Reef Safe (Kinda) Angelfish: What are your favorites & how did they do long term?

Have you ever had a Angelfish in your reef tank?

  • Yes and it was a model citizen (tell us which one)

    Votes: 210 34.1%
  • Yes but it did nip from time to time

    Votes: 90 14.6%
  • Yes but I had to remove it because it went rogue

    Votes: 36 5.9%
  • No but I would like to try one

    Votes: 177 28.8%
  • No and not interested

    Votes: 83 13.5%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 19 3.1%

  • Total voters
    615

Mr_Knightley

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My favorite angels are tied between Rusty, Singapore and Potters, I've never had either but it's looking like Potters are a no-go now that Hawaii banned collection. A good ol' fashioned Coral Beauty is another favorite, once again never owned one.
The one angelfish I did own barely counts, it was a tiny Rusty angel that I got several months ago. After acclimating, I but her in a breeder box for a few days to my tangs could see her, and afterwards introduced her to the tank. But the second she plopped out of the net, my Orangline tang went berserk on it and mutilated it completely. It was shocking since he paid no heed to the angel until I added her in, and he didn't react at all when I added two more tangs after the event. He didn't even fight with my most recent addition, a Coraline Rabbitfish. It's the weirdest thing lol.

I may try to find another tiny rusty some day, if they are ever captive bred I would probably get one of those. But at this point, I have so much LPS that I may not want to risk it.
 

Floyd-

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My Coral Beauty nips a tiny bit. I had a NOX angel and that one was very aggressive towards my corals so he had to go.
None of my fish eat nori, I try from time to time but they all ignore it.
 

lefkonj

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Just removed my regal. He always picked at zoas, so I just grew not to care. As he grew he began to pick at anything and everything.
 

R33fDaddy

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Any fish will nip or eat coral. My Blue Hippo tang and Clownfish have proven this to me time and time again lol
 

vetteguy53081

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1. What is your favorite "mostly reef safe" angelfish?

fir me: flame angel and surprisingly coral beauty angel

2. What "mostly reef safe" angelfish have you had that went rogue?
None.
My nightmares were passer angel

3. What are some tips for keeping a "mostly reef safe" angelfish from eating your coral?

Keep them fed and in a heavily stocked tank where their concern is more with neighbors than coral
 

14 foot reef

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These 3 are my favorite and have done spectacular - Juvenile French Angel - Emporer Angel ( Was a nickel size juvenile ) And my Prize Holo Holo Angel
IMG_0358.JPEG
IMG_0361.JPEG IMG_0365.JPEG
 
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jaganshi066

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I love dwarf angels, probably my favorite fishes. They are spunky without being aggressive and extremely active.

I’ve had numerous Centropyge over the years and most have not bothered corals at all. Below is a list of the ones I’ve kept and how they’ve done. These were kept with LPS/SPS dominant tanks, with a few zoas:

  • 3 coral beauties (1 picked at a monti occasionally)
  • 3 lemonpeel (1 picked nipped at some LPS randomly)
  • 2 flame (no issues)
  • 2 potters (no issues)
  • 1 Multicolor (TBD, new setup)
So my experience with dwarf angels, not including the new Multicolor, 20% nipped at corals. That’s probably a high number for some people but a risk I’m willing to take for my favorite fish.
I have a few flamebacks and one multicolor and they have never touched any of my corals. Ive had them for more than a year now.
 

Tcook

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Cherub angel in my 20 doesn't pick at anything: mushrooms, acans, zoas, hammers. I have a Bellus in my DT and she doesn't look at any coral. Have a Watanabe on the way if FedEx doesn't murder it.
 

Ray23

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Flame angle. No problem until now. Have had many, many problems but the flame angle hasn't been one of them :cool:
 

Susan Edwards

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coral beauty and no nipping that I've seen. I'm going to chance a flame angel. Might try one in the current system as a test as there are only softies. And if all good, xfer to the new build. Love those 2 fish
 

JAKos

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I had a coral beauty who never nipped anything, unfortunately i had to git rid of him after a few years as he became a bully to my other fish.
 

Greybeard

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Genicanthus angels are, in more than my opinion, reef safe. At least as far as corals and sessile invertebrates go, anyway. I've seen some that are fairly aggressive towards other fishes...


I have a female Spotbreast and a female Lamark's angel, both juveniles. Had them for several years now. They're growing, but not particularly fast. My Scopus tang is certainly outgrowing them, as is my foxface. No aggressiveness, at least so far. That's usually more of a problem for adult males.

No problems with corals. Even fan worms, sponges, etc. They're planktivores. I've had many Genicanthus angels over the years, and none have shown any interest in corals.

Ok, so perhaps they don't have the gaudy colors of some of the other angels. To my eye, they're every bit as beautiful, if a bit more subtle.
 

davidcalgary29

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Any fish will nip or eat coral. My Blue Hippo tang and Clownfish have proven this to me time and time again lol
Let's extend that thought to "anything live in a reef tank". I haven't noticed my keyhole and multicolor angels nip at anything in my RSM250. However, I flat-out caught my new aiptasia-eating filefish lunching on clove polyps and acans (while ignoring the aiptasia) And my sexy shrimp started to attack the stylophora, of all things, so I had to move 'em to another tank.
 

DeniseAndy

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Only ones I have ever kept are the spotbreast (Genicanthus melanospilos). I love them and currently have a pair. Never bother anything except like to chase other fish sometimes. Who does not like a little game of tag every now and then. :)
 

srobertb

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I always wondered if the trick was to introduce the fish after all the corals are in? I once had a wrasse that did wrasse things. He never bothered my sexy shrimp. I purchased some more and dropped them in the tank. The wrasse unceremoniously at $100 in shrimp in like 30 seconds. He never bothered or started bothering the ones in the tank. I wonder if just like my dog thinks anything I put in her bowl is food, if fish think the same.
 

carbasaurus

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Most of my angels nip to varying degree. LPS corals are generally the most vulnerable relative to SPS and softies. Elegance corals are virtually salad bars to them and impossible for me to keep. Scolymia and Acans seem to suffer as well and don’t last. Torches, Hammers, Duncan’s, alveopora, goniopora fare pretty well. Parascolymia and lobos seem ok as well. I have a lemonpeel centropyge and eibli centropyge in my 65 soft coral tank (no problems) I have multi bar and venustus paracentropyges plus a Regal Angel in my 200 SPS. The multi bar and venustus are general grazers and nip at everything including sps but do not seem to do much damage. The regal is the most well behaved of the bunch
 

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Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 37 54.4%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 37 54.4%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 15 22.1%
  • None.

    Votes: 15 22.1%
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    Votes: 6 8.8%
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