Most reef safe Dwarf Angelfish?

[DriftingNemo]

I know that every fish is different and that they have their own personalities, but by personal experience, what is the most reef safe Dwarf Angelfish?

[Pinner Reef]

Coral Beauty, and Flame angels tend to be the best.

[DriftingNemo]

Coral Beauty, and Flame angels tend to be the best.

 

They both look amazing aswell!

[Tamberav]

Coral beauty but even if they don't eat coral... expect poor polyp extension on SPS (in a nano at least).

[pgrVII]

My little cherub pygmy is good, active,and hasn't bothered my corals. I feed her seaweed sheets 1-2x a week to let her graze. She is small too, 2" at best.

[DriftingNemo]

My tank holds around 55 gallons. I wont be keeping SPS for a while, only softies and LPS. The Coral Beauty has some nice colour, I have a while to decide what kind I would get.

[j0shbd]

I'd take a look at African Flameback Angels. Very cool fish. I've had two (at different times) over the last 5+ years, both were model citizens. Also, depending on how "nano" your tank is, I also really love Bellus angels. They are reef safe in my experience, but they can be hard to find and quite expensive.

[DriftingNemo]

I would really like a female Bellus. They are by far my favourite looking angelfish. I've read some mixed things about Bellus. Some people love them and some people hate them.

[FlamingPrawn]

2nd the Pygmy Angel. If you look for Scorched's 12 gal long he recently got one. check out his build

[jestep]

The pygmy's and the flamebacks are usually the most aggressive dwarfs, just something to consider.

 

Nipping is pretty much a coin toss with even the more reef friendly dwarfs. Personally, I would go with a very young flame and hope it doesn't start eating coral. No matter what you get have a contingency in case it finds a new favorite food. ALso, get the absolute smallest one you can find.

[DriftingNemo]

The pygmy's and the flamebacks are usually the most aggressive dwarfs, just something to consider.

 

Nipping is pretty much a coin toss with even the more reef friendly dwarfs. Personally, I would go with a very young flame and hope it doesn't start eating coral. No matter what you get have a contingency in case it finds a new favorite food. ALso, get the absolute smallest one you can find.

 

I would have to travel around a few fish stores to even find a specific species of angelfish. The Bellus angel (which is the one I want) costs over £80 here in the UK!! That's around $140

[jestep]

Bellus get fairly large. I would probably avoid any swallow tail in a tank smaller than 48 x 18" (120 x 46 cm) footprint. They're open water planktivores though, like anthias, so it would be extremely rare for one to ever start nipping coral or eating a meaningful amount of algae for that matter.

 

Bellus are somewhat difficult though since they come from several hundred feet deep, same thing goes for watanabi's. Both are from something like 300 - 600 ft. Lamarcks is a much better swallowtail if you are ever legitimately looking for one. They're also way cheaper.

[DriftingNemo]

Flame Angels go for around $120 which is a price I'm not prepared to pay for a fish. Coral Beauties are only $70 so I might be interested in one.

[jestep]

Man you have some expensive shops. Definitely makes stocking more difficult. Swallowtail angels are typically expensive but I've seen flame's for $30, coral beauties for $20'ish, at LFS's all the time.

 

Is there any good company that you can mail order from in UK, maybe do a group buy if there's any other reefers in your area?

[GHill762]

I had a pygmy that never touched coral, but I found out shortly after getting a clam that he wasn't clam safe and had to get rid of him

 

that was such a great little fish, so full of energy and personality..

[Orangutran]

Do dwarf angels pick at anemones? maxis? or will they be stung?

[DriftingNemo]

Man you have some expensive shops. Definitely makes stocking more difficult. Swallowtail angels are typically expensive but I've seen flame's for $30, coral beauties for $20'ish, at LFS's all the time.

 

Is there any good company that you can mail order from in UK, maybe do a group buy if there's any other reefers in your area?

 

There's mail order companies, they are $5 or so cheaper than local fish shops. The UK isn't as big in the aquarium world as America, theres less demand in this country. You guys get $1 per gallon on tanks!! For us it's like $5 per gallon...

[1.0reef]

Logically the most reef safe would be the ones that either:

a. Are endemic to areas without much coral (Like Potters or Fishers angels from Hawaii)

or b. are from deepwater areas without much coral (Like Colins angels)

or Genicanthus.

[pgrVII]

Do dwarf angels pick at anemones? maxis? or will they be stung?

 

My cherub does not,however,I have bossy clownfish that use the anemone as a host. She never seems to be interested in mine even if the clowns are out messing around some place else.

[RC1313]

1.0's post should make sense! However, in my experience with a Potter's Angel in a 40 Breeder, the fish never really stopped nipping coral. It got worse the longer it was in the tank. I fed three times a day when I had it so doubtful it was hungry. Sometimes they are just curious and then find they like the taste imo.

[DriftingNemo]

Coral Beauties are the most commonly available and cheapest Angelfish that I can get my hands on. I'm setting up my tank over the course of today and tomorrow. I started an ammonia spike in a batch of saltwater last week so I won't have to wait as long. Either way, an Angelfish will be one of the last fish that would be added in my tank.

[Snow_Phoenix]

I've had good luck with Coral Beauties in the past. They're quite lovely and fun to watch. Only flipside is getting them to eat prepared such as pellets.

[DriftingNemo]

I have frozen food available, is that what they're used to eating? Or is it live food?

[jestep]

I have frozen food available, is that what they're used to eating? Or is it live food?

 

They'll usually take frozen really quickly. Most angels aren't extremely difficult to get to eat pellets especially if you have other active fish eating them.

[NirvanaandTool]

Bellus get fairly large. I would probably avoid any swallow tail in a tank smaller than 48 x 18" (120 x 46 cm) footprint. They're open water planktivores though, like anthias, so it would be extremely rare for one to ever start nipping coral or eating a meaningful amount of algae for that matter.

 

Bellus are somewhat difficult though since they come from several hundred feet deep, same thing goes for watanabi's. Both are from something like 300 - 600 ft. Lamarcks is a much better swallowtail if you are ever legitimately looking for one. They're also way cheaper.

 

Lamarcks also get somewhat larger than the bellus and watanabei. Another larger option would be the Spotbreast. They seem decent in price for a pair as well. My LFS had a QM collected pair for $169. Didn't seem like too bad of a price considering a single SB is $69.99 at Liveaquaria.

I'm considering some sort of Genicanthus for my 90g due to their diet. Definitely the most reef safe angel genus.