Angel in a Reef tank

[Mrcote1]

I have always wanted a Majestic or a Regal angel. My LFS had a beautiful and healthy Majestic Angel in stock today.

My problem is I also really like torches and have put a lot of money in torches in my tank.

Who has successfully (or unsuccessfully) tried to keep a Majestic or Regal Angel in a reef tank with lots of coral? If there are enough successes I may just go back and buy it...

 

[KrisReef]

The anecdotes that other people may post are not necessarily going to provide any useful insights into how the beautiful fish in your lfs will behave around the corals in your tank.

If it has eaten corals in the past then it will likely be feasting upon your corals on the same day you add it into your system. I have read many fine tales about this on Reef2Reef and still I have no reason to believe that the fish you are considering has any experience with eating corals.

If the fish doesn’t have any experience eating corals then it may never start and you should get the fish asap!

My limited experience with Flame Angelfish was that they didn’t start out eating my corals but eventually they all ate the forbidden fruit and then they had to be evicted from the Garden. I remember dismantling 85% of the rock scape to remove the last attempted fish and I killed a lot of livestock from the exercise.

If you get it I hope you have much better success than I did with my must have non reef safe angel.

 

[bobnicaragua]

You see them in some large SPS tanks. They won’t do that much damage in 300+ gallon mature SPS reef.

I wouldn’t put a Majestic or Regal in a mixed reef!

 

[Sickness69]

Owned a flame angel fish for less than 24hrs. Noticed him nipping at one of my Duncan's and candy canes and said nope. But I did get to rearrange my scape after taking it out to get him!

 

[Mrcote1]

Rearranging rock work to catch a fish is not possible in my 160, my rocks are all mortared together.

So whatever goes in, stays in unless it can be caught in my fish trap!

Why do some of the best looking fish have to be coral eaters

 

[Sickness69]

Rearranging rock work to catch a fish is not possible in my 160, my rocks are all mortared together.

So whatever goes in, stays in unless it can be caught in my fish trap!

Why do some of the best looking fish have to be coral eaters

Haha this was in my 50g so not too bad.

 

[Subsea]

“Why do some of the best looking fish have to be coral eaters“

You see them in some large SPS tanks. They won’t do that much damage in 300+ gallon mature SPS reef.

I wouldn’t put a Majestic or Regal in a mixed reef!

Because I never left softies that grow fast and grew to incorporate sponges in my systems, I have no problems with Angels. While I enjoy Red Sea Pulsing Xenia and Green Star Polyps, I have no animosity with fish rescycling nutrients. While I do minimum water change for nutrient export, I do frag & sell corals.

 

[BryanM]

Rearranging rock work to catch a fish is not possible in my 160, my rocks are all mortared together.

So whatever goes in, stays in unless it can be caught in my fish trap!

Why do some of the best looking fish have to be coral eaters

If you cannot remove rock, you really can't get a fish that's generally known to eat corals.

I have a dwarf red angel, but it came from a tank with corals, was in there for months, and never nipped at any of them. So I took THAT chance, which I felt was pretty low.

If the LFS has it in a tank with corals, and it is behaving, and its been there for a while, I'd be inclined to take a risk like that.

 

[Mrcote1]

Yea after thinking about it for the past day and looking at all my corals, not worth the risk for me I have decided.

 

[TX_REEF]

LPS polyps will likely be slurped up like spaghetti by most full-size angels. SPS is generally safe(r).

 

[Uncle99]

Yea after thinking about it for the past day and looking at all my corals, not worth the risk for me I have decided.

Great decision.
Nice fish but hit and miss rep.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I have a Lamarck’s angel. It’s not the most colorful, but it’s a planktivore and never picks at anything. (SPS, LPS, Zoas, or clams.)

It keeps to itself most of the time, but occasionally just steamrolls the tangs.

 

[Reefer1978]

Don't do it.

 

[backbayreef]

I have a Blueface, French, Passer, Swallowtail, Emperor, Goldflake, and Blue (now in sump) in a 450gal -- no issues with SPS, mushrooms, hammers, or torches. However, they will eat all your zoas, acans, and meat corals though. As a bonus, they love Aiptasias! ;)

 

[i cant think]

I have always wanted a Majestic or a Regal angel. My LFS had a beautiful and healthy Majestic Angel in stock today.

My problem is I also really like torches and have put a lot of money in torches in my tank.

Who has successfully (or unsuccessfully) tried to keep a Majestic or Regal Angel in a reef tank with lots of coral? If there are enough successes I may just go back and buy it...

ignoring the above responses, my big question is:
1. What other coral do you have?
2. Do you know what coral angels will absolutely go for? If you don’t definitely look at the trend… Unfortunately many people don’t do this, and you get responses of “don’t keep angels in a reef” like above.

P.s. I have had both of these species in mixed reefs with major success, because I have spotted the trends. Here’s my tanks which I have had or still have angels in.

Plus my butterfly just as a bonus

 

[bobnicaragua]

ignoring the above responses, my big question is:
1. What other coral do you have?
2. Do you know what coral angels will absolutely go for? If you don’t definitely look at the trend… Unfortunately many people don’t do this, and you get responses of “don’t keep angels in a reef” like above.

P.s. I have had both of these species in mixed reefs with major success, because I have spotted the trends. Here’s my tanks which I have had or still have angels in.

Plus my butterfly just as a bonus

What trends?

 

[backbayreef]

Instead of asking if one can keep angels with corals, ask: what corals can I keep with angels?

Can keep:
1. SPS (with limited success, slow growth and little/no PE). Smooth skins do great!
2. Euphyllias (torches, hammers, frogspawns)
3. Mushrooms (discosomas, Yumas, etc)
4. Some softies (toadstool, nepthea, etc)

Can’t keep:
1. Zoas
2. Meat corals
3. Chalices
4. Scoly
5. Macro algae
6. Aiptasias (if trying to breed nudi- lol)

 

[i cant think]

What trends?

Instead of asking if one can keep angels with corals, ask: what corals can I keep with angels?

Can keep:
1. SPS (with limited success, slow growth and little/no PE). Smooth skins do great!
2. Euphyllias (torches, hammers, frogspawns)
3. Mushrooms (discosomas, Yumas, etc)
4. Some softies (toadstool, nepthea, etc)

Can’t keep:
1. Zoas
2. Meat corals
3. Chalices
4. Scoly
5. Macro algae
6. Aiptasias (if trying to breed nudi- lol)

This!
Trends with any reef safe with caution fish is that many species of them will go for those corals listed above.
Fleshy LPS, not the boney LPS. Flowerpots are also safe. If it’s always stingy? It’s safe.

Look at any thread, post or anyone who has kept angels and had them nip coral. It’s almost always the same types of coral that they ignore and the same species that they nip.

 

[realwizer]

Getting captive bred seems to reduce the likelihood of munching on coral as they have never had a taste before. Still not 100%, but worth the risk for many for such beautiful fish.

 

[RobertK]

I have captive bred coral beauty, bicolor and multibar angels in an LPS tank with zoas, blastos, favia, chalice, frogspawn, cyphastreas and have never seen them nip at any of them. I can't seem to keep acans alive but I never saw them nip at those either.