Is Dwarf Flame Angel safe for reef tank?

[Nanni]

I understand that there is a 50/50 chance that a Flame Angel may nip at your corals. What experience have you guys had with this? Do you recommend or not recommend putting a Flame Angel into a tank that has corals in it? My tank is 90 gallons. Thanks

 

[bboyin4lyf]

its not 50/50 its more like a 5 % chance that it will and a 95 % that it wont. i recently was in the same predicament as i desired a coral beauty angel for my 75 and they have ruffle the same temperment as the flame angel. mine hasnt gone near a coral yet and is the spectacle of my tank.
i say go for it because the colours and behavior of the fish are certainly worth the risk :lol: i cant verify this but "apparently" if caught as juvienles the have less chance of nipping behavior.
good luck

 

[Bamm Bamm]

There usually OK.. I had a bicolor that at every coral it could get ahold of. I've had several Coral Beauty's and my ex currently has one in her reef with no issues. I have a Potters Angel in my tank now and it only eats Xenia.. hasn't messed with anything else except it helps keep the caulerpa in control

 

[Cruiznblue]

I think flame angels are one of the worst dwarf angels to go with.

 

[Anonymous]

its not 50/50 its more like a 5 % chance that it will and a 95 % that it wont.

How many flame angels have you set up in reef tanks to make this statement? What is your marine fish keeping experience in this area? Is this empirical data speaking? Flames are a 50/50'ish risk, one need only do a search either here or on RC to find this out. There are MANY posts about flame angels causing problems and having to be removed.
I would apply your statistic to C. argi, or C. acanthops.

Jim

 

[ChaoticReefer]

Actually, 50/50 does sound way too high. Out of all the people I know that have tried them only two them went after corals. I have had three none of them have attacked corals. They do their random nibbling that doesn't hurt anything, but not pure out attack. And I think most attacks are on clams mantles not corals from the stories I have heard.

 

[Unarce]

It's difficult to estimate a percentage. Safe to say, it's hit or miss. The couple I've had always went after my clams and never touched my SPS.

 

[Anonymous]

It's difficult to estimate a percentage. Safe to say, it's hit or miss. The couple I've had always went after my clams and never touched my SPS.

Yeah, but not many angels mess with SPS corals. If all you kept were SPS, you could keep just about any angel. 8)

Actually, 50/50 does sound way too high. Out of all the people I know that have tried them only two them went after corals. I have had three none of them have attacked corals. They do their random nibbling that doesn't hurt anything, but not pure out attack. And I think most attacks are on clams mantles not corals from the stories I have heard.

It may be a tad high, tough to say really. However I've set enough of them up, talked to enough people and read enough posts here and elswhere to feel confident saying they are not one of the better risks to take if you keep clams, open brains, etc. Again, keep SPS corals and a whole range of fish candidates opens up. :wink:

Jim

 

[Unarce]

Yeah, unfortunately I've never had a system without a clam.

I almost bought a Golden Pygmy over the weekend, but just couldn't take the risk.

 

[rocknut]

I have had a flame in my tank with sps and clams for about a year now without any problems. I do make sure that he is never too hungry however...

 

[Anonymous]

Don't add any centropyge angel to your tank unless you understand you may have to catch it to save your corals.

I added two flame angels to a reef tank. One of them started munching on SPS immediatly, and funny, it was only certain Acroporas and my M. digitata, but not others. The other one eventually started that too, I believe she learned by watching the other but who knows? Anyway, I had to catch them both, and they both behave nicely now in a softy tank.

I had a C. argi that was good with all kinds of corals, and even my clam. But I occasionally read reports of one not so well behaved. It is my opinion though that they are typically pretty well behaved (in the coral eating department at least!)

 

[Unarce]

I have had a flame in my tank with sps and clams for about a year now without any problems. I do make sure that he is never too hungry however...

For 3 years, my flame angel didn't touch my black/blue maxima. Then he just developed a taste for clam meat all of a sudden.

 

[Cruiznblue]

Out of all the problematic angel fish I have seen on reefcentral, I would say that Flame Angels seem to be one of the worst pickers.

Tomato clowns are known to be aggressive...I would have to say that there are certain types of fish that are worse than others.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a C. argi that was good with all kinds of corals, and even my clam. But I occasionally read reports of one not so well behaved. It is my opinion though that they are typically pretty well behaved (in the coral eating department at least!)

A problem argi is a rarity. Without even qualifying it as an angel first, it's one of the best reef fish out there.
Jim

 

[npaden]

I put a flame angel in my 40 gallon office tank about a month ago and it is nipping on clams and LPS corals. It doesn't seem to be "eating" them but they are very unhappy about the whole thing. I will either need to pull the corals or the angel very soon.

This is my first attempt to put any angel of any kind in a reef so I'm at 0% reef safe.

FWIW, Nathan