Coral beauty vs flame angel

Patty-Brent · #1 01-14-2011, 11:40 AM

My question is which one is known to nibble on soft corals more? Does any one have any personal experience with these fish? Will they get along with a yellow tang Midas blenny 2 ocellaris and a spotted mandarin? Thanks in advance everyone!

outacontrol · #2 01-14-2011, 02:01 PM

I have a Coral Beauty and I have never seen it nip at anything, it is a little aggresive towards its tank mates. That being said I like having it adds some nice color and motion to the tank.

Patty-Brent · #3 01-14-2011, 02:10 PM

What tank mates are with it? thanks for the reply

flipzed · #4 01-14-2011, 02:44 PM

id have to say if had one of each, and the flame tended to nip and never saw the coral beauty nip. in most cases id say the coral beauty is more reef safe, but still the odd chance that it will

Jfish · #5 01-14-2011, 03:08 PM

I have had a flame angel in my tank for over a year. I have never seen it directly nip at my coral but he will steal food from my bubble whenever I feed it during the day. It sure looks like it's nipping the coral but actually just grabbing the food before the bubble can. I've tried to move all my coral feedings to night just so the flame doesn't associate corals with food. I've never seen it give any thought about picking at any of my other lps or softies.

The flame angel is one of the more aggressive fish in my tank though. I have it in with two clarkii clowns, hippo tang, yellow tang, psych mandarin and a flame wrasse. Occasionally the flame angel will drive the clarkiis back to their side of the tank or want to break them up when they start doing their mating dance. The flame angel will also chase the wrasse into hiding every once and a while. There has never been a full on chase around the tank and I have never seen any nipping or pinning into corners. Anytime the flame angel starts bugging another fish my hippo/yellow tang wil usually steps in and play peacemaker and shephards the flame away.

I think a lot of it comes down to personality of the fish when it comes to nipping coral. From what I have read on angels some will pick at coral and some won't. Sometimes they will develop a taste for corals as they get older. Even with the risk of it tearing through coral, I like my flame angel and would recommend one. It has a nice color mix and is constantly cruisin around the tank during the day. I try to keep mine well fed and under watch, if it ever does deciede to go for coral i'm prepared to pull out some rock (hard to catch) and move him to the sump/sell him.

Patty-Brent · #6 01-14-2011, 03:23 PM

Great thanks that was really helpful i think im going to get the flame hopefully all goes well LOL

paddyob · #7 01-14-2011, 03:51 PM

How big is your tank? I bought a Coral Beauty, based on my own thread on a similar topic.

All info showed it is "reef safe" but no guarantees. It may choose to eat your coral... and not just softies. If it chooses to eat coral... its probably not going to stop. And you never know until you try.

So far mine has not touched a single thing. And many others say the same.

One thing I can say about Flame Angels... I never bought one as someone I know at an LFS stated they are not as hardy as Coral Beauties and don't ship as well.

Patty-Brent · #8 01-14-2011, 04:39 PM

It's a 55 gallon long and I do have quite a bit of corals I would love to post pics but I only have pics I've taken with my iPhone and can't figure out how to upload them

Lance · #9 01-14-2011, 04:48 PM

I have a Coral Beauty who I've had for over 3 years now. For the first year it would periodically pick at Brain Corals. After I increased feedings from once a day to twice a day it stopped picking at the corals. It is a bit of a bully though. It will chase any fish smaller or slightly larger, but only for a short time then moves on to the next one. In my tank it bullies a Fairy Wrasse, Yellow Watchman Goby, Yellow Assesor, and PJ Cardinal. It never does any harm, just likes to show he's the boss.

globaldesigns · #10 01-14-2011, 07:22 PM

K, I will say this.... No dwarf angel is reef safe!!! They do come with a warning sticker on them.

You do take your chances with them. I myself have a Potter's and Flame and have had great success with them. But at anytime an angel can just start. So if you want one, just know that you do take a chance if you keep coral.

Otherwise they are beautiful fish, and I am glad I have them.