Flame angel nipping acro’s?

[Andresnyc93]

Hey everyone,

I’ve had this flame angelfish for about a month and it’s been in the tank with torches, frog and octo spawn’s and some hammers. He completely ignored them for the time being, yesterday I got a Fox flame & solar flare acro’s and the flame just nips at them casually. Is he actually eating the polyps? Or is he just nipping for fun?
I know they’re “reef safe- with caution” the acro’s haven’t lost coloration the polyps are just not expanding as much.

 

[ZoWhat]

He's just nipping for fun. The acro laughs like it being tickled when nipped. Then the flame laughs and then they all giggle

 

[Andresnyc93]

He's just nipping for fun. The acro laughes like it being tickled when nipped. Then the fkame laughed and then they all giggle

Gotcha, he seems to nip everything around the tank so just wanted to make sure before I took a decision on the little guy. Do love this fish though

 

[Brian_68]

If he does it on a regular basis the acros will suffer or die, especially the smaller ones.

 

[Andresnyc93]

If he does it on a regular basis the acros will suffer or die, especially the smaller ones.

Do you quarantine your acro’s? I dipped them yesterday but wanted to quarantine for a week or so, worried they might not make it the week. There isn’t any part of the acro’s missing though

 

[Doctor Derp]

Picked up a female flame angel today. She'll be watched like a hawk until I'm sure she isn't polyp hungry. I've got plenty pineapple sponges for her to munch on, though. It's the scarlet hermit who decided to bulldoze the bottom of some frags that I'm not happy with. Little bugger crushed all the corallites along the bottom of a nice pretty tenuis frag.

 

[steve bergmann]

I have never really have had a problem with Flame Angels. I have 3 in my tank.

 

[Brian_68]

I have never really have had a problem with Flame Angels. I have 3 in my tank.

I think it depends on if they decide to nip and if they do how many acros are in the tank. If you only have a few frags they get hit multiple times per day and can perish. Large tanks like yours with plenty of acros have plenty for them to munch on and not be affected.

 

[Tchung23]

Do flames tend to nip at sps or lps more??

 

[Terry Le]

Do flames tend to nip at sps or lps more??

sps

 

[pecan2phat]

If your tank is on the larger side, a nipping Flame will not cause much damage on SPS. Acans and Blastos might be another story depending on the individual fish.

 

[Tchung23]

How about torches and Goniopora??

 

[pecan2phat]

I don't have torches but 2 large Goni colonies in the tank and the Flame ignores them.

 

[Andresnyc93]

How about torches and Goniopora??

I have torches frog and octo spawn and hammers and my flame completely ignores them

 

[Super Fly]

Hey everyone,

I’ve had this flame angelfish for about a month and it’s been in the tank with torches, frog and octo spawn’s and some hammers. He completely ignored them for the time being, yesterday I got a Fox flame & solar flare acro’s and the flame just nips at them casually. Is he actually eating the polyps? Or is he just nipping for fun?
I know they’re “reef safe- with caution” the acro’s haven’t lost coloration the polyps are just not expanding as much.

if its already nipping then I'd keep an eye on the flame. Mine was a model citizen for more than a year then all of a sudden it lost its mind and completely wiped out a large rock of GSP that I had grown for several years! :mad: And the flame was a real PIA to remove, almost gave up trying to catch it.

 

[Tchung23]

dang. Such pretty fish but not sure I want to risk my lps

 

[Andresnyc93]

dang. Such pretty fish but not sure I want to risk my lps

I always say that a nipping flame angel is an underfed angelfish. I feed mine 2x daily and put out nori sheets daily for him and the tang and they haven’t bothered anything in my system since

 

[damsels are not mean]

Picked up a female flame angel today. She'll be watched like a hawk until I'm sure she isn't polyp hungry. I've got plenty pineapple sponges for her to munch on, though. It's the scarlet hermit who decided to bulldoze the bottom of some frags that I'm not happy with. Little bugger crushed all the corallites along the bottom of a nice pretty tenuis frag.

The story with dwarf angels often seems to be "they were fine for 2 years and then one day I woke up and an acan colony was gone". While I think you can usually get away with angels and corals, I don't think you should get one if you feel the need to watch it like a hawk. Getting an angel means you ate going to let it decide what corals you can and cannot keep, and that might change in 6 months or 5 years.