Emperor/Imperator angelfish UPDATE
 

We are setting up a 230g reef tank with softies & lps we also have cleaner and sexy shrimp and a boxer crab that will be in it as well. For fish we have mostly med-large tangs a CBB, coral beauty, clowns, mandrain and green clown goby. I really want to try to add a med. juvenile emperor angelfish. I've always liked these fish but I'm worried that he'll eat our coral, our shrimp, and possibly beat up our coral beauty. I know that with most fish it can be a 50/50 chance but I'm wondering what other peoples experiences with this type of fish are.

I had a juvenile emperor for about three months. Had to get rid of it because it took a liking tomy zoos. Alot of people keep them . They seem to be hit or miss. With the other angel people keep different ones together in large tanks with lots of hiding places. It would be advised that you put them in at the same time thou.

The plan is to add all the fish on the same day. I'm mostly worried that one would start to eat all our beautiful zoos and our sexy shrimp.

i've got a large one, and the basic brown and green zoo's are fine but i'm sure he'll eat the fancy coloured ones :)
the angelfish has eaten candy cane, athenia, califlower/colt corals...not sure what else they'll eat but thats the extent of my testing.
as for getting along with fish, all will be fine as long as the angel is the boss. i had a large picasso trigger who was the boss of the tank, till i introduced the angel. no problems with shrimp, crabs or snails.

I have an Asfur and a Majestic both juvies neither picked at coral but now my Asfur (3") is starting too pick at all corals and pretty much finished off my aussie acan and the Majestic (1.5") seldom picks at acros. Now i have to keep them well fed and after the transfer to 210 gallon in Jan will be removed.

I would suggest only pygmy variety in angelfish if your gonna keep LPS and zoos.

Al

no exp with angels in a reef as I have them in a fowler, generally the larger angels leave the pygmy's alone because they are smaller and don't pose a threat.
Emperor angels are beautiful easy to feed and are mostly freindly compared to the other angels I have. I did have a coral beauty that went nuts in my reef once and started picking on all my corals killed fungia plates picked at an elegange, brains and a few other things when I tried to put it on a jenny craig program, since then I have not added an angel in my reef and don't think I ever will mainly because they need to be fed heavy and I have a more predominant sps reef now.

I have had two of these angels, and so far things have worked out well.

My first angel was small in size, maybe 1.5" when I got it. It never touched anything it wasn't supposed to. I attribute this to its small size, it probably never learned that things like sps, and softies could be food. As well I always made sure there was a large and varied diet available frequently throughout the day. Unfortunately my first angel met its end at the hands of a horrible person.

I have a second angel who I am approaching the same way as the first, and so far things are working out well.

I have 3 angels in each of my display tanks.

My 180G has
1 x Majestic about 5 - 6 inches
1 x Flame
1 x Pygmy Whitetail

My 125G has
1 x Majestic about 4 -5 inches
1 x Flame
1 x Lemon Peal

I have had them now going on 4 years and they all get along and they all pick at everything in the tank. They have not damaged any of my corals, they certainly like a zoo once in a while but they are well worth having in the tank as far as I am concerned.

Tom R

That's what we're afraid of! Our foxface did the same thing :sad: I don't know why the fancy colours seem worthy or eating and the others don't.

Michika, the emperor angel I was looking at is about 1-1/2" which makes me wonder if he'd be ok with our corals. To buy or not to buy that is the question!:biggrin: I never thought we could get one because I never thought I'd get a tank big enough for one, but now that we have the tank...needless to say it's very tempting.

That seems plenty small. The only thing I would caution you about is making sure you have a back up plan if it snacks on anything. Make sure that you could eventually get the fish out if you need to.

So have you made any decision either way?