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Anyone have any experience with Lemonpeel Angels (Centropyge flavissimus)? I’m thinking that since they require less volume than the Yellow Tang but offer the same sort of look, it might work well in my 55g tank. I am concerned that an LP might not be reef safe (conflicting reports) and I DO want to build a reef. If they are pickers, are they specific in their targets?

I realize that they don’t get along well with other dwarf angels, so I would not be able to host a cherub, flame, or coral beauty. Would they be likely to bother my clowns?

If the LP is too big a risk, what else might remind me of a yellow tang that will be comfortable in 55g?

If an LP will be ok, what last fish could compliment this stocking list or am I at max capacity?

4-5 Blue/Green Chromis
2 Percula Clowns
1 Lemonpeel Angel

Thanks,
Jeff


Last edited by jeffrey_ropp at 23-Jun-2005 22:49

I've had experience with this fish...

Don't get one. Please. I bet of you.

LP=nightmare

I'll tell you what happend. I work in my LFS, and my boss knows basically nothing about reef/saltwater so I do most of the things around there. I told him to get a coppperbanded butterfly for the aiptasia problem in the reef tank. So he did, but for some strange strange reason, he decided to get a lemon peel too. So, at first it was okay, because he was kind of stressed out I guess, so eating didn't appeal to him much. Soon, we kissed the brain corals goodbye. He began destroying the reef tank. Pretty fish none the less...and also fast. We had to break down that entire tank to get him out, and that was just torture. We must have had five employees working on that tank in the end; we set traps of all sorts, tried all different tricks, but in the end we had to take out all the corals and all the rock, and redo the whole tank. Uggg.

Once we took him out, he was sold to a nice new home with NO coral and just live rock. So, my advice to you? No lemon peel if you're planning on getting corals. It's quite possible that you COULD find a "tame" or reef safe one, but the chances you'd have to tank probably aren't worth it IMO.

You said 55 gallon tank? You're a brave soul for doing a reef in there, very narrow and hard to aquascape. I can't wait to see it.

As for fish suggestions...you *could* do a yellow tang in a 55...they're pretty long so there's adequate swimming space, but they do really deserve a 75 gallon or up. You're looking for fish with yellow? I know there's this smallish fish, yellow on top, blackish line in the middle, and white underside...uggg but I can't think of the name off the top of my head. Sunshine or sunset something or other? Grrr...it'll come to me later. Royal gramma's and some dottybacks have half yellow bodies, and my guess is there's gotta be some sort of anthias out there with that coloring. Warty frogfish are yellow, but I dont realy recommmend those...why can't I think of other yellow fish?!

It sounds like you're going for the community type set up. Your list looks pretty good. If you get the clowns in a pair while they're young, chances that they will pair off are pretty good. The blue/green reef chromis like to be in groups, so as long as you get 3 or more you'll be fine with them.

I'll prolly add to this post later. Best of luck.


-Ferret

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

yeah they are NOT REEF SAFE! i had one and i went a polyp based reef and the little bugger eat every one off them!!

my fisrt reef was a 55gal i find them realy easy to aqua scape

Thanks Ferretfish for such a terrific write-up of your experience and thoughts.

Just a clarification, I already have the pair of perculas and one chromis (I'd like to add enough for a small school) in my 18 gallon.

After a few posts on the topic, the consensus is that this dwarf angel might be the least reef-safe of the genus Centropyge. So, he's officially off my list.

I'm really tempted to try a juvenile yellow tang in my 55-gallon understanding that to be a conscientious aquarist (a nod to Mr. Fenner), I need to make concrete plans to upgrade to a larger tank (at least 90-gallons) in the next 18 months or so.

I’ll post some pictures later, but I have quite a bit of live rock in the tank. I actually broke down 2 tanks, so I had plenty (a great story that I’ll have to post in a new thread)! Since I dried out 75% of it to kill off undesirables, I’m not sure how much I have in terms of weight, but I suspect it is around 100 lbs. Do you think that this further limits the swimming space for a tang and rules him out as well?

If the tang is a bad decision, I suppose I could get one or 2 Citron clown gobies (Giobiodon citrinus). From what I’ve read they would get along well with my perculas. Here's a great pic: http://www.reefermadness.us/images/Giobiodon-citrinus.jpg


If I go either of these two routes, it seems like I have room for one more fish. Ideally I’d like to find something relatively active that would compliment the colors of the fish already present (i.e., percula orange, tang yellow, and chromis blue/green). Maybe something in purple or multiple colors? Orchid dottybacks seem nice, but I’ve yet to read up on them. Any other ideas?

Thanks for the contribution to the thread!
Jeff


Last edited by jeffrey_ropp at 24-Jun-2005 13:41

I would add a diamond watchman goby. They are very cool and sift the sand almost all the time!