Reef safe large angels

[Gray999]

I have a 120 gallon reef tank, only lps and softies. Are there any "coral safe" large angels that have a decent chance on not munching on my coral?

 

[becca10]

I have a 120 gallon reef tank, only lps and softies. Are there any "coral safe" large angels that have a decent chance on not munching on my coral?

Possibly a Lamarck angel, but it will eventually out grow your tank.

 

[cryingrn]

Any angels are going to be hit or miss- my advice with things like these are to generally avoid getting them unless youre willing to accept losing corals. I have a goldflake in my SPS dominant tank (with some mushrooms, a micromussa, and a candy cane colony). It's smooth sailing so far, but Im willing to convert this tank to FOWLR if need be for him.

 

[edsbeaker]

^^^THIS
I think the only TRUE reef safe angel are ones from the Genicanthus family because of their diet,

If you want any other angel, even the dwarfs, be prepared to either re-home it or accept that it may start eating your corals.

I added a beautiful Red Sea Regal to my 170 gallon last year. A few days later I received a $250 order of zoas from World Wide Corals. Placed them in the tank, and went out for dinner with my husband. I came home just in time to catch him finishing off the last of them. All I could do was laugh. I had a mixed reef, and zoas were the only coral it ever bothered, so I just didn’t keep any.

I have heard that a lot of times an angel will only eat a certain category of corals, so it’s possible that you can work around the issue, but there’s no guarantees of that.

Was he worth it? Absolutely!!!

 

[Decamicron Labs Verified Sponsor]

To my knowledge, the only angelfish widely accepted to be reef safe are the Genicanthus. Like others have noted in this thread, they unfortunately require much larger aquariums.

 

[Terry Le]

With a 120 gallons I would pass on large angel

 

[RobertK]

https://shop.thebiotagroup.com/collections/angelfish/products/swallow-tail-angelfish

 

[fish_collector]

Of the large species, any of the Pomacanthus, Holacanthus and Chaetodontoplus angels will eat corals, and of course Pygoplites diacanthus will as well but according to real world reports it is dependent on the individual.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[Boreas_SA]

If you don't have fleshy LPS, you can even try a Majestic angel. No issues with mine with softies and zoas. Just on the zoas, read somewhere that small frags are way more likely to be attacked than bigger colonies, and tested this to be true. My big zoa colonies are not being touched by any of my angels.

 

[Piotrek]

I wanted to give Genicanthus a try. I'm on a hunt for a pair, but can't find them anywhere (I'm from Poland). I've also read a small school of Pyramid butterflyfish would be coral safe, but as well - nowhere to be found.

 

[Gray999]

^^^THIS
I think the only TRUE reef safe angel are ones from the Genicanthus family because of their diet,

If you want any other angel, even the dwarfs, be prepared to either re-home it or accept that it may start eating your corals.

I added a beautiful Red Sea Regal to my 170 gallon last year. A few days later I received a $250 order of zoas from World Wide Corals. Placed them in the tank, and went out for dinner with my husband. I came home just in time to catch him finishing off the last of them. All I could do was laugh. I had a mixed reef, and zoas were the only coral it ever bothered, so I just didn’t keep any.

I have heard that a lot of times an angel will only eat a certain category of corals, so it’s possible that you can work around the issue, but there’s no guarantees of that.

Was he worth it? Absolutely!!!

what do you think of a aquacultured juvenile majestic angel? I wouldn't plan on keeping him to adulthood, do you think it would lower the chance of picking at coral if I raise him with some?

 

[edsbeaker]

what do you think of a aquacultured juvenile majestic angel? I wouldn't plan on keeping him to adulthood, do you think it would lower the chance of picking at coral if I raise him with some?

Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to make a difference whether it is a wild caught or tank bred, or whether it is a Regal, Majestic, or anything else. All of these angels are hit or miss. It’s just part of their DNA.
Also, if you get a juvenile you may find it to be a model citizen at first. As they grow into adulthood their behavior can change and it can suddenly start to get more destructive to your corals.