dwarf flame angel

[evol]

hey guys...i need some opinions here...what do you guys this the minimun tank size is suitable for a dwarf flame angel? opinions on it being reef safe...?

[pitfish]

Mine's reef safe, but I've heard some aren't. I had mine in a 40gallon and it did fine...its now in a 75tall. It's about 3" long and shares the 75 with 4 chromis, a clarkii, and a powder blue tang

[Sackwack]

I want one too

[ninhsavestheday]

its hit or miss. i had a pgmy angel... didn't touch anything.

[Dakota]

Defnietely depends on the guys personality if he'll nip corals or not..... As for tank size, personally, I feel no tank less that 48" across (50-55 standard). My 50 gal. is 36" across, and I don't think that be enough room for him. Again, it's what I personally feel is most beneficial for the fish.

[sandiego92155]

My flame is safe, doesn't touch a thing..... I have heard that they can cause havok. Just feed it, give it space 55G+ and the odds will be in your favor.

[M. Parkis]

The Centropyge angels (sometimes called pygmy angels) tend to be the least destructive in a reef tank. Most do little or no visible damage but no angelfish is 100% reef safe, if you only have a few corals do not get an angel. You have to have enough established corals in the tank that they can nip (graze) here and there or they will continue to savage the same coral all the time till it dies. (By the way nipping at xenia just seems to make it grow faster.)
I keep (or have kept) Flames, Pacific blue fin Pygmys, Coral Beauty angels, Lemon peels, Melas (keyhole) angels, Herldi and Flame back angels in reef tanks most with few problems.
Good luck

[pitfish]

(By the way nipping at xenia just seems to make it grow faster.)

That's funny you mention that. My flame angel took some nips at my xenia when I first introduced it..nothing big tho. The xenia wasn't negatively affected (if I didnt see it happen, I would never have noticed) and the angel has left it alone for about a month now.

If you can wait til someone has one for sale from an established aquarium, you could ask if it was reef safe (or just look at the corals), and make a more confident decision.

[ninhsavestheday]

i want an xenia nipping angel!... but not when it makes them grow even faster :-\

[Darrell]

I have mine in a 24 gallon nano cube. Only been 1 week so I dont know about the reef safe part.

[Dakota]

I remember when I used to be able to wach my xenia grow when it grew so dang fast. . . then it stopped.

[M. Parkis]

If you can get xenia to grow fast enough to be a weed you can always start a FO for butterflys and large angels throw the extra xenia in as food.
Also xenia grows up and out, as long as conditions are right and it has the room it will keep growing. I found it continued to grow if I kept cutting it back to the rock.
One last note I've found that xenia does not grow well in tanks with large colonies os GSP...

[Darrell]

how come xenia won't grow well with gsp?

[Darrell]

I have both, and I'd like the xenia to grow.

[lucubrator]

GSP, like a lot of corals, release toxins into the water. It's called allelopathic warfare. THere's a bit of information on it here. (http://www.wetwebmedia.com/watchgantart.htm)