are bicolor angels reef compatible?

the title says it all!.. i have heard lots of argument on this subject. i wont be keeping anything crazy in the way of corals and i may get an anemone.

 

Yes and no... They will nip on corals, depending on how big is the tank, how well fed the bicolor is and what corals are kept. In my exp, out of all the dwarf angels the bicolor nips coral by far the most!! Potters and coral beauties do the least BUT every fish is an individual and one might be safe while another eats everything!!

Also from my exp, bicolors mysteriously drop dead, so if you are buying local, ask them to hold it a while, if online, cross your fingers and make sure you order from somewhere with a guarentee!!

Happy reefing!

 

I agree with Dr. Fragenstein. The bicolor are nice looking but through experience they will up and die. They also seem to stress easily. Coral Beauties seem to do much better for me.

ca

 

so what angel do you recomend? i'm in canada so we do have not as large a selection as americans do but i am sure i can get my hands on any fish.

 

For reefs I would say your most common is Coral Beauty, they are plentiful and shouldn't be too much for our northern neighbors. They have a lot of geological color morphs, meaning the ones from Fiji and so on have a BRIGHT ORANGE belly while the ones closer to the Philippines have more blue with orange rims and so on. Potter's are next in line as reef safe, maybe even first BUT their price is INCREASING!! Granted they are BEAUTIFUL fish and I mean BEAUTIFUL!! At our shop I used to sell them for $64.95 which is actually a fantastic price, but they have jumped over $10-my cost and that is not the end I bet!! Hawaii, where they are endemic to, is trying to outlaw their collection entirely, if thats the case they will be a couple hundred dollars soon!! So if thats the one you want, get it NOW! Flames are nice and somewhat reef safe to, flashy fish not too rare, you Canucks should be able to get them as well. I could list more but the more "reef safe" ones will most likely be harder for you to come by!!

Good luck and tell us what you get!

 

Flame and Coral Beauty are your best bet.
Bi-Colors are a demanding Centropyge that doesn't fair to well in a captive environment.

 

OMG, these are the Steve Erkel's of the angelfish family.

If you sneeze, they curl up in a ball and cry. If you add another fish, they get so scared they just up and die.

 

haha. thanks again guys. they have 2 bicolors at my LFS. they got in LOTS of fish for the boxing week sale. have you guys ever heard of a look down jack fish? its one of the most interesting fish i have ever seen!

 

You BETTER have a very large tank.

I kept them in an 850g.

 

Look Downs get to about 10 inches long or more and as Curt stated you better have a bigger boat(I mean tank) hahahah!