uh oh,i think its a miss with flame angel

[rhino509]

so today as im just looking at my corals grow(haha just kidding) i watched my flame angel swim up and nip a coral(unknown at this time) then right over to an acro mille(green/yellow) and give it a little nip,damn,i was hoping this wouldnt happen,but it did.so now i have the luxury of trying to get it out(soon) so any suggestions? thinking about making some kind of trap using a 2 liter bottle and some fishing line(and frozen mysids for bait of course).cut the mouth of the bottle a little big bigger than the fish,put a little hole(s) for the fishing line to tie to,bait it and..........what do you people think,does this fish have me out smarted already?lol
thanks for reading
keith
edit:the flame angel has been in the tank for about 3 weeks and just now nipping corals.

[papagimp]

Was he actually eating them or just "testing the waters" so to speak? My last coral beuaty nipped at a little of everything in my tank when he was new, but he did stop and learned to wait for the food to get put in the tank. Never touched another coral/invert again.

[rhino509]

i can honestly say for sure if it just nipped or if its trying to eat them,ive onlyt seen it happen once,the one coral is maroon,so its hard to see if the polyps was gone or just retracted,and the othe was a milli,doesnt look like polyps were destroyed(my first observation this morning...........should i give it a little more time,or should i rid of it just in case
thx
keith

[WaterKeeper]

Give it a bit more time. Due to their rather small size they don't do a great amount of damage if the nipping is casual. If it becomes habitual then it is time for a new home.

[techigirl78]

I'd probably give it a little time to see if you actually see any damage. Just keep a very watchful eye.

[rhino509]

the only thing im worried about is once the corals become large colonies(if they make it that long :P) that only means there will be less swimmimg and grazing area,wouldnt that make him more prone to nipping corals?
thx

[techigirl78]

My fish and even cleaner fish seem to have gotten lazy over the years. Most of them wait like my dogs for their food.

[eckrynock]

My digi and tenuis polyps never came back out (2 weeks) once I introduced my flame. Had to get rid of him. Just keep an eye out on overall coral health.

[rhino509]

im paranoid as hell,i just looked at the polyps where it nipped(the maroon unknown one) and there is still like 3 or 4 polyps that arent open,right where it nipped.

[papagimp]

I would make sure you feed him very well and make sure he's eating when you do. If you get him fat and lazy on prepared foods, he's less likely to go around rummaging for foods. Another reason the whole QT process is so good. In QT , you can train your fish to eat the food of your choice, and once they are used to being fed at certain times of the day and with a particular food, they are not as apt to "taste" everything else.

[Shagsbeard]

Keep him well fed... and often for the first couple weeks.

[rhino509]

arent angels very active grazers as it is? i was under the impression they grazed all day long regardless{as with tangs) of how much prepared food they are fed.am i way off about this?
thx
keith

[WaterKeeper]

Angels, for the most part, spend all day grazing for sponges, the major part of their diet.

[rhino509]

meaning the all day grazing is to be expected regardless of feeding? hmm,i just have a bad feeling about this specific fish now,it seems like its just waiting for me to turn around so it can get to nipping....lol

[uscharalph]

I used to sweat all of whats going on in my tank, but i t was driving me crazy. I've got a Flame Angel and while he ocassionaly nips at corals he still prefers what I feed him. My corals and polyps are still growing, so I'm happy!

[rhino509]

people,its supposed to go one way or the other.....lol just kidding,im not sure what to do now,there is like 3 polyps that havent opened(on maroon unknown) since the nipping, i cant tell if they are just sucked in or damaged.