Best & Worst "Reef Safe" Angelfish for Your Reef

[ckripp]

I had a flame angelfish, which nipped at an elegance coral and the coral died - I had to evict the fish,

 

[CourtNjoeZreef]

I HAD a coral beauty. it was a nasty mean fish. until i have a larger tank i will not consider another angel.

The devil was the most beautiful angel... so you know they can be mean. I have a freshwater angel named Morningstar... he earned that name

 

[i cant think]

The best behaving Angel is my Holo Holo ( Bandit Angel )

Can we just talk about the healthy looking moorish at the top, along with things such as the angels. Now that’s a nice tank there

 

[Mr Krabbs]

My Eibli never touches the corals and is well behaved. In previuos tanks my coral beauty and Rusty were also 100% safe and friendly.

 

[Blknovass]

My coral beauty is an perfect tank mate no issues what so ever

 

[i cant think]

Are smaller angels (Centropyge) bad in macroalgae/softie tanks? I’m planning on that for my nano - I’m thinking on an Angel when it’s upgraded for mainly wrasse

 

[cpbartak]

Will those of you reporting success please state what kind of corals you keep them with, too?

 

[shakygator]

Don't do it. I will never ever put another angel in a reef tank. It's not worth it.

 

[LPS Bum]

There's no such thing as a reef safe large marine angel. Not even close. I've seen my Queen, French, Emperor, Annularis and Asfur just devour any overflow coral frags or Bubble Tip anemones I've tried to put in my FOWLR.

Dwarf angels might work with SPS or softies, but they'll destroy fleshy LPS corals and clam mantles with gusto. Best not to get too attached to those inverts if you plan to keep a dwarf angel in your reef.

 

[reeftivo]

Flame angel here. Never picks at anything but can be a bully to my clown and Copperband Butterfly. That i don't like!
The copper band out swims him and can spike him if things get rough so i think the flame knows that. My Clown stays to the back of the tank though out of his way. Very entertaining fish, but sure is an butt at times.

 

[GrapevineReefs]

As many have stated, I have a Coral Beauty whom is reef safe. It’s been in 2 different reef tanks with no observable issues related to coral.

 

[JKBrown]

Coral Beauty and a Flame Angel. No issues.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Will those of you reporting success please state what kind of corals you keep them with, too?

I have a swallow tail and a Lamarck Angel in a tank with euphyllia, and zoas. The PBT is the coral nipper but I don’t have it in me to take him out just yet. He’s my favorite, tough swimmer with gorgeous coloration.

 

[Tim McLellan]

Glad to see this topic. Technically mine is not a reef tank as I have yet to put any corals, but that is the goal once I feel conditions are correct and stable. Started my first ever saltwater tank in June and things are going well, so I'm thinking possibly by the end of the year I may be able to try some corals. Anyway last week I put a Flame Angel, which I understood to be somewhat risky for corals, but I think it is a gorgeous fish so I really wanted to give it a try. Reading some of the comments here gives me hope that it will behave once I do put corals. If not my backup plan is to try to trade it for a Coral Beauty, although I don't think those are as stunning as the Flame.

 

[LegendaryCG]

My flameback is a jerk to other fish but he’s never bothering coral.

 

[Gordon Marvin]

Generally in my experience, genicanthus sp. are the best, Koran angelfish and Other pomacanthus sp. are the worst.

 

[zachtos]

Dwarf angels seem to do the least damage in my reef, and I've had full sized angels like the emperor, and watched him eat tips and hear the snap of SPS all day long. The trick is to have a big full reef tank, so the damage done is trivial by that time. It is difficult to get a young tank to mature with all the polyp pickers.

 

[BradB]

Every Genicanthus is safe. Supposedly every Chaetodontoplus is too, but I have no experience. I've seen Holacanthus destroy any coral in its tank within seconds. The rest (Apolemichthys, Centropyge, Paracentropyge, Pomacanthus and Pygoplites) are all individuals and all equally safe or risky in my opinion. Some people say some are better than others, but IMO, that's based on their experience and luck with individual fish and there is nothing general that can be said about the other species or genera.

I have an Emporer that eats Aiptasia and won't touch SPS or clams. I've never seen him eat LPS, but I suspect he does - I can't keep Euphyllia alive but do well with animals that are thought to be harder to keep. I also had Elegance doing well suddenly die back in my display but recover once moved to a frag tank that shares the same water.

 

[Dorsetsteve]

I have had many, in my opinion a reef tank isn’t a reef tank without an Angel. I’ve had most of the common dwarfs.

My previous set up I kept a fireball, a bicolour and a majestic without any real issues. I steered away from clams and Acans but Lobos and various Euphyilla where fine. I had these fish for about a decade. My current reef has a coral beauty who is fine, even with Acans.
Ive found the yellow dwarfs, lemon peel for example a bit of trouble. A had a Koran but he ate fleshy LPS, fine with Euphyilla though.

It would seem my experience doesn’t tie with the majority here.

 

[Dburr1014]

Everyone is saying they don't nip coral, but how about clams??