Softies and angels
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mattsilvester
Team RC
My 8" emporer (home grown from 3" juv.) ate the lot 
.... a 240 gal tank's worth !
.... a 240 gal tank's worth !
mattsilvester
Team RC
yep - anthellia 1st.
then sarcophyton and sinularia
xenia is cannon fodder compared with the other 3
Have you ever seen a 7-8" angel feeding? Mine will rip a tightly rolled sheet of nori to bits, and eat the lot in under 10 mins if he's hungry....... try munching on a roll of tightly rolled nori yourself and see how tough it is :fun5:
The vast ajority of people that I know who have kept large angels for any length of time would agree that it is not a case of if, but when...... there are exceptions but over a long enough time scale the odds very much tend toward zero......
mattsilvester
Team RC
Personally, I wouldn't even contemplate any "large" species angel (i.e. Pomocanthus, Holocanthus) with any kind of coral.... with the exception of the navarchus..... but that's just my opinion
jmaneyapanda
Commencing hatred
I wish my angels would eat anthelia. It was a mistake worse than anything in my tank.
mattsilvester
Team RC
kirkaz
Jade
wait and see :uzi:
You should notice I said "are still fairly young"....I.E. I'm aware things could change as they age...However I have seen Angels with softies as adults, to think that just because it didn't work out in your tank, means it could never work out....I think you would agree, there are a lot of uncertainties in this hobby.
mattsilvester
Team RC
You should notice that I pre- and post-qualified my comments with "personally" and "that's just my opinion"
Conversely, it is niave to think that because a small minority of people have kept large angels with any kinds of corals (in the long term i.e. 5years+) means then we all have a good chance of sucess. I am speaking from my personal experience with a couple of different species of larger angel (queen, emporer, mac), and I am drawing on the experience of the dozens of people on RC that I have come to know over my years on this board that have themselves kept adult angels for years (and not months)..... most of those people are of the opinion that it is a futile endeavour. I used to be optimistic too...... but having failed in many different permutations of the same theme, I have just given up.
When I was told 3 years ago that my emporer angel would at first ignore my so called inedible softies and eventually eat them all, I retorted with the same cliche in vain hope that I would prove them wrong - and I realy believed that my expereince heretofore had just been bad luck ...... now it would seem it has come full circle. I do not wish it upon you that your angels will start eating your corals, but it is very likely that they will I'm afraid. When you notice that the corals are not growing as well as they did and start wondering why.... and then the 'shrooms star disappearing, and the leathers start shrinking don't be tricked into thinking it is water quality...... the angels are picking during twilight hours......
I concur that in this hobby there are lots of uncertainties...... but there are also lots of consistencies. I have wished you good luck before, and I would reiterate that wish......
kirkaz
Jade
I will say I didn't go about my coral selection in my 240 randomly. My decisions were based on advice from emailing back and forth with Mark Martin (owner of Blue Zoo). His feelings are most leathers (Colts being his favorite) are very noxious and just don't taste very good to fish, thus they will typically leave them alone . He also felt mushrooms were a safe bet. I'm coming up on 18 months with softies and Angels living in harmony, not exactly long term, but not exactly short term either. I have seen my Passer nip at the Devil's Hand, though not in a few months, but I have never seen one even nip at any of my many mushrooms.
mattsilvester
Team RC
This is what my queen and first emporer did..... and it is also what my current emporer started doing..... as the fish grows the "nips" start becoming "chunks"...... around about the same time, whenever a mushroom closes up because it has "caught" something, it forms a nice bit size chunk.... and "pop goes the weasle" - down in one go......
Initially, I never saw them being "nipped". Slowly I began to notice that they were no longer speading like they used to..... then I notices they were beginning to reduce in numbes.... until finally I realised what was happening when I caught him in the act.
Like I say - the "nip" of a 3" fish is one thing..... an 8" fish is another thing entirely.
He used to rip up the star polyps more for fun rather than anything else. he' tear off chumks, chew them, and spit them out.......
I am afraid to say that the dark side has begun to shows ts head in your tank and the time to choose between corals and fish is less than 12 months away.........
I bought into that "too noxious to eat" BS too...... sounds plausible..... and I am sure that when there are tastier things about, the noxious ones are last to go....... its kind of like me..... I owuld never buy a Heiniken..... but when all the Bud is gone, and the party is in full swing, well I guess it will just have to do
kirkaz
Jade
I bought into that "too noxious to eat" BS too...... sounds plausible..... and I am sure that when there are tastier things about, the noxious ones are last to go....... its kind of like me..... I owuld never buy a Heiniken..... but when all the Bud is gone, and the party is in full swing, well I guess it will just have to do
Oh good grief man! We really need to discuss your taste in beer.:eek1: You live in Ireland still don't you? And you still drink Bud when Guinness is available:uzi:. I would rather eat a Colt Coral than drink Budweiser.:lolspin:
When they start eating my mushrooms I will send you the video and let you be the first with the "I told you so".
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mattsilvester
Team RC
The thing about Guinness is that when you work in an office it has some significant side effects..... namely (1) beer belly and (2) em, how can I put it..... lets just say it gets a bit breezy.....
For the most part I'm a vodka drinker though :wildone: ...... with bud chasers.... LOL
Hopefully that day won't come
...... I would suggest you take some photo's, monthly, and count them though......
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