Sps vs. Angelfish

LukeV · Jun 14, 2016

i started a thread a week or so ago asking if it's a good idea to keep sps and large angelfish in the same tank. The responses I received convinced me that this would be fine and I would be successful with sps.

I am constantly thinking things over and try to find any flaws that may occur as I can prevent them before something goes wrong.

Many people who have kept angelfish with sps say the angels will up at the sps(mainly the mucous) and irritate the sps, limiting pe. Overall this would probably slow growth, but would it negatively affect the coral and/or affect color?

When I do restart my tank I plan to have more high end sps, would having angelfish picking at small frags also harm the coral? My plan is to add the angelfish at the end of my stock as to give a majority of my coral time to mature before any angel can irritate it.

What are your thoughts, concerns, and recommendations?

Thanks

watchguy123 · Jun 15, 2016

My experience is that angelfish do nip at sps and any mucous on any type of coral. I do not think the nipping effects growth. The polyps will extend when lights are out and the fish are sleeping.

I just starting removing my angelfish because I decided I would prefer polyp extension over incredibly beautiful fish. The problem is that some sps have polyps that add quite a bit of color to the colony. Polyps can be quite brightly colored and even if not, the extension gives quite the appearance of movement as the polyps sway with flow.

LukeV · Jun 15, 2016

watchguy123 said:
My experience is that angelfish do nip at sps and any mucous on any type of coral. I do not think the nipping effects growth. The polyps will extend when lights are out and the fish are sleeping.

I just starting removing my angelfish because I decided I would prefer polyp extension over incredibly beautiful fish. The problem is that some sps have polyps that add quite a bit of color to the colony. Polyps can be quite brightly colored and even if not, the extension gives quite the appearance of movement as the polyps sway with flow.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I love Angels and could sacrifice seeing the polyp colors majority of the day.

I was thinking I could use a product like ME to entice pe at night

Diesel · Jun 15, 2016

Just train your Angels. that's all

Any pictures of your tank?

LukeV · Jun 16, 2016

Diesel said:
Just train your Angels. that's all
Any pictures of your tank?

My current tank sprung a leak so I'm waiting for the replacement. It is a 250 gallon dd 60"x36"x30"

Graffiti Spot · Jun 16, 2016

Large angels like Korans and emperators will est the tips of acropora. Mine only likes new growth tips and it actually encourages growth when it feels like nipping. Which isn't too often right now since it's very well fed. Smaller ones like multicolors will mouth the skin of mostly smooth skin acros and eat the slime coat and maybe even dig in a little more. They will kill certain acros if they take a liking to them. Mine only liked a yellow tip blue polyp austera and mouthed it to death, then never messed with anything afterwards. Some other angles will nip at polyps but that's been covered above. Mine don't do it enough to reduce polyp extension.

JBNY · Jun 16, 2016

Angels might nip at the corals, if all your parameters are set for success they won't stop growth or color. Here is the growth I had on my tank years ago from this

to this, in 18 months.

I had 4 pygmy angels in the tank the whole time. I restarted my tank with all frags again and have 5 pygmy angels now.

LukeV · Jun 16, 2016

Thank you for the info pedoconfuego and JBNY, if I'm reading this correctly it sounds like dwarfs are notorious to do more damage than large angels?

My plans were to add an emperor, queen or blueface (both?), and a flame. What are your thoughts on this? For the best success, I would need to keep everyone well fed with a mix of foods and multiple daily feedings from pellets to frozen and the occasional live food.

JBNY · Jun 16, 2016

I think you will be fine, some people freak out if they start to get a little less polyp extension because of the angels, but I personally don't think it effect the corals growth or color.

Graffiti Spot · Jun 17, 2016

Jesus jbny! 18 months? That makes my love receptors tickle

OP, keeping the angles well fed with a varied diet is one major key for sure. Second is adding whatever jbny used to make his acros into monsters....

Graffiti Spot · Jun 17, 2016

The only problem I had with angles is lps and polyps. My emperator eats all lps from smooth chalice to brains and does it like a starved pig.

BoneXriffic · Jun 17, 2016

I nearly bought a flame, i love the fish. But it is a risk you face. Every situation and fis is different. Some may never look twice at an acro some may kill every colony in the tank and everything in between. In the end i decided i did not want the risk.

LukeV · Jun 17, 2016

JBNY said:
Angels might nip at the corals, if all your parameters are set for success they won't stop growth or color. Here is the growth I had on my tank years ago from this

to this, in 18 months.

I had 4 pygmy angels in the tank the whole time. I restarted my tank with all frags again and have 5 pygmy angels now.

Ok let's hear it JBNY,

Teach us your methods of growing sps!

sawdonkey · Jun 17, 2016

I have a large emperor and a lemon peel in my SPS tank. Emperor does a good job of keeping the tips clipped. Bites off quarter inch pieces sometimes. Lemon peel nips.

Graffiti Spot · Jun 17, 2016

Saw donkey does your emperator like to eat the new healthy growth or will it clip anything? Beautiful fish, we have the same one I believe.

robby2782 · Jun 17, 2016

Wow, how does that trigger behave?

sawdonkey · Jun 19, 2016

Pedoconfuego said:
Saw donkey does your emperator like to eat the new healthy growth or will it clip anything? Beautiful fish, we have the same one I believe.

He doesn't really seem to selective. It's almost as if just swims around and if he notices an acro in front of him, he'll take a bite. There are a few that he hits more often, but it might just be there location being close to areas where he hangs out.

sawdonkey · Jun 19, 2016

robby2782 said:
Wow, how does that trigger behave?

Both triggers are fine with corals but I wouldn't put a shrimp in there. The biggest issue is that the Niger bites my hand making it hard to work in the tank. He drew blood just yesterday.

redtigrinus · Jun 19, 2016

This is interesting. I'm building a tank now for angels and sps. I would love to keep lps and clams but I have heard it much more risky, especially with the angels I want to keep. I'll be attempting to keep a Yellow Belly Regal Angelfish, Coral Beauty, and a Watanbei pair. I may also try a Goldflake and a Flame. I'd love a Coco Keys Lemonpeel, but I have heard that lemonpeels are more prone to misbehaving. If I had the space I'd try an Emperor as they are my favorite.

Anyone have experience keeping the Clarion?

LukeV · Jun 19, 2016

redtigrinus said:
This is interesting. I'm building a tank now for angels and sps. I would love to keep lps and clams but I have heard it much more risky, especially with the angels I want to keep. I'll be attempting to keep a Yellow Belly Regal Angelfish, Coral Beauty, and a Watanbei pair. I may also try a Goldflake and a Flame. I'd love a Coco Keys Lemonpeel, but I have heard that lemonpeels are more prone to misbehaving. If I had the space I'd try an Emperor as they are my favorite.

Anyone have experience keeping the Clarion?

What size tank will you be setting up?