Imperator Angel and Corals Opinions

[aharrow]

Hello everyone,
I have been at a crossroads here for a month or so. My ultimate fish was of course an angel but at the same time I have been wanting to start on the coral route. I have had my tank up and running for almost two years now and most everything has survived two moves in the past six months. Now that I am settled for good I wanted to go the coral route but have my angel. My wife who laughs at my obsession every night in researching corals and fish in general can't understand why I spend so much time researching the same thing. My answer to her is that I continue to get conflicting information on this very question. Now my trusted fish store guy has an angel in his show tank in the store and he has all SPS and what he calls noxious soft corals and mushrooms. He has had the angel since juvenile and now it is an adult and he has never had problems. Certain websites say all angels are not reef safe. Others say the same thing as my fish store guy.
My question is have any of you out there had a juvenile imperator and corals together? I keep my tank well fed and the lighting, water movement and water quality are great. I currently have a colt coral that the angel has not touched and he swims right by all the time. I want to get some leathers, mushrooms and other noxious corals that I have been told will be fine. Any thougths and opinions? Thanks
My tank info is below
75 gallon drilled
125lbs of LR
50 lbs of LS
Lighting is
2 IceCap MH 175W each
NO 2 x 40 for background lighting
Mini Compact Actinic 2 x 13 Moonlight
40 gallon sump with berlin skimmer
3 pretty powerful Power Heads for medium-high water flow
1 Yellow Tang 4"
1 Juvenile Imperator Angel 3"
1 small orange tail damsel 3"
2 Tomato clowns 3"
1 Tiny Blue Hippo 2"
1 colt coral
1 peppermint shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Emerald Crab
1 Bristle Starfish
2 small astera snails
4 Large Snails
Upgrading to Built in 125 gal tank, so don't worry about spacing....

 

[melkor]

I can't really give you a concise answer. As I've known people to keep them all in full blown Reef tanks: Puffers, Triggers, Angels (both pygmy and others), butterflies, normally destructive wrasses, so on so on. It depends on the fishes temperment. Even then, their temperment may change with time like Humans. ie. An angel does well for a couple of years, then gets hungry cause the owner went out of town, leaving him to "pick" off the LR. Well.... usually the first tase does it and the pattern is repeated, as the angel finds it "likes" it's new natural food. I will say good luck to you in earnest and hope he works for you and your new 125.

 

[melkor]

BTW, though I said I knew these people, others reading this, DO NOT DO THAT!!! They have $ to throw away if things go bad.

 

[aharrow]

anyone else? I am considering getting rid of my angel, although it is so healthy and eating well and happy. I really wanted to see the transformation but don't know if I want to chance him eating new corals.

 

[aidos]

i dont know if this will help but there is a large angel that is reef safe, and there is a bloke, Jamnman he has one. its called a King Angel and is reef safe.
Now u can have ur angel and ur coral. :jumping:

 

[cincyreefer]

Here is a picture of what a juvenile emperor angel and queen angel did to my leather. Prior to adding the angels the leather right side looked exactly like the left side, although the leather did not die or even seem to deteriorate even though it was getting picked on.
edit- I don't know for sure if the emperor picked on the leather, the queen picked on the leather, or both. They both showed interest when I would watch them.

 

[clownie27]

Aharrow:
I have an emperor that is about 5-6" living in my 75g reef. Got him when he was a juvenile also (~6 mos now). He doesn't show much interest in my corals: xenia, toadstool leather, finger, shrooms, torch, colt coral and a few hard corals, to name some. Although he did pick on my pipe organ (there might have been some sponge attached) and a sun coral (only when it opens) that I quickly had to give away the next day to my brother. Hope this helps.