Best & Worst "Reef Safe" Angelfish for Your Reef

Do you house a "Reef Safe" Angelfish in your reef tank?

  • YES and it's going good

    Votes: 247 42.3%
  • YES but it's not working out

    Votes: 15 2.6%
  • NO I have tried it in the past and it didn't work out

    Votes: 53 9.1%
  • NO I haven't tried yet

    Votes: 247 42.3%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 22 3.8%

  • Total voters
    584

revhtree

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Angelfish are so beautiful and so..........unpredictable! Just forget about housing a "non reef safe" angel in your reef tank. But what about those considered to be "reef safe" with caution? Let's talk about your experiences today!

In your experience, when it comes to being "reef safe"......

1. What's the BEST behaving reef safe angelfish?

2. What's the WORST behaving reef safe angelfish?


image via @3dees
DSC_4748_0613_edited-1.jpg
 

blaxsun

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I have two: a Coral Beauty and Midnight dwarf angel. The Coral beauty is 100% reef safe but the Midnight is only about 95% safe as it will eat any acans I put in the tank (I always thought I sucked at growing them, but now I suspect why).

Personally I don’t think either of these angels are the worst behaving (YMMV).
 

davidcalgary29

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I have a tibicen and a multicolor angelfish in my RSM250, and a coral beauty in my IM40. Both tanks have a variety of coral, but I haven't seen any of the angels eat them. I have seen them pick at the occasional polyp, but that's only been to snag some detritus or eat some type of arthropod off of them.

I have other fish (the filefish shall go UNNAMED) which are far more destructive to my LPS.
 

i cant think

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I have a Genecanthus melanospilos - I found an image of before he was in my reef and after so I may aswell show both however, I would LOVE a lamarks, shame I have no room because it’s filled with wrasse now
0A5684F9-66FF-4717-883B-AD79D9433388.jpeg

image.jpg

I would also love to bring his pattern back because at the moment it’s almost a random type of checkerboard at the top and bottom of him
 
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REEFTIDE

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I absolutely fell in LOVE with Bellus angels a while back.... the first two I got loved to eat corals

madgif.gif


I'm on my 3rd now and she's actually behaving. I will add, I got the last one considerably smaller than the other two so maybe it just didn't learn bad habits in the ocean
 

carbasaurus

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My regal angelfish is a model citizen and leaves all my coral alone. I have a wantanabe in QT right now so too soon to tell but she does not graze at all (open water feeder). She should be ok. My experience with dwarf angels (centropyge and paracentropyges) is mixed. Soft coral and most sps are fine. LPS are another story. Elegance corals are virtual salad bars to them and other fleshy corals do get grazed. Still would rather have the dwarf angels so I limit my LPS corals
 

carbasaurus

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Regal angels are awesome but can be difficult to acclimate and are somewhat shy. Mine looses all “arguments” with the venustus angel but is otherwise well settled in a large community tank that includes two tangs, a fox face and scribbled rabbit fish. He still hides a bit more than the others but I have lots of bolt holes and caves for shelter. When getting a new regal, A patient period of acclimation in QT is key IMO. I run my QT like a mini reef with live rock and some soft coral, plus Plenty of algae and little sponges to graze on while it gets used to captive care. My go to feed initially is clams on the half shell which usually works. My current regal likes reef caviar as well.
 

Griev

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I absolutely fell in LOVE with Bellus angels a while back.... the first two I got loved to eat corals

madgif.gif


I'm on my 3rd now and she's actually behaving. I will add, I got the last one considerably smaller than the other two so maybe it just didn't learn bad habits in the ocean

This is actually the first I've heard of Genicanthus angelfish not being 100% reef safe. What sort of corals did they go after? My Spotbreast Angelfish would pick at algae infrequently, but I never saw them going after any corals.
 

Dolphins18

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Flame: Success
Flameback: Fail
Coral Beauty: Success
Lamarcks: Fail, but does not do too much damage

It's been luck of the draw for me.
Sometimes they will only be interested in certain types of coral. Some like elegances, some like acans, some like everything under the sun lol
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.7%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 33 16.8%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 35 17.8%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 97 49.2%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.5%
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