Queen Angel in a SPS tank? Any experience?

[gofor100]

gofor, 5th post down.


"The more I research the more I think I am going to stay away.lol. I dont really have much LPS but worried about the SPS in the tank and even the aggresive issues I might face"

I was focusing more on the "LPS destruction" part of the statement and pointing out that the queen angel's tendencies to destroy LPS shouldn't have any impact on keeping SPS, but I won't dispute any aggressive issues since I've never kept a queen angel personally.

But I figured the crux of the question originally posed was whether one could keep the queen angel in an SPS tank, and thought that was the assumption everyone was going off of. If aggression is the main issue, and not the probability of eating SPS corals, then I must have missed the whole point of this thread... :spin2:

 

[gofor100]

the tank size-125 6' long

the corals it ate-lps and a green stag

what age the fish was approximately when placed into the tank-it was rather young, maybe 3" max and chomped corals almost immediately

its diet, how frequently you fed it-formula 1 and 2 and 3x a day


just wanted to add that mine wasnt a slow grower in the slightest, its been awhile but i want to say it hit 6 to 7" its first year and was mean as hell from day 1. i ended up selling it to a friend at 10" and her cheak spines were nearly 1" long ( shes taged me a few times)

Sounds like a nice looking specimen... any pics?

 

[rekn]

no, that was years ago.


and i pointed out lps just in case he wanted to add them in the future, ive seen "dedicated sps" totm with lps in them.

i guess im trying to point out that coral munching isnt the only consideration-size of the animal and aggression play huge factors with this species as well. you buy a ferari and insurance costs arent your only concerns.

 

[gofor100]

no, that was years ago.


and i pointed out lps just in case he wanted to add them in the future, ive seen "dedicated sps" totm with lps in them.

i guess im trying to point out that coral munching isnt the only consideration-size of the animal and aggression play huge factors with this species as well. you buy a ferari and insurance costs arent your only concerns.

Got it... well now that we're on the same page... :beer:

 

[NexDog]

rekn - by LPS do you mean brains etc? Did your Queen eat Euphyllia - Hammers, Frogspawn etc?

 

[SDguy]

One thing I will add -- all the experimentation with this fish want change the fact that it will get too big for about 99% of tanks out there -- IMO that is the biggest issue with the choice -- who cares if it will eat SPS or not, when it most likely won't fit in the OP's tank.

That's really more my concern here. My example was with a med sized angel. Tell me what size tank an adult queen would need to be able to swim around freely and not break your SPS into pieces?

I think it's pretty clear to anyone familiar with SPS and the mouth structure of LARGE angels that eventually, at adult sizes, "eating" the SPS probably isn't an issue...

 

[chrisqueenz]

Well guys just an update, I ended up getting a Queen Angel and placed it in my 180G 8ft. Instead of my 260G Reef tank. It was truly a beauty but had to choose between my very animated California Ray or the Queen. Tough choice but I was able to re home the Queen to a 300G FO lightly stocked tank. I decided not to go with the Queen in my 260G Reef only because I wasn't prepared to rip apart the tank if it became to agressive with it's tank mates. I sure wish I could keep one, but even in my 180 8ft FO, it seemed like it would eventually need more room.

Here is a pic of him

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I actually decided to go with an Asfur Angel in my 260G reef, another pretty large angel (Sorry for the bad pics)

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[gasman059]

That's right... there is no angel I wouldn't put in my SPS reef... I've kept all seven genera with sps and currently have about 40 angelfish... I keep the queens closest relative in my sps reef now... Holacanthus bermudensis... for those of you that remember that little all xanthic yellow and white blue angel I got that has now converted completely back...

There are so many dynamics to keeping angels in reef tanks... I do an entire one hour talk on it... but if I could give one sentence of advice to successfully keep any angel in an sps tank... it is "Keep your corals healthy!"

Copps

AMEN- healthy corals provide absolutely no reason for destruction. IME any angel in a primarily sps tank will do fine as long as the tank and corals are healthy and thriving.
IME any coral that was picked by an angel was downhill anyways.

As far as size I agree with the above posters 100%

Here's an adult in a 375

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And a smaller "Townsend Angel"- in a 200- amongst others in my display. I currently have just a small pair of regals-- but sooner or later those beauties are going staright back in there.( after I get some of chalice fix done)

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They lived in here and for size restrictions where moved to different locations.

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[chrisqueenz]

That is an awesome display with that angel! I would have taken the plunge but removing him from the 260G was going to be difficult because of acces issues. How long has the Queen been in that tank?

 

[rekn]

rekn - by LPS do you mean brains etc? Did your Queen eat Euphyllia - Hammers, Frogspawn etc?

anything fleshy but yeah brains,euphyllia etc.

 

[copps]

I forgot to add that I have my blue angel also with tridacnids, ricordea, and euphyllia (frogspawn) with no issues...

Copps

 

[NexDog]

Copps, you heathen. I demand you be burned at the stake.

 

[copps]

Come on this is the reef fishes forum... take that garbage to the LPS forum if you want that support :fun2:

 

[rekn]

I forgot to add that I have my blue angel also with tridacnids, ricordea, and euphyllia (frogspawn) with no issues...

Copps

whats the ... for?


im not saying it cant be done, im not saying it shouldnt be done-do w/e you want

 

[copps]

rekn, I put ... in just about every post I do... just my writing style... I meant nothing by it. Just a friendly post...

 

[gofor100]

+1 on the "..." writing style...

Hey copps, so what do you feed and how frequently do you feed it (sorry if you said this in a previous post)?

 

[chrisqueenz]

It is possible to have a Queen Angel in a SPS tank, my problem was the actual tankmates. If my tank was just filled with my corals I wouldn't think twice

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

+1 on the "..." writing style...

Hey copps, so what do you feed and how frequently do you feed it (sorry if you said this in a previous post)?

I'm interested in your reply to this as well, John...

 

[Rogger Castells]

AMEN- healthy corals provide absolutely no reason for destruction. IME any angel in a primarily sps tank will do fine as long as the tank and corals are healthy and thriving.
IME any coral that was picked by an angel was downhill anyways.

As far as size I agree with the above posters 100%

Here's an adult in a 375

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This is another picture of the angel above, it was on my tank for approx 3 years and never touched anything that was healthy, neither than the Butterflies.
One thing I must mentioned is that I don't think that queens are suitable fish for small tanks as they grow rather quick, mine was almost 12" long.
Unfortunately I lost all these fishes in that picture when I had an accident in 2008 were one of the glass panes came off letting almost 500gals of water, fishes, corals, rocks and sand on my house floor!
I have since rebuild and I am looking for a small queen again, without a doubt a great fish to have.

 

[oceangor]

I keep a very large French angel in my 400 gallon mixed reef. I have a set feeding sched. Special feeder he knows and every once in a while he may sample a bite on a zoo or some anthilia VERY rarley) but never touched any SPS or 95% of any of my softies lps or otherwise. I had a an adult queen with no issues until it got some gill flukes and couldnt be caught out in time. The taboo is over rated I think. If you have a large enough display with a variety of corals and space. Good feeding multiple times and train them to eat from a feeder they learn just fine.