The angel thread to end all angel threads: all owners of angelfish in reefs respond!!

[Tek]

Majestic

Medium sized when I purchased from another hobbyist in a FOWLR. Ate 4 years growth of zoas in a few weeks but left my SPS and LPS alone. I liked it enough to let it have a buffet. It also ate pellets, frozen, nori.

 

[Bdial]

Which would be best to eat palys, leave sps alone, look pretty?

 

[Finsky]

Five inch Blue King Angelfish eating Vita-Chem soaked freeze dried Mysis and Krill at on it third day in the tank.

 

[Finsky]

He is very happy and getting along with his tank mates in this fully stocked tank.

 

[JB63]

Flame - very reef safe, always nipping at live rock, would not touch any corals
Maculosis - safe as well, no issues
Lemon Peel - went after my acan lords
Koran - went after my blastomussa
Singapore - no issues, very safe

 

[JB63]

I tend to agree with a previous poster who said while statistics are useful, it depends a lot on the specific fish ... Somehow they have their likes and dislikes just as we do. The other factor is 'what else is available to them in the tank' as obviously no two tanks are the same.

 

[Barney97]

Had a Coral Beauty for a couple of months now the only thing he nips at is the kenyan tree, it seems to be more out of contempt than anything though

 

[slgcmg]

Coral beauty
Never touched any Lps, clams, or sps

 

[President Evil]

Flame Angel, over 1 year.. only eats mysis, brine, nori, pellets, spiralina...
Doesn't eat coral..

 

[JB63]

I searched the thread for the Gray Poma Angel (Chaetodontoplus melanosoma) and it didn't pull anything up. Anyone with experience in a reef with one or its cousin the Blue Spotted Angel?

I had a small poma (less then 2 inches) and he was very peaceful, a bit shy, and only ate frozen food. Never bothered any corals. I lost it though, after a power failure (no circulation).

 

[Finsky]

My anemones have been safe so far with Annularis Angel.

 

[sullyfish]

I have a Emperator Angel 7" adult ( had for 1+ years ) only coral it bothered was my Zoas which it devoured multiple colonies in a few hours. No problem with anything else and peaceful with other fish. Absolutely stunning fish & my favorite

I had a flame Angel ( 6 months ) would nip SPS & acans. For months I noticed my SPS would not extend polyps and figured I had a nipper but after watching for hours would not see anything. One time I was standing in far corner and happened to look just as my flame was nipping my green slimmer. As soon as I came into view he would stop and act like nothing happened. I swear the fish knew what was going on. This happened multiple times. I finally caught him and sadly brought him back to LFS. Beautiful fish

Also had a swallow tail angel. great reef fish and never any problems. peaceful. Had her for 3 years and one day found her on the floor. Not sure why she jumped. very bummed.


Tank: 180g mixed reef with SPS ( acropora & montipora ) , acans, elegance coral, Duncan coral, multiple chalice, Palythoas, tube worms, green frilly mushrooms, GSP

other fish: hippo tang, Foxface, anthias, wrasse(s),clownfish(s), gobies, chromis

 

[jkapit]

I had a Majestic Angel for 6 years years and it was not totally reef safe. Great fish with a lot of personality

What he would pick at:
Frogspawn
Hammer


Corals he would avoid:
Torch
Acropora
Montipora
Zoanthids
Mushrooms
Bubble Coral
Fox Coral
Xenia

Corals he would devour:
Elegance
Brain
Trumpet
Cat's eye

I lost him during our week long power outage during Hurricane Sandy, I did not replace him since I want to keep a larger varieties of corals in my re-built reef tank.

 

[goodtimes2]

Coral beauty , about 4 years no problem in a mixed reef tank with clams, picked him up from another reefer who also had no problems.

Bellus female angel, had for 3 months . again no problems, both fish eats any fish food I put in the tank. Both are well fed.

 

[rovster]

Great thread

 

[Timfish]

I've kept dwarf angels in all the reef tanks I maintain for years without problems except as noted below. The one experience I had with a Coral Beauty eating a coral seems to argue for me keeping them in reef systems. The Coral Beauty spent several minutes tearing a Frogspawn polyp from it's skeleton and devouring it just like it would a piece of shrimp. What I saw that surprised me most is the Coral Beauty was very careful not to bite or brush up against the other polyps in the colony. It was only the one polyp it removed and ate. What I think is significant is still after years it has not gone on to eat other Frogspawn polyps. If you ask me the Coral Beauty most likely did me a favor by removing a damaged or unhealthy polyp that might have caused a "brown jelly" infection that could have gone on and killed other polyps.

I do frequently see dwarf angels pick particles off the surface of corals and clams without doing any damage. If seeing this behavior is a going to be a constant source of worry and detract from the enjoyment of the aquarium maybe the addition of a dwarf should be reconsidered.

This is the only problem I've had keeping dwarf angels in reef systems:

 

[madeyemary]

Multicolor angel. Had him for a few months now. Completely reef safe with LPS, mushrooms, zoas, and SPS. Love the little guy, and he's not too common! Wish I would seem them in more fish stores.

 

[DRThompson]

Lemon peel pigmy angel in a 200gal reef system - sps (acro, birdsnest, monti-plates, digi. etc), lps (hammer, frogspawn, torch, bubble, gsp. etc), softies(colt, toadstool,sinulara,zoa, ricordia, musrooms. etc).

Been in here 2 years, very reef safe.

I feed well though (frozen twice per day plus nori every day)

 

[tdhnry]

Flame Angel - have him 2yrs
Not entirely reef safe
Constantly pick at any type of Open brain corals

 

[gibbus123]

100 gallon sps dominated
Majestic angel 1 1/2 years will eat lps that are damage or not doing well.
3 Flame angels will nip at sps
I have 4 clams and a rbta with no problems.