Best & Worst "Reef Safe" Angelfish for Your Reef

[Scdell]

Yes! I bought two Lamarks knowing one would change to a male. He chase's the female around. Actually I was sitting one day and heard a thud. He chased her out of the tank. Picked her up and put her back in. She learned where to go after that. They are model citizens. And kinda pretty. He's got the classic male markings with the long streaming tail. I'm happy with them.

 

[Sean_B]

my tank is still in my head, but I have envisioned a

Swallowtail Tiger Angelfish (male) on my Livestock list.​

I'm surprised at the lack of interest for a reef tank addition..........................?

 

[Blown]

I've had a potters for about 18months or so and no issues so far

 

[Floppyfish]

I had a Pygmy angel with no issues before my tank crashed. I now have an African Flameback, and it’s only issue is how territorial it is when I introduce any new fish. Thankfully no deaths or eaten corals.

 

[DK450reef]

Angelfish are so beautiful and so..........unpredictable! Just forget about housing a "non reef safe" angel in your reef tank. But what about those considered to be "reef safe" with caution? Let's talk about your experiences today!

In your experience, when it comes to being "reef safe"......

1. What's the BEST behaving reef safe angelfish?

2. What's the WORST behaving reef safe angelfish?

image via @3dees

I have three angles in my mixed reef

I have three angels in my 350 gal mixed reef. Yes that is an Emperor changing to his adult phase. I put him in when he was the size of a quarter. He did nip at a large open Brian and I had to remove that. I have learned he likes LPS but has not touched torches, SPS montepora or bubbles. I also have a coral beauty that prefers consuming algae off the glass and never touches coral. Hopefully sharing this I did not jinx everything

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

There is some argument on Flame back verses Orange back Angelfish. This is my fish, and it hasn’t bothered the Corals. I have seen it pull algae off of the Corals, and it leaves Kiss Marks on the back glass. According to the LFS, from the Indian Ocean.

 

[RSnodgrass]

I'm housing a non reef safe angel and it's going great!

 

[jaganshi066]

I have a little bit of every kind of coral in my 560g. Corals Missing from the tank are Acans and Blastos.

Angels in the tank -
Pair of Spawning Gold Flakes - Eat plentiful patches of zoas and acans once they start to flourish
Spawning Bellus - Don't touch anything - ever
Trio Spawning Flamebacks - Don't touch anything
Pair of Spawning Goldens - Don't touch anything
Flame Angel - Occasional pick - never enough to damage
Pair of Venustus- Tore apart a rare red/pink elegance but left green elegance alone
Yellow Belly Regals - No Problems
Emperor in Frag tank - No problems
Navarchus - Raised in Frag tank, no issues, was in display tank 2 months with no issues
Previous pair of Joculators - No Issues
Multi-bar angels - Nipped at everything but only destroyed acans

My tank has all types of corals - SPS, LPS, Sinularia, Coco worms, feather dusters, mushrooms, Gorgonians and Clams.

In my opinion, and experience, most reef tanks follow a minimalist approach to aquascaping. Also the average length of a hobbyist in the hobby is less than a year. When you combine these two things you end up with a tank that can't naturally support it's live stock. I didn't start regularly feeding my fish till I started keeping anthias. My fish have enough natural things to hunt in the tank that they leave the corals alone. They may take a nip at a coral, but then they swim away and move on to something else - no damage done. Regal Angels, Venusuts, Multi-bar, Golden Angels - These fish will go a year with out taking any prepared or manually added foods (even live brine). There is enough for them to naturally hunt.

Even an imperator and a Navarchus in a frag tank with nothing but frags and racks were raised without being fed by me and I never once saw them go near the SPS, Clams, LPS, aptasia, anthelia, xenia - Nothing in the frag tanks.

I always had good luck with the lil Atlantic Cherub pygmy - But once you start collecting Flame Back Pygmys then the cherubs are less interesting and they get their butts kicked.

Angels I would never consider adding to my reef-
Singapore
Bicolor - Always bad experiences
Multi-Bar - Did too much damage
Chrysurus - Decimated 100's of Zoas in just 90 mins
Multi-color - Always went dark and ugly in my reefs - never did anything to enhance the reef
Elibi - Tried a harem in the frag tank and they were destructive
Lemon Peel - Trouble and grouchy
Hybrid Lemon Peel - Cool to look at - but still picked on frags
Deborae - Why would I buy a fish I will never see and may cause problems.

Hey I started following and reading your build thread, very impressive! I was going to ask about the multibar since I’m getting one tomorrow, in your experience and right now are they eating prepared foods? Also my Pygmy and flameback get along, it took about a month but now there’s no chasing at all. Crazy to see how things change so much.

 

[jaganshi066]

There is some argument on Flame back verses Orange back Angelfish. This is my fish, and it hasn’t bothered the Corals. I have seen it pull algae off of the Corals, and it leaves Kiss Marks on the back glass. According to the LFS, from the Indian Ocean.

I have three in different tanks and they have never bothered any corals.

 

[jaganshi066]

I had a Pygmy angel with no issues before my tank crashed. I now have an African Flameback, and it’s only issue is how territorial it is when I introduce any new fish. Thankfully no deaths or eaten corals.

Yea I can’t introduce anything new or he will kill it.

 

[Bccarty151]

Flame angel....doesn't pick at corals but is definitely the boss of the tank

 

[lanceinhuntsville]

I always thought I sucked at growing them, but now I suspect why

I thought the same about my ability to grow Acans and Favia until I caught my Flame Angel picking at an Acan I’m trying to revive. That little turd…

 

[UK softy bloke]

Angelfish are so beautiful and so..........unpredictable! Just forget about housing a "non reef safe" angel in your reef tank. But what about those considered to be "reef safe" with caution? Let's talk about your experiences today!

In your experience, when it comes to being "reef safe"......

1. What's the BEST behaving reef safe angelfish?

2. What's the WORST behaving reef safe angelfish?

image via @3dees

My bicolour angel has been great for the last ten years just taking the odd nip at the gorgonians. I think he would have a go at lps though.

 

[Susan Edwards]

Coral Beauty no issues. Want a flame.

 

[Vincenc]

I have a regal angel for 2 years now.
Don't bother anything.

 

[Vincenc]

My regal

 

[kirinreef]

Completely reef safe in her gene

 

[GoVols]

Have had the same Regal Angel for years

lol
She'll wipe out zoas and most open brain corals except lobos.
Never bothers shrooms, other lps and could careless about sps.

Had a female Bellus way back, she was totally reef-safe

 

[o2manyfish]

Hey I started following and reading your build thread, very impressive! I was going to ask about the multibar since I’m getting one tomorrow, in your experience and right now are they eating prepared foods? Also my Pygmy and flameback get along, it took about a month but now there’s no chasing at all. Crazy to see how things change so much.

The flameback and cherub can live together. But once I went from a 125 to a 400g tank it was too much of a challenge to see (and enjoy) the lil cherub angel. The flame backs (3) are definitely more showy in the tank. My experience with Multi-bar and I know Sanjay Joshi has had the same is that they take a very very long time to acclimate to prepared foods. They also take a long time to adjust to captivity. They are a very shy fish and like to stay in the shadows. Which leaves them to hunting food in the shadows.

 

[jaganshi066]

The flameback and cherub can live together. But once I went from a 125 to a 400g tank it was too much of a challenge to see (and enjoy) the lil cherub angel. The flame backs (3) are definitely more showy in the tank. My experience with Multi-bar and I know Sanjay Joshi has had the same is that they take a very very long time to acclimate to prepared foods. They also take a long time to adjust to captivity. They are a very shy fish and like to stay in the shadows. Which leaves them to hunting food in the shadows.

The store I spoke with who got one for me said the multibar is already eating prepared foods so I’m sure that helps. Do you think my flameback will bully it?