Problems with new flame angel

[mc12301]

Hi all -

I have a 55g FOWLR - ocellaris clown, yellow tail damsel, coral banded shrimp and a fromia star. Plenty of space for everyone as far as I can tell.

Five days ago, I added in a somewhat juvenile flame angel. So far, I don't think it's gone well. The flame spends most of its time hiding in the live rock and every time it tries to come out more than a few inches, the clown chases it back in. To make matters worse, I haven't seen the flame eat any of the pellets I feed. It does appear to graze on the rock but is that enough to survive? Plus it never really has much of a chance to get the pellets anyway with the clown chasing it away.

So my questions...
1) What should I be trying to get the flame angel to eat? Should I add a algae clip?
2) How do I get the clown to calm down? I rearranged some smaller rocks, but to no avail. I didn't want to mess with my bigger ones yet. I read that sometimes leaving the lights off for a couple days will calm things down. True?
3) Which problems needs solving first? I don't want to leave the lights off for two days and then have a dead flame because it hasn't eaten.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[tjm9331]

Hi,

I love flame angels, I think they are one of the most beautiful fish you can put in a marine tank.

I'm going to answer your questions with a question of my own first...

Has the flame gone through any kind of quarantine or tank transfer method before being put into the display tank?

Putting a fish through quarantine not only makes sure the fish is not sick but also lets you observe it eating.

There is always a pecking order that needs to be established when a new comer is added to the tank. If the clown is larger than the angel then he will pick on him but it shouldn't last too long. If it goes on much longer then you might have to try and separate them some how. I've heard the same thing about lights out, I've never personally tried it so I can't say for sure.

I would try some Mysis, leave your pumps on and while the clown is chasing the floating Mysis this will give the flame a chance to grab some as well. Pellets tend to just sink to the bottom and not really stay in the water column too long.

If there isn't much algae in your tank then definitely add an algae clip, angels are grazers and will graze all day. plus they need the nutrition that nori provides.

 

[super stooge]

hi mc,

A quick point of clarification, does the flame angel seem interested in the food when its added? or is it just ignoring it?

Whether the fish wants to eat but simply isn't getting the chance to or if the fish just doesn't want to take food kind of changes the approach we need to take a little.

Tjm made a good suggestion with something like mysis that will blow around a bit more. The clown will hopefully be too busy chasing them to be chasing the angel.

You could also try using masstick which is a powder that you mix with water to make a green mush that fish seem to really like. The best part about it though is that you can stick onto the glass or onto a rock and it'll stay there until the fish come get it if you mixed it up right. This is especially useful here since your angel is already grazing on the rocks. stick a small clump of it onto his favourite grazing spot and hopefully he'll give it a go.

So for your specific questions;

1). pellets, mysis, brineshrimp, masstick, marine angel mix, nori. Try as many things as you can (without overfeeding the tank). He'll tell you what he likes.
2). The clown should calm down once they've figured out who's boss. Turning off the lights can calm things down but you also run the risk of the angel not coming out to eat as much. Tough choice. You can give it a go and see what happens.
3). I'd say getting the angel to eat is your first hurdle. If he's eating, he should make it until the clown calms down. If he isn't eating, then he isn't going to last even if the clown never look at him again.

 

[mc12301]

Thanks so much for the responses!

The flame ate some mysis today so I guess maybe it just doesn’t recognize the pellets. The clownfish is still chasing him around if he gets in certain territory, so maybe I’ll try lights out for a couple days after I feed again tomorrow.

 

[tjm9331]

Problems with new flame angel

So glad to hear he is eating at least.

The clown will calm down over time, soon they'll be best friends...until the flame out grows him and turns the tables [emoji6]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[thegrun]

A clownfish and a yellow tail damsel in a 50 gallon tank are not going to welcome any new fish that you introduce but if the Angel survives the initial hazing things are going to change as the Angel matures. Long term you are very likely going to have problems with the Angel killing it's tankmates. At a minimum you really want at least a 70 gallon tank for a Flame Angel. I had to remove a Flame Angel from my 120 gallon tank due to aggression issues. You will probably be okay for a year if your Angel is a juvenile, but I would be suprized if you don't have problems down the road.