dwarf angel reef safe?

[richie822]

was planning on getting an angelfish this weekend. I have a reef setup up with soft corals-leathers , lps-bubble, brian, fungia, frogspawn zooanthids, and sponges....just wondering what dwarf angel i shuold get---was debating over flame, lemonpeel, potter's, or maybe coral beauty...was wonderign what you thuoght was the most reef safe out of these angels? do you have any stories that i shuold here about? anybody have these fish do fine in a reef setup? i know that it varies on personality and stuff but i was wondering which wuold i have my best chance in...... thanks

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I do not consider coral beautys reef safe. Have had 3, and 2 of them developed a taste for softies. Get a pygmy Cherub

 

[Brenden]

I would say avoid the CB. I have 1 or 2 corals in my tank and the flame that has not bothered anything. As you stated though, nothing is guaranteed.

 

[dough01]

I had a Potter's Angel and it didn't bother anything. It also did wonders on the algae growing my my tank.

 

[SueT]

most of these centropyge angels will develope a taste for corals. I've had over the years a flame, coral beauty, cherub, false lemonpeel, rusty, ebili, half black, Potters and the potters was the only one that never bothered anything in my reef. I had clams and sps corals. If your wanting a reef safe angel you might consider the genus genicanthus as they are reef safe and very easy to keep. Now I have a G. semifasciatus and she is a beauty and now interested in corals at all. Plus she keeps my powder blue in line. LOL.

 

[bergzy]

lemonpeel will almost for sure munch down on your corals.

i saw the most sorry reef display in a city public aquarium, oh say 12 or 13 years ago, that appeared absolutely decimated and barren.

i wont say which one to save embarrassment but it looked like a barren riverbed instead of a reef display. they even had pics proudly posted of their equipment room around the display...needless to say, even for that time period...was a demonstration of a large budget with no knowledge of what to do...

anyway, back to the display...amid this barren live rock, i see a fish pop out! guess what fish? yep, a lemon peel angel!

i just looked at it in horror at it being in a 'reef' tank. i then heard an employee standing next to me (noticing me looking at the fish intensely) and said 'yeah, we are trying to get that guy out'. of course, i felt like saying 'man, he shouldnt have been put in there to start with!'

as for pygmy angels in a reef tank?

they are definitely hit and miss.

i have a multicolor in my sps with some lps. she nipped all my clams to death (one being an 8" maxima) and likes to take a bite out of my scoly's every so often...other than that, she doesnt do much else. but, like i said...every angel is different.

 

[SueT]

lemonpeels are notorious coral nippers. My old false lemonpeel was good, but I was so watchful to make sure it didn't even start.

A multicolor, I absolutely love those pygmy's. Got any pics??

 

[illcssd]

I love wantanabe angels. I have a pair in 3 of my tanks and i love them. Never bothered a thing either.

 

[SueT]

I love wantanabe angels. I have a pair in 3 of my tanks and i love them. Never bothered a thing either.

I love wantanabe angels too. I wish I still had my 180g I'd have one or maybe a pair. They are so gorgeous. My semifasciatus is very cool. Bright blue rings around her eyes. Lyretail, bright yellow ling right down her fin. I don't know why the genicanthus angels are not more popular. They are an angel and for reef safe you can't get any safer.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I have owned 4 pygmy cherub angels in softy tanks, never a problem. Had a flame that was fine, but they are also hit and miss. My last CB was reef safe for 5 years until I added some Xenia. It tasted it and like it, Moved on to kenya, from there zoas and finally leathers, Bye bye CB!

 

[IAP Brian]

Japanese Swallowtail, Lyretails ( several different strip patters and names), Lamarck and Watanabe are the only angels I would call "Reef Safe". All the dwarf angels in the centropyge family have hit and miss records to them.

I have a female Japanese swallowtail, and 2 female Lamarck angels. They get along fine and have never bothered SPS, LPS, softies or clams. (I am debating on which male I want to throw in with them- I'm thinking a Masked Swallowtail Angel or a Lamarck, but all the males are hard to get.)

http://www.marinecenter.com/fish/

This site has really nice pics of the angels and some good info (some of their prices are the worst I have seen however.)

 

[bergzy]

i thought it would be fun to show the multi in a reef environment rather than just an isolated fish only shot!

 

[SueT]

OMG, these fish are so gorgeous. Nice shot of it in the reef environment!!

 

[TWallace]

My flame angel only bothers Christmas Tree worms and the porites coral they live in. Now the worms only come out at night. I've had him about 9 months. One day he started pecking at all 3 of my crocea clams and kept at it all day long. I thought for sure he'd have to go. But the next day he left them alone and hasn't touched them since. That one day was about 5 months ago now. I think keeping them well fed helps in preventing them from eating things you don't want them to eat.