin goby, red head goby, and a green banded goby...

so what do you all think...?

 

[ClamIAm]

If you are talking about Centropyge aurantia, here are my thoughts. $85 would be a great price for this fish. Do not buy it if it is not eating though. From what I've seen these angels frequently refuse to eat things like frozen mysis, so it is definitely best to buy one that already is. As for the coral polyps, I don't know about this particular species but it seems like all centropyge angels can be hit or miss with coral nibbling. The tank is probably too small for one though, especially with all of the other fish in it already.

 

[G13]

If you decide to purchase, make sure it's eating. You need to make sure is that the fish is going to eat flake and frozen food. Ask them to feed the angel some frozen and flake food.

 

[Bret61081]

I know they like clams too! my LFS had one in a display tank...when they took the tank down, they put all the fish in their clams tank...and it ate a 150$ clam! so watch out! Beautiful fish though

 

[Angel*Fish]

Probably the Potter's angels you had were improperly collected/handled - which is why they died.

It is very very difficult to catch a golden (aurantia) without cyanide -- I have personally decided to put this species on my "leave-in-the-ocean" list because IMO buying them encourages cyanide or some other destructive type of collection Unless my LFS could give me a plausible story about the collection of this fish, I'd pass.

Another option would be to buy the fish and if it dies mysteriously, boycott that store and let them know the reason.

Just my $.02

Also - I almost forgot - they are not reef safe at all!

 

[flipteg]

i thought with dwarf angelfishes, it is 50/50 chance of being reef safe... why do you say they are not "at all"...?

 

[flameangel88]

It's a beautiful fish but 30g may be too small. I was told this is a deep water fish and you may want to feed it with just the actinics on and will be less stressful on them. I'd it for about 9 days but during that time I couldn't get it to eat anything and I rotate with about 5 different frozen and 3 pellet types but it didn't show much interest. I agree that since you are picking it up from a lfs made sure it will eat before you take it home. I've polyps, shrooms and it didn't bother them but like otheres said you just never know.

Looking at your tankmate list it should be fine and golden dwarf are very shy and will not bother anybody. I agree with Angel*Fish that this is a fish that will be in my 'leave-in-the-ocean' list.

 

[RGBMatt]

If it's been in the shop for a year, it's probably a healthy fish, right?

 

[Sheol]

A year? Sounds pretty healthy! The only problem is as mentioned, a 30gallon reef is a bit small. It will be riskier for your corals..

Matthew
my .02

 

[ReefRascals]

They've had it for a year and it's only $100?? If that's true, get it.

I've had quite a few of them and they tend to say away from corals. And truthfully I think you would be hard pressed to get on to eat frozen or flake at the store. They are omnivores, and will pick mostly on algae in your aquarium.

 

[Angel*Fish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8348436#post8348436 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by flipteg
i thought with dwarf angelfishes, it is 50/50 chance of being reef safe... why do you say they are not "at all"...?

I think there is some misunderstanding about how long this fish has been at the LFS

Anyway some are what you might call 50/50 but others are more like 90-100% likely to munch on certain corals - some species which are "50/50" are more likely to munch mushrooms while others might be more tempted by zoanthids or clams

Anyway golden angels are considered generally to be coral eaters - besides that problem it's very important to provide lots of caves, holes, hiding places for these and once you've done so, many are very shy about coming out in the open - As a group IMO, they just aren't a very good dwarf angel pet -- I'm sure someone will post about how theirs doesn't eat corals and is always out in the open, but this is the exception and not what you should expect from these guys

 

[Angel*Fish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8354142#post8354142 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefRascals
They've had it for a year and it's only $100?? If that's true, get it.

I've had quite a few of them and they tend to say away from corals. And truthfully I think you would be hard pressed to get on to eat frozen or flake at the store. They are omnivores, and will pick mostly on algae in your aquarium.

What corals did yours stay away from - these might be the best ones to keep with a golden angel - unless you think in terms of their possibly needing some coral food in their diet

 

[ReefRascals]

I have a store, so my experience is with many different systems, as well as with my clients. Truthfully I never had an instance where one DID pick on corals...or clams. Not to say that they won't, but mine didn't.

They are, I will agree, fairly reclusive.

 

[ReefRascals]

Oh, and I was just reminded of one that we had in an aquaculture system...lived in there for the better part of two years. He also never touched the corals.

 

[massman]

Of all the dwarfs I have seen/caught in the wild, the golden is THE most difficult to catch (and see!).
Whilst there are some great collectors out there, I'd be bold enough to say that 99% are caught through destructive methods. I think this is a significant reason to their poor record of survival in captivity.

 

[ReefRascals]

I had better success with golden Angels than I did with Coral Beauties...maybe I didn't give my supplier enough credit Lol.

 

[Angel*Fish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8356350#post8356350 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by massman
Of all the dwarfs I have seen/caught in the wild, the golden is THE most difficult to catch (and see!).
Whilst there are some great collectors out there, I'd be bold enough to say that 99% are caught through destructive methods. I think this is a significant reason to their poor record of survival in captivity.

This confirms what I've read about about them - definitely on my boycott list. I know there are some fish that weren't even described until collectors used poisons while catching other fish - I wouldn't be surprised if this were one of those

 

[nickiwit]

I have had my golden for about two years now. It nips at everything. I think they are more notorious for doing this then other angels. I watched mine at the pet store for three months before I decided to buy it. I know most don't but mine acclimated well. Mine eats everything and is always out in the open. My husband wants me to get rid of it because of the coral nipping but I won't.

 

[flipteg]

hello, again, yea there are misunderstandings on how long the fish was in the shop... this particular fish has only been in the shop for a month according to the person who bought it from the wholesaler... what i was saying is, i've been contemplating on getting a golden angelfish for about a year now... one of the reasons why i picked a potter's back in January is because i've never seen a golden then and liveaquaria's price is double what the potter's sells for locally...

i went ahead and bought the fish 2 days ago... when i first setup my tank, i initally wanted a dwarf angelfish to be the centerpiece... but i became very weary once i started spending more and more money on corals that the angelfish might nip on... after my second potter's died, i kinda gave up on the idea of keeping an angelfish... it's been about 7 month since my tank had an angelfish and i still always want to get one... i know i can get a different fish to get my fix, but that only means that i'm adding on impulse... adding a fish that i don't really want... i've looked through liveaquaria and a number of other sites for months for an option other than an angelfish, but in the end, to me, nothing else is an "angelfish"... i know it's a big risk for the corals, but the aquarium is just not right without an angelfish...

 

[Jens Kallmeyer]

.... but the aquarium is just not right without an angelfish... [/B]

.....but your aquarium wouldn't be right with an angelfish either......

30 gal is just too small. I just came back from the Philippines where I could see some dwarf angels in their natural habitat. C. nox (midnight or black angel) for example gets huge (5-6"), compared to what you see in the LFS. If you are really craving for an angel, I would go with C. argi (Cherub or pygmy angel), as they stay pretty small.
Oh, before I forget, I haven't heard of a reefsafe C. aurantia ever, they were all nibblers or some sort.

Just my 0.02$

Jens