Angelfish dilemma

[Mike&Pam]

I've been told that flame and bicolor angels are ok in a reef system. By "ok," I mean that the fish does not eat or nibble at the corals, therefore allowing the coral to remain open (just to be clear). Has anyone had any success, or, on the other hand, any problems? I've been looking into these angels now (for my 90 gal reef tank) since I've had such bad luck with tangs (they tend to be ick and every other disease magnets for me). If these angels are just risky, can anyone give me advice on what to do? Thank you.

Mike

 

[reefworm]

Mike&Pam,
Sorry to say that any angel is a risk in a reef tank. Some have had angels that gave no problem, others one of the same species that was no end of trouble. There is no way to tell ahead of time which will and which will not - it appears to be quite random even within a species. Some, like my coral beauty will behave themselves for many months, and then take to nipping [it singled out my open brain - fortunately not any others...........yet

] You will be told that this or that angel type is "reef safe." Don't believe it. Although some anecdotal evidence points to some being better than others, no angel should be considered safe. Any one of them is capable of doing damage. Then try catching it without tearing down the reef!

They're beautiful, but you pays your money and you takes your chances. Sorry to be negative about it - just want you to walk in with your eyes open.

regards,
rw

 

[ging]

I got a flame angel as a surprise from my little sis when I was out of town. I now call him Satan.

He does get nippy and impossible to catch unless I want to disassemble the tank. I do feed him lots and it seems to do the trick, but if I had a choice I would not have purchased him. He has never really done any harm, but just seems to make the tank grouchy when he gets in one of his "moods"

ging

 

[Mike&Pam]

That's what I figured. Thanks very much. I was told by two stores that they were perfectly fine since they were dwarf angels. I figured that was not true considering it doesn't matter how big they are, as long as they have mouths! Good thing I'm a member of this board and checked. I had a feeling it wasn't a good idea. I've read that they are fine, just risky. Well, that's a risk that may not be worth taking! Thanks again. They are great looking fish. I'll just have to save them for a fish only tank someday! By the way, I'm petrified to purchase tangs again. Any advice on how to approach it for when the time comes? I'd even just have one and that's it, but it would be the last fish I'd add and not for a long time. I will always like either the naso or the regal blue or both. Yellows and purples are nice too, but I don't trust them, although I've never owned them. If you have any advice, please let me know. Thanks again!!


Mike

 

[naesco]

Tangs
Consider also a small sailfin if you like them but choose a small fish.
Take time to buy a tang. It must have a full belly no thining in that area. No tears, spots, discolouration; clear alert eyes.
You can tell the healthy ones. They are active and alert to you (almost smiling)all right I am going to far.
Than make sure that it is eating robustly when you ask the LFS to throw some food at it.
If you have all of the above than you know you have a healthy tang. If not PASS. You will eventually find a healthy one.
When you bring him home put it in your QT tank.
If you do not have a QT tank or choose not to QT the tang, after 20 minutes carefully transfer the fish to your tank with the lights off. Than don't bug it by checking to see what he is doing as you are just stressing him further.
Keep the lights off for a day or two until you see from a distance that it is settled.
Feed it garlic soaked nori for 10 days and you are home free.
Tangs like current so put a power head near the top so he can swim against it.
I keep my salinity at 1.026.
I would not recommend a bi-colour angel as they don't seem to survive well in our tanks although I am sure many do.

 

[phishy4]

Hey dude.
That is the best tang advice in the world. I copied and pasted that message into a file I have called Fish Knowledge.
I have tried 2 tangs. The first was a powderblue I loved this fish and he was heatlthy for 2 months...then I did a waterchange he got ich, he died ,infected the whole tank and I lost $300 worth of fish.
Then a hippo who got ich the 3rd day but luckily I caught him put him into a qt tank but he died. If I was to ever try again, and I will in a year or 2 when I learn much more
I will follow your post like the gospel.
I also think you should only get a tang after you have had your tank for a year or 2 and your hands are not in the tank anymore. For the first 6 months I was constantly rearranging rock and adding coral and fish.

 

[phishy4]

Originally posted by phishy4:
That is the best tang advice in the world.
Im sorry this is an angel post. I just think Tangs are sweeter because they get bigger than dwarf angels and they are so active.
Also you rarely hear of a tang picking at coral.

 

[jdeets]

Mike&Pam--do you have any fish in the tank now or is it fishless? If you don't have any fish at the moment, I'd recommend that you wait until at least 2 months since the last fish was in the tank to add anything. If you've had ich, it will still be in there unless the tank goes fallow of fish for about 2 months. If you don't have any fish, this is a perfect opportunity to be patient and let the ich die off completely before putting anything else in there.

If you do have fish in there now, then you can disregard the foregoing!

 

[davelin315]

I've always had great success with centryopyge angels in my reef, and I have had friends who have put juvenile imperators in their tanks with no problems (along with puffers, cowfish, boxfish, etc. etc.) and even saw a post on this bb about someone putting xenia in their trigger tank! But, to each his own. You could get lucky, or you could end up with a very healthy angel. As far as tangs are concerned, I personally like the hepatus/pacific blue the best. They don't seem to do any harm to anyone, and are beautiful fish to boot. They will, however, come down with something in your tank, but if you've got a good system running, it will adjust and become healthy again. Don't make the mistake I made a few weeks ago, though. I purchased a clown/linneatus tang and was told what a great addition to my reef he'd be. He looks great in there, but he pecks at rocks and gets skinnier every day. Today I was told (not sure the veracity, but it seems to be pretty on target to me) that they are not herbivorous (or not as primarily herbivorous as most tangs are) and that they mainly feed on zooplankton, so here I am dumping live brine shrimp into my reef to entice him to eat and fatten up so I can catch him and give him a proper home.

As far as the naso, I would avoid that, because they seem to be more open water swimmers going around the reef than sliding in and out of nooks and crannies like other species.