Angels in Reef’s

[theMeat]

You never know. Have had many angels that are considered not reef safe , that were model citizens, and have had tangs that were considered safe that were not.
What I can say with certainty is that in my experience once an angel gets a taste for a certain coral, doesn’t matter how much you feed, they will continue to nip

 

[David S]

Yes, Angels are collected in reefs, but they are surrounded by huge mature coral colonies. If angels are picking at them, they can withstand and keep growing. In our smaller tanks, the (normally) small colonies can quickly become decimated by fish picking at the polyps or slime coat of the coral. I have tried many species of dwarf angels and had to remove them all :( The people that have angels in their reef tanks are either lucky (every fish is different) or they have larger, mature coral colonies.

Guess I'm one of the lucky ones.
Have had my Flame Angel in a 38 gallon tank for more than 5 years. He's constantly picking at the rockwork and the glass but has never gone after any of my corals (except to pick something off them) be they colonies or small frags.
I've also seen so many reef tanks that have Flame Angels in them, from which I conclude that any rogues are the exception.

 

[Fishnut]

I have two Regals in a tank with SPS, LPS and the larger one picks at everything except Duncan’s. The smaller one doesn’t bother anything. Also in the tank is a juvi emperor that also hasn’t touched anything.

 

[mwilk19]

I added a captive bred Singapore Angel that I got from Poma Labs. They weren't even sure how a captive bred fish would react in a reef tank. He picked at the acan killing some heads but seems to have gotten bored with it and leaves it alone now. I see him occasionally peck at SPS but doesn't seem to do any damage. As long at he leaves my other LPS alone he can stay.

 

[nosmok]

Broaden your minds..

Angels in the Genicanthus family are excellent additions to your (reasonably large) reef tank.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-02/hcs3/index.htm

Love my Spotbreast!

Agree! My Swallowtail mated pair are active swimmers that never touch the corals

 

[WetPets]

My Regal is the king of my tank. Very mild mannered, gental, and I can hand feed him. He eats like a pig.... So he bothered with my acans so I quickly gave them away before they were gone. He has not touched any other corals.... Zoos, LPS, and sps. He does get fed twice a day...

You have some beautiful wrasses

 

[Ramon]

This is my emperor in my reef tank and it’s 2 year old

 

[1stNoel]

I tried the angel experiment. I have a Swallowtail that's a model citizen. Other than that...

Queen Angel was great as a juvenile...then once she got a certain size she started gobbling up all my zoas.

Tried dwarf angels but they always caused me stress whenever I'd add a new SPS frag only to see them constantly nipping at the polyps (and I feed a lot). If I'm going to keep nice SPS, I had to make the decision to give up on the angel reef.

Perhaps I might revisit in the future with the plan of only keeping the larger angels as juveniles and then re-homing them as they grow. I prefer fish like the Emperor as a juvenile anyways.

 

[Jesterrace]

I have my Coral Beauty Dwarf Angel with a couple of Euphyllia Frags (Frogspawn and Hammer) and I think it took a couple of small test nips but it was clear it didn't care much for the taste and went right back to grazing algae around the tank. I do think it helps to have a more established tank with plenty of algae for them to graze on:

 

[jefra]

I have two small angels, a majestic and emperor, that leave my corals (soft, SPS, euphyllia) alone. I've read that "fleshy" LPS are the most tempting to angels, such as acans, trachy, wellso, etc. and I don't have any of these which may be why I've been lucky so far.

 

[Fishnut]

I have a maxima clam that I would like to move to a bigger tank but have been afraid that my angels may see it as food. It seems that every time I move or add a coral to the tank the angels have to check it out and decide if it is edible or not. In my next (bigger & better) tank build I will have every type of coral that I like in the tank before adding angels. Maybe that will help.

 

[Mark Gray]

This is my emperor in my reef tank and it’s 2 year old

Wow love these guys sure miss mine. Had one a juvenile 25 years ago. Really unheard of then. Miss my big tanks too. Nice fish

 

[DTSinn]

my adult Annularis could care less about any corals, he lives for the algae sheets. my juvenile Asfur seems fine as well. I have mostly spa and softies, in a 180.

 

[Mark Gray]

Right now I have a Flame Angel in a 55 he fancy's one zoo, it stays closed and I have seen him pick at it, I have 7 others he does not bother. I am just getting my new build cycled, I really like angels but wanted to do mostly SPS this Thread has me thinking again.

 

[foxt]

I have a Bellus pair (+1 on genicanthus!), captive bred coral beauty, and a small Potters in a 220g mixed reef with SPS, acans, torches, hammers, zoas, etc. I only get polyp extension on SPS after the fish have settled in at night because they do take a nip once in a while, but they haven't killed anything yet. The Bellus don't touch anything, and the Potters is tiny and even though I see it pecking, it isn't doing any damage - maybe it will be a terror as it grows up. Of this small group of angels, it's the coral beauty that seems to have the most interest in pecking, on just about everything.

I also have seen more pecking at corals from the other fish (a mix of tangs, gobies, blennies, and wrasses), I think they are picking off algae and whatever pods or other things they find on the corals. That's probably contributing to the lack of pe during the day, but it also keeps the tank clean so I live with it. I don't feed heavily, and only twice a day, and that also probably keeps everyone grazing.

 

[Gamma]

My Coral Beauty is the best and never bothers anything... In my tank for 4 years now.

 

[DarthSimon]

You have some beautiful wrasses

Thank you!!! Have Super Male Lineatus, Flame, Lenardi, and few leopard including Choati...

 

[DarthSimon]

As crazy as it sounds I have tried an Emperator years ago... He womped on anything LPS and soft....

 

[saullman]

I have a juvi emperor angel that I've had in my tank for about 5 months now. When I started introducing some beginner LPS he started nipping on a few. Nothing expensive. I remember that he did make a meal of my GSP. I was very disappointed. He also nipped at 1 or 2 others, but now he seems ok with my corals. I have about 6 corals in my tank including zoas, a new hammer, ricordia, acan, etc.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Some of get lucky on occasion. Just got rd of a 1/2 black who was destroying my softies.
Then before it jumped because I forgot to close the canopy door, I had a Majestic which bothered nothing at all.