Angel fish Pros Cons

[Huly]

I am a die hard Clemson fan so when we started looking at SW my first love was a Flame Angel.

 

I have heard they are not reef safe so we went with a Potter's Angel and we heard those better. (he was one of the fish lost to Marine Velvet). Well we are considering another angel but some say go Potter's, to Coral Beauty, to Flame etc

 

What Angel Fish do you keep and what are the pros and cons of that fish?

[Muddy357]

I have both a flame and a coral banded and they are both great fish and so far neither one has nipped anything of mine but I keep them both very well fed.

[trockafella]

the african flameback is beautiful, and it has your colors.!

 

I used to have a flame, but it was a nipper.

Edited March 19, 2013 by trockafella

[scott711]

angels can be hit or miss with corals. It all depends on the individual fish. I have never had problems with any of my angels in my tank (regal or flame). If you keep them fat and happy, they are less inclined to pick on things.

[trockafella]

angels can be hit or miss with corals. It all depends on the individual fish. I have never had problems with any of my angels in my tank (regal or flame). If you keep them fat and happy, they are less inclined to pick on things.

 

I agree.. I think that feeding can play a huge role in potential coral eaters.

[Huly]

We feed very well LOL Are shrimp are spoiled rotten and will throw hissy fits if ignored.

 

I always hear different stories from every person. So would y'all say no matter what Angel we got it would be a 50/50 shot on if it would pick at coral?

[Origami]

I've had a well-behaved coral beauty since almost the beginning.

[matt]

I've heard...not experienced...that flamebacks are best, flames are good, coral beauties are good, potters are a slight chance, multicolors are likely nippers, and lemonpeels are the worst....on average. Lots of anecdotes from websites and for sale descriptions is my basis for that....we'll see...facing the very same decision

[NateCamReef]

I have a flame angel and a majestic angel. The flame I bought from a guy who had had it in his reef tank so it was a safe bet that it wouldn't munch on my corals. I pretty much rescued the 6 inch majestic angel from a little old asian woman who was keeping it in a 30 gallon reef tank. Once again, it was proven to not nip at the corals so there was little risk involved.

 

Side note...this little asian lady is also selling several other fish. She has a purple tang (great health), queen angel (decent health), hippo tang (not so great health) and a yellow tang (not so great health). All of these fish are housed in 40 gallon breeder. I know it's sad. They are beautiful though. To make matters worse, all of these fish are 6-7 inches! Some closer to 8 I think. She has had them for 14 years!!! If you'd like to rescue one as well, feel free to PM me and I can give you her info. She is not cheap at all, but I guess if you want a HUGE purple tang you are willing to pay for it as well.

[Glenn]

I have a Flame, Lemonpeel, and Half-Black and have never seen any of them around the corals (all softies and LPS) ... Mine are generally fed very well also.

[Huly]

I have a flame angel and a majestic angel. The flame I bought from a guy who had had it in his reef tank so it was a safe bet that it wouldn't munch on my corals. I pretty much rescued the 6 inch majestic angel from a little old asian woman who was keeping it in a 30 gallon reef tank. Once again, it was proven to not nip at the corals so there was little risk involved.

 

Side note...this little asian lady is also selling several other fish. She has a purple tang (great health), queen angel (decent health), hippo tang (not so great health) and a yellow tang (not so great health). All of these fish are housed in 40 gallon breeder. I know it's sad. They are beautiful though. To make matters worse, all of these fish are 6-7 inches! Some closer to 8 I think. She has had them for 14 years!!! If you'd like to rescue one as well, feel free to PM me and I can give you her info. She is not cheap at all, but I guess if you want a HUGE purple tang you are willing to pay for it as well.

 

That is beyond sad but I could not do those in a 66g. If I only had a larger tank I would rescue them all!

 

Thanks for all of the responses! It is hard being a noob and I do not want any issues. I also heard it is a better bet to get a Juvie and raise it up vs an adult as it will be less likely to nip. Myth or fact?

[Gatortailale]

Good question. This topic comes up every few years. Lots of members have experience with angels and have posted good advice above. We have one member who has over 50 angels in various tanks in his house ... copps. He has given a talk to the club int he past on keeping angels and has even spoken at MACNA & other clubs on the topic.

 

You can find a few of his posts here:

 

http://wamas.org/for...gel#entry199344

 

http://wamas.org/for...gel#entry123404

 

You can do your own search, just use advanced search feature in put in copps as author and you will get some hits.

 

 

In the past I kept flame, coral beauty, majestic, emperor & regal in my 215 tank. Had tank crash last spring and lost them. I now have trio of flame angels, multi color, juv. emperor, juv. queen, and juv. blueface & juv. regal in my mostly sps dominated tank with few lps and 3 clams. The flames are the ones that "nip" at corals the most. But they also nip at the rock as they spend the day swiming from end to end searching for pods and things to eat in the tank. But all the angels I have kept over the years all swim the reef rock in my tank searching for pods and stuff to eat. So you will see them nip at the pods they find. If your corals are healthy, you should not suffer any harm unless the fish is constantly picking on one coral all day long. My reward for keeping trio of flames is I get to watch the two larger pair attempt to spawn.

 

Once you get fish past QT tank, if you do that, you should get or make some kind of acclimation chamber you can put in your tank and leave the new angel in there for a day or longer. This will allow the current fish to see the new fish but the will not be able to attack it. Over time their interest in the new fish will slow and you can then release. Put a pvc pipe section in chamber to give fish place to hide, this will allow new fish to get used to your water and not be totally stressed.

 

I put a sheet of nori in my tank daily to allow the angels and tangs to graze all day. Also feed frozen 1-2 times a day and hit the tank with flake or pellets another time.

 

Good luck on your new addition. And yes Juvies are somewhat easier to get to adapt to eating tank foods. Some adults are feeding specialists and don't accept our offerings.

[roni]

Can't add a lot to what Craig said other then I believe the amount that people feed greatly influences how much the angels will nip, at least in my experience.

 

I have the following:

 

Moorish Idol, 3 regal angels, juvenile imperator, adult majestic, flame, golden, and a pair of bellus. All but the moorish have been model citizens to my knowledge. The moorish used to be fine until I cut back feeding a little and then it developed a taste for my red planet. All the angels will nip from time to time and I have minimal polyp extension. However, nothing is so badly attacked that it dies and I'll take the tradeoff anyday as I prefer the fish over corals anyway.

 

I don't keep any acans with the angels. The only zooanthids in that tank are nuclear green palys, which are untouched. I do have 6-10 different chalices which haven't been bothered as well as a couple of small fleshy LPS. Of note, my large (1 ft) elegance is also untouched.

 

I have cut back on feeding but still generally feed the following:

 

2-3 full sheets of nori

4-5 cube equivalents of frozen 5-6 times a feed, usually a larger block of PE mysis 1-2 times a week.

4 feedings of NLS pellet via an Eheim autofeeder

 

In addition, I'll throw live blackworms in the tank when I have them and feed other flake/pellets when I walk by the tank.

 

i see people that only feed 1 time a day and rarely feed frozen. I think if that's what you prefer, you have to expect that your fish will pick at corals more then ones that are fed a ton via the water column.

[Huly]

Can't add a lot to what Craig said other then I believe the amount that people feed greatly influences how much the angels will nip, at least in my experience.

 

I have the following:

 

Moorish Idol, 3 regal angels, juvenile imperator, adult majestic, flame, golden, and a pair of bellus. All but the moorish have been model citizens to my knowledge. The moorish used to be fine until I cut back feeding a little and then it developed a taste for my red planet. All the angels will nip from time to time and I have minimal polyp extension. However, nothing is so badly attacked that it dies and I'll take the tradeoff anyday as I prefer the fish over corals anyway.

 

I don't keep any acans with the angels. The only zooanthids in that tank are nuclear green palys, which are untouched. I do have 6-10 different chalices which haven't been bothered as well as a couple of small fleshy LPS. Of note, my large (1 ft) elegance is also untouched.

 

I have cut back on feeding but still generally feed the following:

 

2-3 full sheets of nori

4-5 cube equivalents of frozen 5-6 times a feed, usually a larger block of PE mysis 1-2 times a week.

4 feedings of NLS pellet via an Eheim autofeeder

 

In addition, I'll throw live blackworms in the tank when I have them and feed other flake/pellets when I walk by the tank.

 

i see people that only feed 1 time a day and rarely feed frozen. I think if that's what you prefer, you have to expect that your fish will pick at corals more then ones that are fed a ton via the water column.

 

We normally feed twice a day. Pez I think feeds flake in the AM and Jan's food or Mysis in the evening. We also put a small sheet of Sea Veggies for our juvi tang. Is that enough? Where do you find live blackworms? We found live brine in Springfield and the fish went nuts but we also heard brine does not have a lot of nutrition.

[roni]

It's probably fine. It's hard to know how much is enough. I likely overfeed as my fish are fat viewed head on...but that's how they look when i go snorkeling. I think your regimen is probably fine assuming your fish are maintaining weight and healthy. In general, though, I've noticed that the fish nip less when they are fed a lot. I think angels are hit or miss but the things you can do to reduce problems are:

 

Feed heavily and often

avoid keeping "tastier" corals like fleshy LPS and zoos.

[Huly]

It's probably fine. It's hard to know how much is enough. I likely overfeed as my fish are fat viewed head on...but that's how they look when i go snorkeling. I think your regimen is probably fine assuming your fish are maintaining weight and healthy. In general, though, I've noticed that the fish nip less when they are fed a lot. I think angels are hit or miss but the things you can do to reduce problems are:

 

Feed heavily and often

avoid keeping "tastier" corals like fleshy LPS and zoos.

 

We do have LPS like torch AE Duncan etc and a few Zoas but I think we do over feed too