SA Member questions

[Undergravel]

Hi.I'm new to Reefland.I live in South Africa.I have recently changed from Reef to FOWLR but have kept some ears,star polyps,various Zoos and shrimps.My Semi Angel and Threadfin don't seem to bother them.I looking to keep a collection of Angels and butterflies.I have 800l set up with heavy skimming,LR in tank and sump,Carbon filter,PO4 filter and DSB with loads of macro algae.I have no mechanical filtration as the skimmer is plumbed into the overflow.All the Angel set ups I see on youtube are in USA and they are stunning.Would I be able to keep the fancy angels with this arrangement.I do 33% water change monthly with natural seawater that I collect from our local seaworld.I would love to get some ideas from your side of the world.

[Ninong]

Hi Undergravel,



It's nice that you can get natural seawater from Sea World. That will save you a lot of money on salt mix. Do you live near Durban or do you have to drive a long way to get to Sea World?

I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions on keeping large angels. The only angels I have ever attempted were Centropyge spp.

I know of someone who does have a lot of experience keeping large angels but unfortunately he's not active on the boards. The last time I corresponded with him was several years ago and he was busy at the time working on his Ph.D. His bio says he has the Ph.D. now. His name is Wayne Shang and he has a 718-gal reef aquarium and a 300-gal large angel FOWLR aquarium.

Here's a video clip of Wayne's FOWLR tank devoted to large angels. Here's a diagram of how that FOWLR tank is set up. Here's a list of angelfish in that aquarium. I'm not sure when he last updated that list. Those ages were correct at the time the tank was videotaped but that may have been a few years ago.

Wayne places all newly acquired fish in his 80-gal quarantine tank for three to six weeks before moving them to the display aquarium. Wayne's approach to quarantine is somewhat different to what most people employ. His quarantine tank has an aragonite sand bed and live rock, so it's not possible to medicate fish in that tank. It's a long story but that's his approach. He told me that he uses that tank for observation and isolation of new fish. If he does notice a parasite or some other problem, he has to move the fish to a separate tank and then allow that quarantine tank to remain fallow for a couple of months before using it again. I'm afraid I can't tell you what preventive dips or baths he uses on incoming fish before placing them in quarantine because all of my questions were about his reef aquarium.

Here's a video clip of Wayne's old 300-gal reef aquarium. All of the stuff in that tank was moved to his 718-gal reef tank several years ago. Wayne keeps about two dozen tridacnids in his reef tank and they frequently spawn simultaneously, just like on the Great Barrier Reef. It's amazing to watch. Here's a video slide show of the 718-gal reef aquarium. Here's what that tank looked like empty. It's 96" x 48" x 36", 718 gallons; 244 x 122 x 91 cm, ~2700 liters; 3/4" (19mm) ultra-clear Starphire glass.



P.S. -- I just found Wayne on YouTube in case anyone would prefer to watch his videos there.

[leebca]

The adult Angels really need a lot of space. Your 210 gallon is too small for the adults. Also, as they take on their final pattern and colors they become competitive with each other, sometimes thinking they have to defend the tank. A 500 gallon aquarium would be a good start for a collection.

In general, some of the large Angels don't do well in captivity. Can't quite figure out why, but I've seen a large percentage of adult Angels imported only to die off in less than year in captivity. In general I recommend they be left in the wild unless you have a very large aquarium. One way to do it better is to let juveniles mature in your aquarium. Much better hobby success at this.

The Butterflyfishes on the other hand would do quite well!

Regarding your system "heavily skimmed" isn't anything I can comment upon. Without numbers, etc. it is something I can't say much about. Skimmers are evaluated by their flow as noted here: water quality Water circulation is important, so I wonder what turnover rate you have.

Look at this guide for setting up a marine aquarium so you can see some difference in what you have and what we recommend: Setting Up a FOWLR Aquarium

I love the Capetown Aquarium of the Two Oceans!

Good luck!