Contest of the Dwarf Angels: Which One to Choose?

[OrionN]

I have a 20 gallon long with a pair of clowns, do you think I could fit any of the listed angelfish in there or would that not be ideal?

20 gal is really too small for any of the dwarf angels. You should upgrade and get a 40 gal breeder whenever Petco have the 1 dollar per gal sale.

 

[senorsancho]

20 gal is really too small for any of the dwarf angels. You should upgrade and get a 40 gal breeder whenever Petco have the 1 dollar per gal sale.

Oh okay yeah I figured, I'll probably just stick with adding a firefish and just keep livestock to that! Really just focused on corals this time around, but yeah maybe one day I'll upgrade to the 40 breeder!! lol

 

[scardall]

The trailer account for 1.5 inches of the total length, but still the tank is only going to be 3 foot. These fish are more open water rather than darts in and out of rock like dwarf angels. I think they are completely unsuitable for a 3 foot tank.

Learning more here, cool. While small the bellus is ok, till a certain age and size, for the good reasons you have pointed out. Drarfs are not Reef safe ever. Now you can curb some individuals if feed well consistently. Noting that a fishes needs are based on a fishes potential max. size etc.. A 3' tank does restrict your choices. I have 2 of them. Note: I fish that grows to 15" can be housed in a 75g when only( 6" and less) for a period of time . side note: Never buy a panther grouper or ramora fish, because they grow like weeds. cheers and thanks for the additional date on the bellus angel

 

[Zionas]

Out of the dwarf angels, if you had to choose suitability based on the fact that my tank’s only 3 feet long, which ones should I rule out?

 

[tnyr5]

Are fish from Guam available there? Shephardi is as hardy as a Coral Beauty and as bright as a Flame.

 

[Zionas]

Guam? I am not sure. I’ll ask though. One of the LFS I am eyeing has said “all stuff from Indonesia can be difficult.” I think he’s referring to the collection methods.

 

[o2manyfish]

For a small tank the Pacific Pygmy would be the way to go. My experience Flamebacks are better behaved than flames. My record for a dwarf angel is over 15 years for a flame. In my 400g display tank I currently have a spawning pair of Goldflakes, a pair of goldens, a spawning trio of Flame Back, a pair of Yellow belly regals, a pair of spawning JOculators, a trio of spawning bellus and a flame angel.

 

[Zionas]

@o2manyfish Are all the 4” dwarf angels, in your opinion, too large and require too much space for my 3 foot tank? Over 15 years, that’s really impressive! Can all Centropyges live 10 or more years, even the Pygmy angels?

I’d love to hear from people who have kept dwarf angels / pygmy angels for 10+ years. What are your methods?

What do you think of the Multicolor and Herald’s angels in terms of difficulty?

Thanks. Weighing my options here before making a final decision.

 

[Zionas]

Chinese hobbyists and one of the LFS I’ve been communicating with have a somewhat different opinion.

The LFS owner thinks Coral Beauty and Rusty are not easy, he gets most of these two species from Indonesia.

I asked him which ones he think are the easy ones. He said: Atlantic Cherub, Pacific Pygmy, African Flameback, Multicolor, Herald’s, and Flame.

He said he gets these from Hawaii or Australia or the Caribbean. I was surprised to see him think the Flame’s easier than the Coral Beauty / Rusty because almost everyone complains how fragile they are. I’ve read the same complaints on Chinese forums.

Some Chinese hobbyists also think the Half Black is among the easier if not the easiest.

There’s agreement, both East and West, that clowns and damsels are super easy. Chinese hobbyists consider Hogfish, most Halichoeres wrasses, the Lined wrasses, most Fairy and Flasher wrasses to be easy. Both East and West agree that Hawkfish, Cardinals, are easy. Basslets-some complain they can’t keep the Royal Gramma but here it seems there’s pretty much a consensus that they’re hardy and they’re widely regarded as a beginner fish.

Butterflies, there’s general agreement when it comes to the easier species. Tangs-both sides agree that the Zebrasoma are among the easiest, especially the Yellow and Sailfin tangs. Chromis-somewhat divided. Chinese hobbyists also seem to mention the fighting when kept in groups, no one has mentioned uronema so far.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

I think thats a lot to do with collection distances, royal grammas havingto travel all the way to China on a long journey, but maybe only a couple of hours to US wholesalers, which can be applied either way to any of those fish

 

[OrionN]

What is easy in the US is not necessary easy in China, due to different origin and destination. Once shipping stress removed, most dwarf angels are easy. I would recommended one of the following species for your tank:
Atlantic Cherub, Pacific Pygmy, African Flameback, or Flame.

 

[o2manyfish]

Zionas, Fish are a strange thing. My father had a yellow tang in his 40g reef for 9 years and the fish never grew past 2".

For 30+ years in this hobby the interruptus was a dwarf angel. But in the last few years (ironically since the Fuji Nuclear plant accident) I have only seen wild Interruptus come in at 7"+ sizes.

I have seen wild Goldflake Angels that are 8-10" fish. My spawning pair I have had for 4 years and they are about 5" in size.

I have seen Flamebacks from the wild that are 3"+. But I have kept Flamebacks in my reef for 25+ years and never had one grown much past 2". And my spawning trio of flameback which are all around 2" are in the same 400g with an Achilles that has grown larger (and faster) than my 2 previous Achilles.

Size rules are really random with fish. I have a 9 year old Blue Hippo tang who is about 7.5". And yet when I go to public aquariums I see Blue Hippo tangs over 10" (and yet they always look horrible with bad HLLE).

Dave B

 

[scardall]

Zionas, Fish are a strange thing. My father had a yellow tang in his 40g reef for 9 years and the fish never grew past 2".

For 30+ years in this hobby the interruptus was a dwarf angel. But in the last few years (ironically since the Fuji Nuclear plant accident) I have only seen wild Interruptus come in at 7"+ sizes.

I have seen wild Goldflake Angels that are 8-10" fish. My spawning pair I have had for 4 years and they are about 5" in size.

I have seen Flamebacks from the wild that are 3"+. But I have kept Flamebacks in my reef for 25+ years and never had one grown much past 2". And my spawning trio of flameback which are all around 2" are in the same 400g with an Achilles that has grown larger (and faster) than my 2 previous Achilles.

Size rules are really random with fish. I have a 9 year old Blue Hippo tang who is about 7.5". And yet when I go to public aquariums I see Blue Hippo tangs over 10" (and yet they always look horrible with bad HLLE).

Dave B

My guess is public aquariums with HLLE are using cheap/dusty carbon in their filters. Poor fish. My 2 cents . Use high quality carbon,good diet and extra vitimens . HLLE not an issue. (+1 on your post)

 

[OrionN]

Good environment and good food will eliminate HLLE. My fish never have HLLE and the ones that come to me with it will resolve after some tine. I don't even use carbon.

 

[Sealion]

Lemonpeels are cool, if you don't have coral.

No joke, I had to trap my lemon peel and move it to the other tank.

 

[Sealion]

I like the Singapore angels. I have a rusty, Singapore, and lemon peel in the one tank.

 

[Zionas]

Surprise, surprise. I’m announcing the winner. The winner is: The Joculator.

 

[Bpp124987]

Consider the lemonpeel!

 

[Sump Crab]

true shepards angel

 

[Zionas]

Heard they are one of the harder species. As a beginner I have no confidence whatsoever keeping one of the harder species even though I won’t add a dwarf angel until at least a few months after my tank is up and running.