Blue Face Angel in a reef tank - any experience?
 

I acquired 2 angels last night - a Blue Face and a Passer for my FOWLR. Since they are different species (the 5.5" Blue Face is Euxiphipops and the 4" Passer is Holacanthus) and the Blue Face is bigger, I thought they would be ok together if added at the same time.

I apparently was wrong. Since the lights came on at noon (abou 2 hours ago) the Passer has been repeatedly attacking the bigger Blue Face. My fiance called me in a panick, fearing that the Passer would kill the other fish. I have removed the Blue Face to my refugium and seek some advice on what to do next.

I have read of some success with the larger angels in a reef tank (re: current tank of the month) and was thinking of putting the shyer Blue Face in my SPS dominated 180 gallon reef. I fear only for the few zoas and possibly th 2 LPS (elegance in particular) that are in the reef now. The other fish in the reef are:

Duesemeri Tang (4")
Cheveron Tang (3.5")
Regal Tang (3.5")
Wantannabei Angel
Mystery Wrasse
Biocellatus Wrasse
Flame Hawkfish
Longnose Hawkfish
Scooter Blenny

What else should I worry about? The reef has about 25 SPS colonies (Acros, Monties, etc.), a Banded Coral Shrimp, various snails and hermits, a sea cuke and lots of fan worms and sponges (those I expect will be food for the angel.

I really would like to decide on this by tonight (my refugium is only a 20 gallon) and I am leaning toward trying to keep her in the reef.

Any experience or educated advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Chris

I know a guy that has a blueface in an SPS only tank. Any zoos are eaten, but some LPS have survived. I think the "fleshier" LPS like open brains and elegance are something to worry about. His fish does not eat any SPS or inverts. Your tankmates seem fine, but tangs can be always be aggressive. Good luck, they are beautiful fish. Passers are nasty IME. HTH

I don't know about Blue faces, but my angels haven't touched anything yet. All I have though are Xenia, Zoos, and Star Polyps.

Adding 2 large angels to the same tank is problematic. The same would be true with adding two dwarf angels together. They are just too similar in body styles. I was able to successfully get a dwarf and a large angel for my tank because (as I understand it), the 2 angels body styles are different enough from each other that they don't look at each other as the same type of fish. Whatever the reason, the two of them were added at the same time, and act like the best of friends.

I love angels.

What about clams? I forgot to mention the 4 clams (including an 8" Squamosa), will she nip at that?

How about Echinos? Those seem pretty fleshy to me. This may not work out.

Thanks
Chris

I have a Regal Angel in my display that I added after it was all set-up. She hasnt touched anything that was already in there, but I have seen her nip at a few zoos I added a 2 weeks ago.

I have LPS, Brains, zoos and a clam besides my SPS that she leaves alone.

Blue Face sure are beautiful angels

I kept an imperator and asfur in my old 125 sps reef. Eventually the asfur grew a taste for the polyps of a few of my sps but there were enough to distribute the damage. I love angels and every reef tank I have, provided it's large enough, will have at least one large angel.

Blueface's can be good citizens, but the key for some larger angels is to get them while they are young and keep them fat and happy so they dont get the urge to experiment. My bet is the clams will be a problem, but you never know until you try. the real question if you do try is if you'll be able to get him out if needed be.

hth,

eric

That is just it Eric - what do I do if I try and she goes on buffet? I am not so worried about the zoos and LPS now as I am of the clams.

She is fine for the moment in the 'fuge, but I will not leave her there for long.

Next option is to pull the rockwork out of the FOWLR, switch the PAsser into the 'fuge, re-aquascape and add the Blueface back to the FOWLR; wait 5 days until the BF gets acclimated and the other fish find their new territories and add the Passer as the last fish. Then cross my fingers and hope that the BF has established herself enough to defend a territory.

If that doesn't work, I'll be right back to where I am now.

Requires much thought.

DD, I would think what you say in your last post would work just fine. So long as you dont mind going thru all of that work to do it.

Chris, that may work. I also try to do my fish introductions before the lights come on & all of the fish are sleeping. This lets the new fish find a safe home w/o infringing on another's territory.

Makes sense Dave. Looks like I'm going to get wet this weekend.