Large Angel in reef tank?
- Thread starter maingo
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novahobbies
Well-Known Member
Thd august edition of Freshwater and Marine Aquarium has an article about keeping non-reef safe fish in a reef environment, including a Blueface angel. The author kept the angel in a reef setup for some time with good success -- the fish did pick at one coral to the point of no return, but only one coral. He kept the angel happy with a prepared angel blend that included sponge material....that may have helped.
As for myself, I have a Koran angel juvenile in my LPS reef setup, had him for about 6 months now. He's never bothered my Hammer, Frogspawn, or Torch, but he did decimate a small rock full of zoos and he was showing an unfriendly interest in my Galaxia before I moved it to another tank. I will probably move him to a fish-only tank before the reef goes in the new 110 I'm setting up, but I haven't yet tried the angel preparation, and that might make a difference.
As a rule, it's not a good idea. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't willing to either accept that an occasional coral may be sacrificed or open to the possibility that the fish may have to be moved to another tank. In other words, proceed with caution!!!
As for myself, I have a Koran angel juvenile in my LPS reef setup, had him for about 6 months now. He's never bothered my Hammer, Frogspawn, or Torch, but he did decimate a small rock full of zoos and he was showing an unfriendly interest in my Galaxia before I moved it to another tank. I will probably move him to a fish-only tank before the reef goes in the new 110 I'm setting up, but I haven't yet tried the angel preparation, and that might make a difference.
As a rule, it's not a good idea. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't willing to either accept that an occasional coral may be sacrificed or open to the possibility that the fish may have to be moved to another tank. In other words, proceed with caution!!!
aquaknight
Active Member
It depends on what yuor definition of "large angels" is. Technically, angels of the Genicanthus genus are large angels and are perfectly reef safe. Other large angels of the Chaetodontoplus and Apolemichthis genus are usually coral friendly, but they have a couple issues in terms of hardiness (many perish in home aquariums for whatever reason) and costs (esp. true of the Apolemichthis, some are over $999). Any 'true' large angel that gets over a foot in length, Queens, Blues, Korans, Passers, French, Bluefaces, Emperors, are really, just a matter of time before they get large enough to sample everything in the tank.
lion_crazz
Active Member
Lamarck, swallowtail, zebra, and watanabe angels are all reef-friendly larger angels.
My personal favorite is the japanese swallowtail. Having a male and female pair of them is both affordable and very beautiful.
My personal favorite is the japanese swallowtail. Having a male and female pair of them is both affordable and very beautiful.
lion_crazz
Active Member
Originally Posted by saltn00b
http:///forum/post/2698350
well i tried a blu-face and although it was such a beautiful fish (and loud! he BARKED!!)
he decimated all but one or two of my red metallic shrooms and and a bunch of zoas.
Yikes.
You always have that in the back of your mind though when you have an angel that is not friendly.
A friend of mine had a queen in his reef for 3 years and one day, he came home and the angel tore everything apart. You can never predict what will happen.
You get to the point where you have to ask yourself, what's more important, the hundreds of thousands invested in corals or this one fish who is cool but may not even do well in my aquarium.
http:///forum/post/2698350
well i tried a blu-face and although it was such a beautiful fish (and loud! he BARKED!!)
he decimated all but one or two of my red metallic shrooms and and a bunch of zoas.
Yikes.
You always have that in the back of your mind though when you have an angel that is not friendly.
A friend of mine had a queen in his reef for 3 years and one day, he came home and the angel tore everything apart. You can never predict what will happen.
You get to the point where you have to ask yourself, what's more important, the hundreds of thousands invested in corals or this one fish who is cool but may not even do well in my aquarium.
saltn00b
Active Member
agreed lion.
IME, it was worth doing just for the experience, and the hopes that it could have worked. after my experience i noticed that these angels will often go for only certain types of corals case after case. usually zoas and shrooms. and only certain kinds. i think if i had an SPS dominated tank with little too none rare zoas i would try it again. i loved that fish, made me want to get into FO (for about a minute)
IME, it was worth doing just for the experience, and the hopes that it could have worked. after my experience i noticed that these angels will often go for only certain types of corals case after case. usually zoas and shrooms. and only certain kinds. i think if i had an SPS dominated tank with little too none rare zoas i would try it again. i loved that fish, made me want to get into FO (for about a minute)