Queen Angel

[captexas]

Anyone have experience with a Queen Angelfish? I saw the one at Aquatic Warehouse the last two times I've been in there and it is a beautiful fish. I know angels other than the pygmies are not supposed to be good for reef tanks. Anyone have one in a reef tank?

I want a new fish for my tank and it's killing me that all the fish I like are either not reef safe or need a tank much bigger than mine!

[alexwolf]

man im DYING for a queen, but id hate to see my clams as angel food!

[captexas]

They have two beautiful Naso Tangs there as well, but too big for my tank. I just need to find a bigger tank to set up as a FOWLR tank.

[kaiser]

I have a Queen Angel from AW in my tank. I would not call it a reef, but I do have some softies in it. No Problems with it so far, but I do feed nori to them. I also have the queen in w/ a flame and a pygmy. The queen is the tank-boss thats for sure. It does take them a day or two to start eating, because they are a little touchy w/ shipping, but AW quaranteened them for a few days.

[captexas]

Yeah, I saw them feed the Queen they have this evening and it ate well. According to Scott Michaels book, they tend to get more aggressive as they get older.

[matt]

I think they need a lot of sponge in their diet to stay healthy, and a HUGE tank, like 500 gallons minimum. At least that's what I've read.

[Instar]

They get large. They eat ornamental shrimp when they get big. They graze on the rocks. Algae (marcro and film), sponges, tunicates, little worms. They may eat polyps of some kinds. Since they are pickers, they could go for clams, but, I did see a large Regal angel in Jim's tank before the disaster. Same kind of mouth, therefore, pretty much the same family as far as eating goes. Had a large Queen turn around and swallow a large banded coral shrimp in one bite one day. Maybe because he was hungry and the quarters were too small? Even a small one can graze all the live rock clean in a large tank. They will eat any fish food once they are used to eating prepared and frozen foods. Its funny to watch at first because they think they have to kill that frozen food first. Once they learn its frozen, they just turn into gobblers. I've had them with small fish. They are not fish eaters, normally. I believe there is a lot of misinformation about reef safe and non-reef safe fish in the well meaning sales oriented literature. I have 3 "reef safe" fish that eat coral like a coral eating butterfly. Have you asked the question on anyplace else?