Give me your experience with flame angels

[Anonymous]

Interested in your first hand experience with these fish, from the standpoint of hardiness. It will be going in to a well established (6+ years) 120 FOWLR. Two other chief tankmates are a juvi majestic angel and a black back butterfly. I've kept centropyges with larger angels before and no major problems. I've always steered clear of flames thinking they had a dubious reputation for being kind of fragile. There is well over 100 lbs of rock in the tank so lots of shelter, etc..
TIA.

 

[ufotofu]

I used to work at a LFS and some of the specimens we would get in would thrive and others would wither and die within a week. A lot of that depends on how the fish is caught in the first place. They usually ship well if packaged and shipped properly. This article below will tell you a lot about how to select a Flame. My advice is to find a really nice one and really study the fish before you buy it. You might see if you can find one locally and then put a down payment on it and watch it for a couple of days b/c they aren't cheap - about $80 for a 2-3" specimen at my LFSs. Be sure to feed a varied diet when you do find one - I used to alternate mysids, Prime Reef (Ocean Nutrition) and live brine. I no londer have mine (that was about 15 years ago). Main thing is to find one that's been caught w/o using cyanide, etc. and acclimate it properly. See the following article and Good Luck!

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/profiles/3_7_en.html

 

[Mike612]

Flame Angels that do thrive in captivity tend to go a day or two without food. They often refuse food until they feel secure and have settled into their new homes. That was my experience anyways. Also, they are really aggressive towards new fish. You will have to be careful if you plan on adding any fish to the tank after the Flame Angel.

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

if they're decompressed properly when collected, and not kept in a coppered system, they're a great and hardy (though intially shy) little fish.

they spook easily during the first few days upon arrival into the country, and i'd recommend a cover during the first few weeks, just in case

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds encouraging and I may pick one up fairly soon.

 

[Anonymous]

It mostly comes down to where it was collected, and by extension the method by which it was collected. How it was treated afterword obviously comes into play as Vitz said.

Make sure you quarantine it.

 

[Anonymous]

Make sure you quarantine it.

All of my fish undergo a 4 week quarantine period in a 40 breeder. Been doing this for years. 8)