So what's the deal with Dwarf Angels???

They grow to 8 inches and are predatory.(they grow very quickly.)
Calloplesiops altivelis they are actually closely related to assesors but have similar feeding habits to a grouper.They will eat shrimp and small fish.It is sometimes reffered to as a Comet but there is no Comet family.I have kept these a few times.Wild caught specimens can be hard to get eating but the last ORA Betta I had would actually eat pellets.Getting the pellets to him was difficult as they are very shy.Boisterous feeders make this harder.IMO If you do intend to keep one in a 34.It should be the sole inhabitant.

 

I've had a coral beauty for 5 years now with zero problems. I've never had it pick at corals or anything but algae on rocks and the glass.

 

What do you feed? and what type of algae exactly? what size tank?

 

He started in a 36G for 2 years, then moved up to a 55G for 3 years and hes now in a 65G. I feed everyone mysis, hakari pellets, rods food and nori 95% of the time alternating days. The algae is just what grows naturally in the tank, green stuff on rocks and glass, nothing special.

 

So like hair algae? or film algae? How was he in the 36g?

 

I started a saltwater tank not only because they're beautiful but I saw a flame angle and had to have one. I got one a week ago and he's doing good and all the fish are getting along. I hope it stays that way. I would be very put out if something happens to him.

 

I had a flame angel in a 46gallon tank with all kinds of corals, although he was a fungia nipper and I am pretty sure he is the reason I couldn't keep acans. I kept frogspawns, sps, leathers, softies, an elegance and no problems. Had him in there about 18 months and then moved and transferred everything to a 65gal. Had that going another year before a mini crash where I lost most of my coral and my angel. The wrasse, tang, and clowns ALL survived although they were gasping and behaving funny when I noticed something was wrong. The angel was already stiff . If I didn't neglect the tank and let the filtration stop for who knows how long I have no doubts he would still be alive as well as all my sps and lps I had. The angels will be your measuring stick for how well your tank is doing, they are sensitive and if something is out of place they're the first to go.

Dwarf angels are pretty easy to care for if you know what you're doing. Lots of caves and overhangs to hide and to break line of site with other fish. They should be the more aggressive fish in the tank to minimize being stressed to death by other fish. Also they need a REEF!!! People say they're not reef safe, but almost no fish are. Even tangs have been known to consume a coral over night from time to time, although rare it does happen. If we want to have success with a species, we need to replicate their environment. Angels come from reefs and weather it be from nipping coral mucous or some other unknown reason they do a lot better in reef systems then in live rock only systems. Also they need algae and sponge to grow. With our over sized skimmers, gfo, carbon, biopellets, grey goose consuming alcoholic fish and systems these days they are often too sterile. Algae shouldn't grow out of hand and cover everything but enough that the angels, tangs, and other grazers can nip at the rocks all day between feedings. Coral selection is important and MOST corals will be ok with MOST dwarf angels and even some larger angels, but every fish is different and some may decimate an entire reef. MOST, however, will become fond of a particular coral or two that will make keeping those few corals impossible while the rest of your corals will grow and thrive with no issues. The more angels you have the higher the risk obviously and if they all have a different taste you may end up limited in what corals you can keep in the system. Also the larger the system the better off it will be for many reasons. The main one being if you have 1 coral then that angel is going to pick on that 1 coral until it kills it. If you have 50 corals the nipping will be spread out so damage is minimized. This goes for other species as well such as butterfly fish and larger angels. Many people have amazing mixed reefs with 3 or more dwarf angels, a large angel or 2, and a few butterfly fish and are successful for years and years. They also usually have a 400gallon system so the coral nipping is so spread out it doesn't bother any one coral too much. Something we can not do in a 40gal aquarium.

I did notice the change on liveaquaria and can only GUESS that the reason for change is related to this. Knowing many of these dwarf angels should be in a reef to survive long term and not a live rock only system and knowing that to be in a reef they need to be in a larger tank for coral survival. I never did see my flame eat a single polyp but it did stress a fungia so bad and some acans that I couldn't keep them long term. He also picked at some montipora slime that seemed to have no effect on the coral what soever. I never witnessed a single peck over the years at hammers, frogspawns, goniopora, elegance, sytlophora, birdnest, xenia, zoas, polyps, or mushrooms.

Take this for what it is worth, I am by no means an expert. You will see on advancedaquarists and even in public aquaria long term success with many difficult fish. Regal angelfish, potter angelfish, copperband butterflyfish, leapord wrasse, mandarins, etc can all be kept. The biggest battle is selecting a healthy fish and doing lots of research!! Coral beautys, flames, and pygmys all seem to be fairly hardy once acclimated. Potters seem to be difficult to get to eat but hardy once eating well, rock beauties more prone than other to coral nipping and very limited information on long term survival. Even the flame angels do very well but the blood red ones from Hawaii are almost always the nippers of the bunch.

 

^ Great post

 

Well in the last 4 months i have done lots of research, even though google only has 2-3 pages of good links to information on potters. My tank is set up as ideally as possible solely for a potters angel, lower temperature (74-75), LOTS of caves/overhangs, plenty of micro algaes growing on the rocks, no aggressive eaters (currently only has a mandarin), etc. I plan on stocking the tank with many colonies of Porites cylindrica as they are the corals most potters are collected in. Im growing all sorts of different sponges currently while i wait for my angel so it will have a nice variety of foods, on top of the algae to graze on and frozen angel diet, mysis, krill, plankton, etc.

Unfortunately there aren't very many reliable sources about potter's angels, at least compared with some of the other members of the genus.

Compared to me, you may as well be an expert because despite working with dwarf angels at the LFS, I've never personally kept one. So your experience is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

Something I forgot to add when it comes to the dwarf angels, is actual lifespan. We do not fully know how long many species CAN live. I believe from prior research, although the source escapes me, a wild dwarf angel has a life expectancy of less than 3 years. Is our tanks away from natural predators and a constant food source they have lived and bred much longer than this. For this reason alone I tend to disagree with the hobbyist who states, they die for no reason we should be responsible and just leave them in the ocean!!