Angels in a reef???

[Cassian]

Hello all. So I have a question for all of you reefers who have done this successfully. How can you keep large angelfish in a thriving reef? I’ve been looking at getting spotbreast, or wantanabe(tried a pair, didn’t make it) for my reef. But my favorite angel is the gold flake and queen angel. I’ve seen many people put these large angels in reef tanks with thriving sps lps and softies. So do these reefers just not care if the angle takes a bite out of their coral or are they hit or miss? I prefer lps, do angels do better with those as opposed to sps?

 

[pcon]

Far more in depth than anything I can post. Ultimately it may come down to do i care more about this fish or this coral. Fleshy LPS like acans seems to be the worst temptations. but zoanthids also can be a favorite for some large angels.

Genicanthus tend to be fine in a reef being predominantly pelagic feeders. goldflakes and queens tend to be on the more risky side but lots of people do it. SPS is generally the most likely to survive but depends on the fish.

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

flame angels have always done well for me in a reef

 

[Cassian]

Far more in depth than anything I can post. Ultimately it may come down to do i care more about this fish or this coral. Fleshy LPS like acans seems to be the worst temptations. but zoanthids also can be a favorite for some large angels.

Genicanthus tend to be fine in a reef being predominantly pelagic feeders. goldflakes and queens tend to be on the more risky side but lots of people do it. SPS is generally the most likely to survive but depends on the fish.

Oh thank you! Great vid!

 

[Cassian]

flame angels have always done well for me in a reef

Yeah I’ve heard those are iffy though. I had one in an old tank and he was a terror. Lol. Thank you very much for the suggestion !

 

[sarcophytonIndy]

Yeah I’ve heard those are iffy though. I had one in an old tank and he was a terror. Lol. Thank you very much for the suggestion !

He is a little bit aggressive for his size, but the clown tang is boss

 

[Cassian]

He is a little bit aggressive for his size, but the clown tang is boss

Nice! Haha, yeah mine ran the tank. Nice clown tang!

 

[Jesterrace]

Yeah I’ve heard those are iffy though. I had one in an old tank and he was a terror. Lol. Thank you very much for the suggestion !

All Centropyge Angels (aka Pygmy or Dwarf Angels) are considered a gamble with corals. I had a Flame Angel that was a terror too and a coral nipper to boot. On the other hand I currently have a Coral Beauty that is pretty much a model citizen more than a year after getting him. Of any of the angels Genicanthus are the best though (ie Swallowtail, Wetannabei, Bellus, Lamarck's). It is possible for others to do okay in reefs but environment, diet and sheer luck have a big part to do with it though.

 

[Cassian]

All Centropyge Angels (aka Pygmy or Dwarf Angels) are considered a gamble with corals. I had a Flame Angel that was a terror too and a coral nipper to boot. On the other hand I currently have a Coral Beauty that is pretty much a model citizen more than a year after getting him. Of any of the angels Genicanthus are the best though (ie Swallowtail, Wetannabei, Bellus, Lamarck's). It is possible for others to do okay in reefs but environment, diet and sheer luck have a big part to do with it though.

Thanks! Good info. It is definitely luck. I had a coral beauty turn coral nipper after a week or two

 

[kennytze]

I have a pair of Zebras, a Lamarck, Spotbreast, female Bellus and a goldflake in my 180 mixed reef. all the Genicanthus have been model citizens for the one to three years I have had them. the goldflake does munch on a large Zoa colony which has stopped the spread of this colony which actually makes me happy. It has not bothered my LPS's or SPS's.

 

[Cassian]

I have a pair of Zebras, a Lamarck, Spotbreast, female Bellus and a goldflake in my 180 mixed reef. all the Genicanthus have been model citizens for the one to three years I have had them. the goldflake does munch on a large Zoa colony which has stopped the spread of this colony which actually makes me happy. It has not bothered my LPS's or SPS's.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I do think most of the reefers who keep angels in a reef have to decide to limit their coral choices to whatever the angel won't eat.

 

[InkedReefLady]

We have a pair of Colin's angels in our mixed reef. They have eaten some corals..chalices they seem to really like.

We're just keeping the corals in there they won't eat. I have another tank as a back up in case something goes in that they like. I can always move that coral over before it's too late.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

My gameplan was to stock with the "invasive" stuff most don't like- GSP, Xenia, Anthellia, Capnella.... Blueline, Emperor, and Blueface rip it to shreds but it keeps on ticking.

 

[EmdeReef]

I average 10+ angels in my reef. Sps are largely safe, they’ll get nipped and maybe have some damage but most will make it at least until some of the angels like the emperor reach their full size. At that point it becomes easy to bite a chunk off an sps too... Some sps frags are also much more sensitive to nipping and may not make it.

I wouldn’t try keeping almost any softies with angels. Many lps will be a challenge too. My angels decided after years to add a frogspawn and Duncan to the menu. Haven’t touched the hammer yet, That’s all the lps I have though.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sticks have a chance. Softies in time will be snacks. As much as I love angels, I had a majestic angel who after 4 months gained an appetite for zoas and the worse- Passer who behaved for about a month and mauled through $500 of euphelia (been 6 mos and im still fuming !!

NIGHTMARE :

 

[ndrwater]

I have an Asfur in my SPS reef. He does well, but the bigger he gets the more aggressive he seems to be. Doesn't touch SPS. There are a few patches of Zoas in the tank and he completely ignores those as well.

 

[MtlReef25]

I have an Emperor, a Rock Beauty, Lamarks and a Pygme angelfish in my 135g Sps only (except for one clam). The clam is fine, I see the Rock Beauty nipping at it sometimes but no big deal. Sps are probably getting nipped a little too but nothing to worry about.

 

[jpas]

I have a large Queen, Emperor & French. They didn’t touch any coral or my clam until my Moorish started picking at things. The clam disappeared in minutes followed by a football sized rock covered in zoas and then my space invader! I was ticked over the space invader. They have since not eaten or picked at anything.

 

[o2manyfish]

I love Angels !!! And I have angels in all my tanks. In my 400g display tank I just caught my pair of Goldflake Angels spawning on video last week. Nobody has heard of any other Goldflakes spawning in captivity. And this amazing act is the in a 90sec video that starts with my pair of joculators spawning right in front of the Goldflakes ---

In my 400g tank I have 1 pair of Goldflakes (Spawning), 1 pair of Joculators (spawning), 1 pair of Venustus (Caught spawning once about 10 days ago), 1 trio of Bellus (Spawning), 1 trio of Flamebacks (Spawning), 1 pair of mis bar yellow belly regals, 1 flame angel, and 2 or 3 Golden Angels.

I have just about every kind of coral in the 400g tank. The Goldflakes (and previous Goldflakes over the past 15ish years) will wipe out my zoas - not entire patches but take down 150 polyps to 10 and then leave them alone. The Goldflakes and Multibars (previous in tank) would also let me get confident about keeping Acan Lords and wait till I got silly enough to put 60+ heads in of pretty colors - which might take up to 6 months slowly adding 3 to 8 heads at a time - And then just one day - BAM every singles acan gone.

In my Acro frag tank I have a changing emperator, a 3 year old Navarchus with Juvenile Patterns, a Venustus, a pair of med Goldflakes and a pair of Golden angels. This is a 180g 96x36x12 frag tank - packed - and they don't touch any of the corals.

The second frag tank - also a 180g has a pair of multi-bar, pair of female bellus, a watanabei with only 1 eye, an Elibi, a gorgeous Hybrid lemon peel, and a Golden Angel. This tank has montis, duncans, sps, zoas, xenia, gsp, anacropora --- And again no picking at corals at all.

The 400g display tank inside gets fed maybe 4-5x a week. The outdoor tanks get fed maybe 1-2x a week. Those frag racks produce so much natural food. The fish have amazing color and great growth entirely hunting for their meals.

If interested in seeing for yourself corals not being decimated I have lots of videos on youtube under o2manyfish

And you can always check in real time by getting on the webcam for the 400g - www.o2manyfish.com/webcam


Dave B


PS - InkedReefLady -- Colins are my challenge fish - Went thru 6 this summer and the longest I got one to make it was 2 months - Please reach out to me to tell me about yours and what you have found they like to eat