Coral Beauty in a reef tank?

jennmac415 · #1 01/03/2008, 11:04 PM

I posted this in the reef fish forum but thought I might get more responses here...

I think coral beauty dwarf angels are beautiful... but I know being a dwarf angel they may nip at corals. What are your experiences, good or bad, with a coral beauty in a reef tank???

Dack77 · #2 01/03/2008, 11:18 PM

Hit and miss. I have had 2, one was fine, the other nipped at stuff. Personally I am fine with putting it in the tank just to see what happens. It might take work to get it out, but with a little patience at getting it out its not too bad. Essentially you are playing the odds and it can be worth while.

zotzer · #3 01/03/2008, 11:20 PM

I keep my potter's (another pygmy) well-fed so that he hopefully never gets a taste for the stuff.

So far, so good!
Tracy

Suave · #4 01/03/2008, 11:35 PM

I have had my coral beauty in our tank for over a year and it has done great so far.
Beautiful fish.

jennmac415 · #5 01/03/2008, 11:37 PM

do you think the trick is to keep it well-fed?

Suave · #6 01/03/2008, 11:43 PM

I usually feed my tank once, sometimes twice a day.
I occationally forget to feed and I havent had any problems yet.

jennmac415 · #7 01/03/2008, 11:49 PM

How about a cherub angel... are they more reef safe?

KniLLifer · #8 01/03/2008, 11:52 PM

I have a CB in my tank and it tends to pick only the SPS once in a while when it’s hungry. It is not a constant persistent picker and it has not done any damage to any of my SPS and it also has not affected my Poly Extension which is what generally happens when you have a persistent picker in the tank. My Bi-Color Blennies believe it or not, was responsible for killing a few of my SPS and I never had any poly extension during the day when he was in the tank. I say try it, should be fine, but watch and see how your corals react over a period of time.

reefworm · #9 01/04/2008, 12:47 PM

killed an open brain after 6-8 months of model behavior. its a crap shoot. think about how hard it would be to get it out if you need to

eskymick · #10 01/04/2008, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jennmac415
How about a cherub angel... are they more reef safe?

I've been trying to do some research on the reef "safety" of the Cherub and it's cousins (Flamebacks). The general consensus is that they are the most "reefsafe" of the pygmys, but nothing is 100%.

In all cases, I think keeping your angel well fed and healthy increases the odds toward being "safe".

reptilemanmark · #11 01/04/2008, 01:06 PM

I have had mine since the start of my tank. Almost a year never messed with any corals! Very hardy too he has been through 1 major tank crash. (self in flicked) Great eater also!

lshark21 · #12 01/04/2008, 01:24 PM

I'm on my second coral beauty with no problems. I've also had two flame angles with no problems. IMO keeping them well fed will go a long way to keeping them off of your corals.

mrongi1 · #13 01/04/2008, 01:29 PM

Pygmy angels are all lips. They dont really do any damage when they nip. But it all depends on the size of tank, if tank is large enough shouldn't be a problem cause the nips will be spread out. In a smaller tank however, the nips may be concentrated to specific corals. I never had a problem with mine in a 30g tank, and I have LPS, SPS, and softies.

xraydoc · #14 01/04/2008, 01:35 PM

I had a coral beauty in my last tank and she was mostly good, but every now and then would nibble on some coral.

vessxpress1 · #15 01/04/2008, 02:01 PM

I love my CB. I like seeing it swim in and out of the rockwork. A little bashful, but otherwise friendly. Shares my 38 gal. with my Maroon clown pair which basically stick to their BTAs, and a purple pseudochromis. It squables with the pseuod from time to time, especially around meal time. Sometimes I think the CB gets bit but it isn't constant fighting or anything.

I've got mainly LPS, some zoos, some softies and a couple monti caps. I haven't noticed it do any damage to anything. It nips at everything but mainly just algae on the rocks and pumps. I have seen it nip my kenya tree from time to time but it doesn't do any damage to it. Never seen it nip any other coral. Like everyone's said, probably hit or miss with them.

I feed once a day but feed them well with many types of foods rotated daily, from flake to frozen to pellet and I occasionally use two different vitamin supplements. Don't know if it helps but it certainly can't hurt.
Fish eat a lot of different things on a reef to acquire all the nutrients they need. So I try to provide them everything with as much as possible so they stay healthy and hopefully my PPEs don't end up on the menu.

gjm258 · #16 01/04/2008, 04:12 PM

I've been reading posts on angels for 3 years now and I finally decided it was worth the risk. I got a coral beauty 2 weeks ago, it's still in QT. I put a couple of polyp rocks in with it to see what would happen and it hasn't touched them yet.

eskymick · #17 01/04/2008, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vessxpress1
I love my CB. I like seeing it swim in and out of the rockwork. A little bashful, but otherwise friendly .....

I think that's the charm of angels. They spend all day "acting naturally". Many captive fish forget their natural "hunting" instincts and "beg" for food at the top of the water column.

crimson0152 · #18 01/04/2008, 04:55 PM

I had a coral beauty that terrorized my corals. I finally had to pull out all of my LR to catch the little bastard. My pygmy flame angel didn't seen to be harming the corals, but whe it died, all of the corals started looking better almost immediately. Coincidence? I think not. I now refuse to put another angel of any kind in my tank. Sure, its hit or miss, but when they miss, its a mess getting them out.