Dwarf angels: who keeps them?

[Moe_K]

Please tell us about your experiences with dwarf (Centropuge) angels!

1) Which type have you kept?

2) How good a community fish was it?

3) What were its tank mates?

4) Any coral or clam nipping?

5) Bother any inverts?

6) What did it eat?

7)Any tips for keeping a dwarf angel?

Please post pics! We love pics.

 

[DavidGallant]

I had a bluefin angel from AG. It was about an inch and a half. It nipped at green algae in the tank, but the only corals that I had were mushrooms, and he left them alone. He lives with 2 true perc's, and they were both smaller than he. The clowns were very fascinated with him for the first few days, and played follow the leader. I fed cubes of shrimp brine(also from ag). He stayed at the bottom of the tank, and I think he only hit the surface once, to go after food.

 

[Moe_K]

I have kept a coral beauty in a fish only, and a bicolor in a fish only that became a reef tank.
Both fish were great, swimming out in the open all the time.
The ate almost anything, especially loved shredded table shrimp (frozen).
The bicolor was in teh tank when I first heard of feeding a tang roamine lettuce and nori. The bicolor liked these foods too.
Both fish were moderately aggressive, they held their own with various clowns and damsels. I don't remember ever seeing the Centropyges pick on another fish, however.
The bicolor was fine when mushrooms and zooanthids were in the tank.
As soon as I added a Nephthea (soft coral often called a "tree coral") to the tank, the bicolor thought it was a buffet. Kept picking on the coral so it would stay retracted.
That's when I traded in the bicolor.

 

[Chris L]

i have a bi-color ( the boss of the tank ) and a flame . i have everything from softys, lps, sps , and even clams now. the only thing they ever touched was a sponge that started growing ( which is one of their main diets in the reefs ) and have touched nothing since,



o ya i almost forgot the bi-color did nip a brain but it was only becua iot was almost dead. i have had healthy brains since and he does not touch them

 

[Moe_K]

Only decent pic I have of my bicolor:

 

[Moe_K]

Here's the bicolor cruising the tank not bothering the coral. This is the week before I got the Nephthea, I think.

 

[fanaglethebagle]

My favorite baby was my coral beauty who passed away unscathed, maybe it was the lack of sponge in the diet?
The other was a cherub the ate xenia

 

[Chris L]

heres a couple of my two guys

 

[penguinsix]

I currently have a cherub, that is eating flake. He is great with my clowns, and hasn't gone after any inverts. He hasn't touched my clams, but I think he may be picking at my monti spongodes. I've only had him a week and he is doing great.

 

[Scott G]

I have a coral beauty, nicest member of my tank, never harmed a thing.

 

[Greg Hiller]

I currently have a pair of goldens in my 400 G system. In the 400 G system with lots of other fish I don't see them too much as they like to hide in the rockwork. The smaller of the two actually takes fair amount of tissue off of Acropora. Fortunately never does too much damage on any one colony. The male doesn't seem to bother the corals. I've heard that flames will mate in tanks, but my goldens have yet to do any mating stuff out in the open where I could see. They do hang out together a lot. Before I set up the 400 G system I had the male in a 65 gallon tank with no other large fish. In that tank it was initially shy, but eventually would come out in the open all the time. Goldens can be really tricky to get to eat initially. That was very true for the male, though less so for the female, in my case.

 

[mloebl]

I have a Potter's (going on several months now) that I got from a fellow member who was leaving the hobby. It leaves other fish alone and typically grazes on algae on the glass/rocks all day. I haven't seen him nip any corals (sps or lps) at this point, and hasn't touched my clam yet either. It coexists with a cleaner shrimp that it will go to it's cleaning station to be preened. It will eat just about anything I throw in the tank... shrimp, cyclopeeze, sweetwater, etc.

So far I've been pretty lucky and he's been a model citizen.

-Mike

 

[SaltCreep]

I had this Flame for a couple of years now. Doesn't pick at corals....but he is kind of nasty to smaller fish.

If a smaller fish gets close to him, he will nip and chase it..... but not to the point of cornering and killing them (yet).

I wanted a Potters....but they didn't do well in my tank at all.

 

[RichConley]

I have a Potter's (going on several months now) that I got from a fellow member who was leaving the hobby. It leaves other fish alone and typically grazes on algae on the glass/rocks all day. I haven't seen him nip any corals (sps or lps) at this point, and hasn't touched my clam yet either. It coexists with a cleaner shrimp that it will go to it's cleaning station to be preened. It will eat just about anything I throw in the tank... shrimp, cyclopeeze, sweetwater, etc.

So far I've been pretty lucky and he's been a model citizen.

-Mike

Pretty much the same experience with my Potters.


SaltCreep, the issue with potters is they are very tough to get to eat (like goldens). If there isnt plenty of food to graze on while you get them to take frozen, they die.

 

[aweeks95]

i have my coral beauty in my fish only set-up....i couldn't tell you how he is with any type of coral, but he is fine with all the other things in the tank....shrimp, snails, and crabs alike!!! look at signature for his buddies

 

[delta]

Bellus angels are model citizens, only downside is there price tag.
IIRC they are herbivores?
I voted other

 

[reefsmurf]

Please tell us about your experiences with dwarf (Centropuge) angels!

1) Which type have you kept?
Flame and bicolor.

2) How good a community fish was it?
Excellent towards everyone except other dwarfs.

3) What were its tank mates?
Clown, hawfish, bluegreen chromis, pipefish

4) Any coral or clam nipping?
Nope ( I didn't have any clams)

5) Bother any inverts?
Nope

6) What did it eat?
This one is brutal.. most of them won't eat at all due to the way they are caught with cyanide poisoning. You might get lucky tempting it with live brine to temp them. It's impossible to really know how they were treated.. most of them tend not to feed after being transported for a while too. Best bet is to spend a little more and get one from a good LFS which has kept it in captivity for a while and see it eat in the store. One it has started eating, it will eat like a pig. It loves brine shrimp like crazy (who doesn't?)

7)Any tips for keeping a dwarf angel?
Once you get one that is healthy they are really hardy fish. I lost my bicolor which totally disappeared one day and I never found it.. I suspect due to a tank mishap, and after that I decided not to try again until I had a realy good setup for it. I was really bummed.

Both flames and bicolors are notoriously in bad health at the fish stores.
Get them young, get them used to being fed, and i think they won't bother your corals. I had LPS and SPS.. of course, most people say it's a crapshoot, and if you are going to own these fish, I think you should only do it if you intend to own a reef to watch these amazing creatures, and the corals are a nice add-on. They need alot of nooks and cranies to hide in, and prefer large tanks even for the small cherub/pygmy angels. There's alot of speculation that alot of flames spontaneusly die after being in your tank for many months, due to long term cyanide effects in their system. If there's any way you can verify yours is net caught.. then GRAB IT. (LiveAquaria used to make such claims)

 

[merk1_99]

same

Like Mike and rich same experience. I wouldn't add this fish if the rock isn't mature and you have a lot of fish who pick off the rock.

I have a Potter's (going on several months now) that I got from a fellow member who was leaving the hobby. It leaves other fish alone and typically grazes on algae on the glass/rocks all day. I haven't seen him nip any corals (sps or lps) at this point, and hasn't touched my clam yet either. It coexists with a cleaner shrimp that it will go to it's cleaning station to be preened. It will eat just about anything I throw in the tank... shrimp, cyclopeeze, sweetwater, etc.

So far I've been pretty lucky and he's been a model citizen.

-Mike

 

[Moe_K]

Bump for new experiences!

 

[jtma508]

Flame Angel in a 90gal. No bad habits to note. He can be territorial to new tank additions for the first day or so but then most of the fish are that way. He has a unique habit of getting 'groomed' by my cleaner shrimp at the same time every day. He eats just about anything. Loves frozen mysis and brine shrimp. I hang romaine leaves with some nori from a seaweed clip every day. The flame along with the yellow tang and Heniochus pick at it all day long. It's a social kinda thing. The community salad bar.