Lets see those angelfish pics!!!!!!

[mattsilvester]

A great talk was given at MACNA this year by Copps on Angels and reef tanks. As a general rule you can progress through the various genus of angels and label some as more prone to nipping corals than others. You may have a easier time getting an angel to adapt to your tank if you get them on the younger size. The older they are, the more they tend to have a specialized diet.

There is also a difference between one that appears to nip at a coral a few times a day and one that will pick repeatedly at a coral. Most healthy corals can will be fine with the rare nip by an angel; also repeated nips may be caused by unhealthy coral or the fish may be eating the slime.

Anyway, I have Imperator; Majestic; Regal; 2 Flames; and Coral Beauty in my 215 and they leave the sps & clam alone. I avoid the fleshy lps corals; but do keep a hammer bubble coral.

Whilst this is the best general advice, and generally I concur with it, I feel it may be useful to balance it with my experience.

I added a 3" juv. emporer to my tank 30 months ago. It was a new tank, with a dozen or so reasonable sized colonies or sps and softies. At first, the fish was fine, didn't touch anything...... then patches started appearing everywhere...... at this stage I didn't catch the emporer in the act, but he was the prime suspect. As he grew quickly, so bit the coral damage, until it was obvious that he was just going to eat the lot...... I tried every type of coral you can imagine with him..... sacrophytons, leather finger corals, star polyps (noth green and purple), sps....... the only thing that was anywhere near "safe" was montipora's...... but I think in time they would have come under teh axe too.

My emporer is now 7.5"+ and growing, so that is evidence enough that he is well fed......

By posting this I am not scare mongering, but there are people like Gary who get lucky and people like me who don't...... and then there is plenty of middle ground in between.

 

[mattsilvester]

"reef safe" is a term that should be discarded. Research (reef aquarium) compatibilty. Generalizations, (although sometimes useful), should be taken into consideration but every individual fish of any species has it's own unique dietary preferences that may vary as the fish matures.
If ANY fish comes from a reef it eats something on or around a reef. The reef aquarist's job is to figure out a work around solution :thumbsup:

Gary,

THat is a great pic, and a really nice ehalthy looking emporer. 11" is a nice size fish..... I was thinking he'd be in the foot long region, as he looks about half the width of your tank..... I can't wait for mine to get that big...... and hopefully he'll keep growing past it :thumbsup:

So how long have you had yours now, roughly, and how big was he when you got him? If memory serves, he was about 3" when you got him?

 

[yukonblizzard]

My Mac Angel...
<img src="http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47/yukonblizzard/Maculosus%20Angelfish/IMG_9023.jpg">
<img src="http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt47/yukonblizzard/Maculosus%20Angelfish/IMG_9031.jpg">

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Gary, ... So how long have you had yours now, roughly, and how big was he when you got him? If memory serves, he was about 3" when you got him?

yes about 3" or so. It's circular juvi pattern was disappearing rapidly. I introduced this Emperor to my aquarium in March 2007 (over 2.5 years ago as I type this.)

 

[gasman059]

This thread has been around but man o man that aquarium has IMHO the best ocean feel like I've ever seen BY FAR-- Majchrzk
here's a pic of my two new residents its been acouple of months and so far eating pellets and so forth.

[/IMG]

 

[flameangel88]

Some new fishes since the last post on this thread

 

[tcmfish]

flame you always post such nice fish and pics, but what is the deal with the cream angel's faces? Gotta love all those pairs and the harem too!!

 

[flameangel88]

Thanks Tim. The Cream angel pair didn't handle Cupramine well back in July and I was very lucky with the velvet outbreak and only lost the Swallowtail pair which I believe was the cause. I'd to raise the level well above 0.5 as the Clown was covered with a white coat. I've a female Watanabe that doesn't handle Cupramine as well that also take a long time for the face area to heal.

Here's a picture I think was only after 1 week of treatment

These two seem to be most sensitive and it's healing very slow but other than the look both are eating very well.

 

[cpittmx]

Thanks for the input on angles and corals. How are they with inverts like shrimp and crabs, and also anemones?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Thanks for the input on angles and corals. How are they with inverts like shrimp and crabs, and also anemones?

generalizing about a whole family of fishes isn't a good idea. Research specific species.

 

[Vili_Shark]

Flameangels88, you got some very nice fish.

 

[flameangel88]

Before--never had any problems with cleaner/blood shrimps or crabs/snails with angels.

Yesterday--added a cleanup crew and the Blueline and Meredithi were chewing the tiny 1/4-3/8" crabs/snails and I'm a bit worry because theywere nipping the cukes too. I wasn't expecting those crabs and snails coming in so small. Get the bigger ones and you should be fine.

 

[flameangel88]

Flameangels88, you got some very nice fish.

Thank you!

 

[Korrine]

My first angel; A Potter's,

 

[LuvAngels88]

My first angel; A Potter's,

Very nice, Korrine! Welcome to the wonderful world of angels! Enjoy!

 

[Korrine]

Thanks. Was going to try a C. Acanthops and then a flame angel, but this beauty was put on Diver's Den and I couldn't quit thinking about it.

 

[myerst2]

Obviously not mine but thought if people enjoy pics any where near the amount I do, I should share some...... Enjoy!

 

[myerst2]

 

[myerst2]

One more batch....

 

[Korrine]

wow those are some good pictures. Some definitely unique.