Emperor Angel Questions

[snorvich]

I am considering an Emperor Angel and have questions:

1. Will a juvenile fully change to adult coloration?
2. What is the best collection area?
3. Is it better to acquire a juvenile/adolescent and let it develop or is it preferred to acquire an adult?
4. I know that this fish is not reef safe but what will it eat: shrimp, mushroom corals, lps corals, sps corals? Or all of the above
5. Any other advice?
6. This will be going in with one tang, 3 pyramid butterfly fish and some smaller fish in a largish tank. Any issues with these?

I formerly owned one of these fish in a large 350 gallon FOWLR tank many years ago and loved its personality. Any other advice is appreciated.

[Allmost]

I have had a Juv. for about 6 months now, it has grown incredibly, but no color change yet, I feed it very high quality food, but the LFS adviced me to feed it some corals and sponges, so I removed some from my reef tank and started feeding him corals as well.

I placed this guy in my reef tank once, and it went right for the SPS colonies for large polyps ! was just picking at it, but destroying it.

then he found the sponges, under rocks, and had a good meal lol

I removed it at this point and placed it back in FOWLR tank

just my personal experience.

[rachenbrazil]

They will change to adult , but may take some (long) time and some does not fully complete. Diet , space and time are key factors.

Xmas island are more colorfull and know as best ones ... Red Sea if available is also impressive ...

large adults does not adapt easily so maybe juveniles and small adults would be better choice

Zoanthids, LPS are sure target for emperors... clams and sps are less prone but only if well fed.

They do need large room to swin , think twice if your tank is cramped with rocks or corals...


Should not have any problem with current fishes... future fishes may suffer from territorial defense...

[eskymick]

Well said, "rachenbrazil" ... and a very fair assessment.

[kirkaz]

Mine took about a year to fully change, maybe a little more. Make sure to get some angel forumla (sponge) and greens (nori for me) into their diet. My juvi had flukes, and they are VERY prone, so treating with Prazipro is critical. Agree with Rachel about Xmas Island and Red Sea, but would also add New Caledonia (sp?) to that, mine is Indo Pacific probably Phillipines. I believe those collected in Vietnam develop a streamer.

I would definately get a juvi.:thumbsup:

[thor32766]

I had a full grown christmas island one and she was georgous! Now as far as coral. All my zoa's, paly's, mushrooms and anemones were gone after she entered the tank.

[ccampbell57]

I am considering an Emperor Angel and have questions:

1. Will a juvenile fully change to adult coloration?
2. What is the best collection area?
3. Is it better to acquire a juvenile/adolescent and let it develop or is it preferred to acquire an adult?
4. I know that this fish is not reef safe but what will it eat: shrimp, mushroom corals, lps corals, sps corals? Or all of the above
5. Any other advice?
6. This will be going in with one tang, 3 pyramid butterfly fish and some smaller fish in a largish tank. Any issues with these?

I formerly owned one of these fish in a large 350 gallon FOWLR tank many years ago and loved its personality. Any other advice is appreciated.

Hey Steve...personally one of my favorites for multiple reasons!
- Juvenilles will fully change based on quality of captive environment and correct foods (I always suggest NLS pellets for this)
- Best Collection for these? CXI and New Caledonia hands down...nothing beats these specimen
- I prefer getting the small ones and watching it mature. It has been one of my greatest accomplishments watching my then 2" emperor develope into a 11.5" adult.
- My emperor will eat anything in the tank (minus the snails) so far he has demolished an entire LPS reef and any anemone I add...It will do fine with SPS i think.
- Advice - feed early and often and make sure that it is well QT'd. Once it eats and is healthy it is going to be bullet proof.
- I see no issues with the other fish. Mine "gets along" with all my other fish chasing around a couple every once in a while to display dominance...I also love the grunting sound it makes...sounds like my aquascaping is falling :)

[snorvich]

Thanks Chris (ccampbell57) and rachenbrazil! A MOST valuable posting by each of you!! .

[snorvich]

Do you think I can get away with introduction of a small blue face and a teenage emperor at the same time? (350 g)

[ccampbell57]

Do you think I can get away with introduction of a small blue face and a teenage emperor at the same time? (350 g)

You know that is what I did and it worked out fine. My blueface was an A$$ when I added him because he was 2" bigger than the emperor, but the roles have reversed over the years...the blueface is pushing 11" and the emperor dwarfs him...

[jjk_reef00]

Yes I think you can add both, if you have a large qt you can acclimate them to each other by separating them with egg crate like ccampbell57 is doing with his bluelines. I've had luck adding angels of different sizes before. I'm not sure how they will react if they are both the same size.

[Creetin]

You would have better success adding them together while small. Large emps are pretty mean and probably will not let any other angel its size exist in the same tank. Mine was very aggressive and would kill any angel I would try to add.
Once an emp decides to eat something he won't stop. SPS included. Large emps can do some damage!
My old emp.
http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q128/realcreetin/med_gallery_30_23_42688.jpg

[snorvich]

So, the consensus seems to be that juveniles or adolescents of both together at the same time are best?

[crsandoval]

I have one in my tank as well. Zoas and acans were gone in 3 days.

Also do check for flukes, mine developed a fungal disease and it went away. Good luck!

[tcmfish]

It will fully change to an adult. I think others have covered the collection area. If it were me I would want a juvi for a few reasons: juvis are less likely to be destructive to coral, and it is cool to see the change if your patient. They won't eat shrimp, but can harm coral. Feed lots, SPS would be the safest bet with some mushrooms and soft corals maybe surviving. LPS and zoas would be on the top of the menu if it were to munch.

As for the two angels, get two juvis or smallish ones and you should be fine. Its a big tank without many aggressive fish so I don't see an issue.

Good luck man, but YOU NEED TO POST PICTURES!!! :)

[Gary Majchrzak]

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y270/gary334/April_2010a.jpg

mine doesn't bother Euphyllia or Protopalythoa. I have Symphyllia in there as well. The fish was purchased as a sub adult and if it's not well fed it will start nipping at corals (usually at the tips of Acropora stags) or the gigantea anemone.

I wouldn't recommend placing a Blueface and Emperor together in a 300.

Feed lots of high quality foods or you'll end up with a stunted imp.

[snorvich]

I wouldn't recommend placing a Blueface and Emperor together in a 300.

Feed lots of high quality foods or you'll end up with a stunted imp.

So you think an Emperor and Blueface will not coexist successfully in a 300+ tank? Of the two, the Emperor is my preference.

[flameangel88]

I'd both and they got along for the first 8 months where they swim past each other without any problem. Then when both started to change that's when the Emp got aggressive and when crossing path the BF will run and hide.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/reeftankpix/DSC_1505Large.jpg

Right around this point the Emp got aggressive and more so with new additions
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i287/reeftankpix/IMG_3287.jpg

[Sardaukar]

Anyone have an emp pair?

[NexDog]

I tried a pair. Had a juvi and semi adult and QT'd both for 6 weeks. After they went in the DT the juvi disappeared and was never seen again. The semi-adult did chase it a lot in QT so I'm sure it finally finished the job - although I am suprised as the DT is much larger.

They are - or can be - aggressive. I had one a few years ago that I got as a juvi and it changed to a full adult but eventually died of "the bulge". He was king of the tank and I loved to hear him grunt. :)

Mine ate all Zoas but left the LPS alone. I wish they'd eat mushrooms, that would be bloody marvellous.

[Creetin]

Mine ate all Zoas but left the LPS alone. I wish they'd eat mushrooms, that would be bloody marvellous.

My old one did along with zoa's,palys.aiptasia, and much more. They are my fav angels.

[rachenbrazil]

I have a pair... I started with small one , starting to change to adult color at 4 inches them add a 6 inch almost changed guy .... so long no battle between them ...
Sure not good example as I cramp other large angels together in my 200 g tank ... soon a bigger tank will change it ...

( Currentlly have , emperor pair , majestic, asfur and koran , and some dwarf , knox, mellas, brazilian flameback (pair) , fisher , bicolor and cream (A. xanthurus). Room, intense skimming and heavy feedings to keep peace with them ... )

[MrGone]

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z28/TehShawns/Fishtank/150%20gallon/may14th/IMG00536-20100518-1807copy.jpg

[ThaNgBOm321]

i had one a good while back. He was a 3'' juvi when i got him and died for some reason a few years later at 5.5'' adult. They are awesome fish, but very aggressive! When he was a juvi, i added some simple corals in the tank and it was fine (shroom, zoo, xenia). I din't have good enough light to grow sps or lps or that matter, so i dont know about those. He din't eat them or nip at them since i feed all my fish well. I have a buddy with a 220 sps tank that he introduced a emp in. He had it qt in his frag tank for a few months before he added him into the main. IDK if the fish is still in his main tank; it has been a while since I last visit him. I think this is his 2nd emp, I think his 1st one died when his clam closed up on it (i could be wrong)

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-08/totm/index.php.

This fish swims a lot and seemingly all day!! he was king of my tank even with a 7'' lunar wrasse swimming around. From what i read on the fish, they are a hit or miss with nipping corals. However, once they are adults, they tend to start eating them. I hope to get me a juvi blueface one day. It's just so hard to find one..

YzGyz

[nexumia]

I too love this fish, and have always wanted one. i have a marine planted tank, will the angels eat my macro algae or if i feed it well enough it will leave the algae alone?