Coral eating tendencies in dwarf angel observations

[uhgster1]

I was going through some threads concerning dwarf angels, specifically flame angels, eating corals and a thought occurred to me. Is the tendency to eat corals more prevalent in very young fish or adults? I’ve own two personally and known of several others, both of my fish were purchased as very young specimens and I never had any coral nipping issues. My friends with nippers purchased theirs as adults. Is it possible that coral nipping is a learned behavior, curbed in young well fed aquarium raised fish? Or is it a regional thing, where supposedly the “redder” fish tend to be more likely to eat corals?

I think there’s enough information on just this forum gathered to make some educated observations.

 

[tjohnson3]

It’s been my experience, that the “taste” develops as the fish gets older… the juveniles are more curious, and will “nip” to start figuring out what they like and don’t like. Once they figure it out, it’s lunch time lol But it really depends on the fish… they have different personalities and habits. Some will go their entire lives without touching a coral, some will now everything in their path

 

[Saltyanimals]

I had my last for almost 5 yrs. never nipped. New one was purchased about 2 inch and I see him occasionally nip at sps. However it’s only a couple corals and not enough to cause any issues yet. I’m okay as long as it leaves the meatier lps alone. All depends on the personality of the fish. I considered tested its appetite while in QT, but stopped myself when I considered that may be training it to eat sps. Ymmv.

 

[jtf74]

Have a fully grown flame purchased from fellow reefer so not sure what size it was when they bought it. Have no trouble with that large flame, my medium bicolor, or my cbb for that matter. Mine are very well fed and fat so I think that helps.