Juv. Emperor Angel and SPS

[hanas]

I'm considering adding a juvenile emperor (1" to 1 3/4") to my current 90G SPS dominated tank. Don't worry, this will only be his/her home for about a year, as I already have a 225G planned!

But my question is, how many of you have had success keeping an Emperor in an SPS tank?

I know I've seen some threads with mixed reviews in the Reef Fishes section, but I wanted to post the question here and get some more recent/current feedback.

 

[landlord]

Quite the beautiful fish but consider the following:

Pick your most favorite coral in the whole tank. Picture it being picked apart over the course of the week.

Pick your second favorite coral in the tank.......

Not that it would but it could

The are probably those who have done this successfully and surely those that have not. If at the end of the day you can live with any possible SPS losses in stride then go for it.

landlord

 

[Goodwood]

50/50

In my opinion it's well worth it.

 

[JasonD]

Had one in my tank for six months a model citizen. Open brains LPS he might pick at.

Jason

 

[toothman]

For what it is worth I have one in my system for a year. It is 400 gal tank with mostly sps. In my tank it eats any zoos, Lps, and various soft corals, sponges. It rarely picks at sps, only when I do not feed much. I like it but it does limit your coral selection.

 

[tatoofr]

Hi,
I tried three different ones, all had to be removed because of nipping on sps and zoo's.

 

[hanas]

tatoofr, of the 3 that you tried, were they all juvies?

Thanks so far for everyone's input, anybody else out there with a juvie emperor in an SPS tank?

 

[tatoofr]

Hi,
All three were juv. Nice fish but not worth taking a chance in my book.
They are easy to trap through.

 

[JasonD]

Emperor Angels are one of my favorite fish. Its really cool to seem them go into their adult coloration. That being said I remember one time I purchased an adult Emperor angel from Christmas Island he was one of the more aggressive fish I've ever had. He basically changed into a one fish per tank variety.


But I've found the juvinels to be very placid and agreeable. The owner of Vets Pets in El Cajon Chris said that Emperor won't bother SPS's he was right with mine anyway. They definately tame down a great fish.

Jason

 

[mcliffy2]

I've got one - generally I think you can kiss your polyp extension good by on SPS, but I think this is a worthwhile tradeoff for such a beautiful fish. Mine will pick occasionally but it doesn't seem to effect coral health (they defend themselves by learning to retract their polyps as they do in the wild). I can also keep most LPS without a problem (chalices, brain, frogspawn, hammer, torch, favia), but have not been able to keep acans and micros (the exception being fused acans like echinata and rotundoflora (sp?)).

 

[Paaty]

I have had an adult and as others stated he will pick occationally, but nothing that really affects anything since most of my corals are pretty large. I have also noticed that my pe is not as great as it used to be. He has not gone after my oppen brain or clam as of yet but i have only had him for about 5 or 6 months.

 

[Denadai]

I had one for one year in my SPS tank, no problem, beautiful fish

But he ate all my zoas

 

[concept3]

I had to remove mine from the tank. He started nipping a few SPS on occasion, didn't bother me much for 6 months until I found an encrusting monti being trimmed by him! Then he got aggressive and bullied everyone else in the tank- Then he finished off the monti. That was the end of that- He's off to a good home. IMO, they are 50/50, just like some copperbands

The juvi was a beautiful find too! Fat, eating healthy, even ate off my hands-

 

[Dejavu]

I have had one for over a yrs. Got him when he was a juvenile and now is fully changed. On occasion he will pick at SPS. As for LPS depends on what it is.

Overall if you are going put put an angel in your reef, you need to learn to live with less PE. IMO its worth it.

 

[Cliff]

I have one juvenile imperator in my sps dominated reef tank with dozens of sps, lps, scoly, acans, watermelon chalice, etc... He seems to inpsect them regularly but I've never actually seen him nibbled anything.
On the other hand, my yellow tang regularly nibbles on the sps polyps.

 

[wdt2000]

How does this fish do with clams?

 

[Dog boy Dave]

My Angels love clams. Takes them and the butterfly about 5 minutes to eat one. The Emperator did not bother the corals too much until the last couple of months. I rased him from a juvenile and have had him in an sps tank for about five years. Now he takes the ends of the stags off in one bite. Big tank and i love him so its no problem.

[/IMG]

 

[Dog boy Dave]

double post sorry

 

[Dog boy Dave]

All things said, I would never put large angelfish in a 90 gallon tank.

 

[wdt2000]

nice tank Dave, I was really looking for a angel for my 300 that would not harm clams or damage SPS.