Potter's Angelfish

[Ldoughty]

Hey there, I have an established 55 gallon tank and was looking into some dwarf angels and stumbled across the Potters angelfish. Are these fish hard to keep? Thoughts on these fish in general?

 

[Neoalchemist]

Care is basically the same for other dwarf angels.
They inhabit slightly deeper water in the wild so they can be a bit shy and wild caught fish may have trouble adapting to aquarium food.
They may be more inclined to nip coral than other dwarf angels.
I have one and although he doesn't affect the coral in the tank he will browse. So there's a little less polyp extension then there would be without him.

 

[Ldoughty]

Care is basically the same for other dwarf angels.
They inhabit slightly deeper water in the wild so they can be a bit shy and wild caught fish may have trouble adapting to aquarium food.
They may be more inclined to nip coral than other dwarf angels.
I have one and although he doesn't affect the coral in the tank he will browse. So there's a little less polyp extension then there would be without him.

Got it. On LiveAquaria it shows them as a difficult care level? As opposed to other angels what is the difference in that regard?

 

[Neoalchemist]

The food issue mostly. That warning is from back in the day when there were less good food options. A good frozen angelfish food helps them to get some sponge in thier diet and most didnt realize how much algea they eat. So feed nori daily and allow some algea to grow in the tank.
After a while most will take pellet food. The reason they require a bit more space is to give them opportunity to browse the tank until they get used to what you are feeding.
Also the coral picking thing. They all seem to pick a bit, with some going off the res. and eating coral.

 

[RobMcC]

As above, I have one for a while (not sure how long, maybe 2 years). They do need algae. I feed a mix to my tank (Hikari angel food, mysis , krill, silversides, clams, Red plankton, and alternate between rod’s complete and LRS reef frenzy). Mine has buddied up with a blue line. They swim around the tank together constantly. I haven’t noticed much or any nibbling of corals. I have a mixed reef or acros and acans, chalices and gonipora.

 

[ca1ore]

Potters is among the harder of the dwarf angels. They are not particularly good shippers and often don’t eat. Even those that do suddenly die at about six months. I’d not claim success until that point. They are very active grazers that novice keepers might mistake for picking. They need a lot of live rock. Much less likely to damage corals than flames or lemon peels. There have been a few good threads on the reef fishes forum here on R2R. Check them out.