angelfish in community tank

[expansion5th]

When I was a kid we had a small community tank with two angel fish. I remember vividly that all the fish died, the angel fish killed many of them. Now that I'm grown up and know something about aquariums, I think it was a pretty safe bet the tank was overtstocked.

I keep eying the angelfish in the store, though I don't trust them. How do they dod in community (non-chichlid) tanks?

Thanks,

Micah

[clinton1621]

It depends on their personality and whether they were raised around community fish, and also tank size like you said. They may eat smaller fish like male guppys and neon tetras (either sex on those). They can do well in community tanks.... however they should not be kept with aggressive species that like to attack long fins though.

[Alasse]

I have 7 of them in with Clown loaches, Pakistani loaches, Cory cats, Bristlenose and Shrimp...I have no probs with them

[Butterfly]

I have angels in three different tanks with several different kinds of fish and I find space is the decision maker. If they have plenty of space they can call their own the better they do.
Carol

[FishFolk]

They (angels) do well on Cory's (Coryd55) community tank and have bred many times. I had his fry (dime size) in a my 55 with breeding guppies. Not a good idea - The angel fry ate the guppy fry. They didn't bother the adults. I have a pair in a 55 but only have plecos with them and have no issues. Ours seem fairly calm tempered. Good Luck

[expansion5th]

Thanks everyone.

One the aggression issue, do you think it's better to keep one alone or a pair?

[Hypnox]

I have a pair in my community tank and they do just fine. They have been in the tank since they were only 1.5" long though. :P

[mathas]

Originally Posted by expansion5th

Thanks everyone.

One the aggression issue, do you think it's better to keep one alone or a pair?

I would say that unless you're willing to start with a group of juveniles and let a mating pair form and then sell or rehome the rest, or have a secondary tank you can move one to, I'd stick with just one.

If you buy two angels at random, and they decide not to pair off (or are of the same sex), you run into the risk of aggression between them as they get older. It might work out in your favor, but it also might not.

[expansion5th]

So ... they do alright by themselves?

[MissMTS]

Yes they can do fine by themselves. However, I must say that in my experience, a mated pair of angels is much more aggressive towards one another than a non mated pair. I have always kept angels in community tanks, and right now I have 6 angels in my 80 gallon and they do fine together. They may occassionally have little scuffles or chase eachother a little bit, but never anything serious. I like larger tetras, rams, and cories with angels They basically do fine with peaceful fish that are not small enough to fit into their mouths.

[04_si]

so in my 35g I have an angel that is about 2.5 inches, and my girlfriend has been talking about Neons for a looong time now... how do you think the Neons would do with a 2.5 inch angel?

[MissMTS]

They would probably be fine for now, but what are you going to do once the angel grows? I would go with cardinal tetras instead. They get bigger than neons and IMO they have prettier coloring.

[04_si]

theyre only a tiny bit bigger, and they do have prettier colouring

[MissMTS]

Yeah I know that they are only a tiny bit bigger, but supprisingly, that actually makes a difference when it comes down to whether or not an adult angel will eat them

[04_si]

thats very true. Ill see what i can find for deals!

Petland has fish nights. all fish 50% off on tuesdays and If i were to buy 10 itd have to be somewhere thatll take my glowlights!

[COBettaCouple]

We had some platys in the tank with our Angel pair and had no aggression issues. The angels now have albino lfbn plecos in their tank and I've never seen any problems, even when the angels are spawning.

[capekate]

I have had my angel fish in a community tank with many smaller fish and I never see any aggression towards them. The only aggression I have found was between the two Angels. They were fine when they were juvi's but as they matured, they really got aggressive with each other and I have had to keep them separated for a long time now. Ive had them both now for 19 months and never see any problems with other fish. I have cardinal tetras in the 55 with them and the angel does not bother them. I also had Bolivian rams ( one now) and the angel does not bother it as well.
Personally after all the headaches from the aggression between the two, I would only go with one. Even if you ended up with a pair, they would be aggressive towards other fish and you would end up having to put them in a breeder tank.

[Shaina]

Angelfish vary greatly in personality, so try to spend some time observing how they act at that store (while realizing that the store is super stressful so they aren't going to ask *exactly* like that at home).

Example:

I had a gold blushing angelfish a few months ago when I lived in Ohio, and he was the most passive angelfish I've ever seen. He was about 2" long, and would let the ghost shrimp chase him away from food. This despite being in what is nearly an "ideal" Angelfish tank: heavily planted with shaded areas from surface plants, and with shrimp, otos, neon tetras (all very passive) and at the time, three Bolivian Rams that were more concerned with their own politics at the floor of the tank than an Angelfish drifting about. I ended up selling him durnig my pre-move downsizing because he was so lackluster.

My new guy, a 1.5" (not counting caudal) "koi" angelfish, is bold as the day is long despite being in the exact same setup as the first one, and comes charging over to beg for food whenever I'm near the tank...cracks me up. He has no problems racing the others for food, and seems to like screwing with the Bolivians by skirting their territories just closely enough to raise their hackles, but far enough that they dare not go that far from their "base camp"
to chase him off, lol...

Did I mention I love angelfish?

[Jonathan P]

I recently had the opposite experience that MissMTS spoke about: In my community tank I started with 4 angels and had 2 pair-off and never saw them be aggressive towards each other (the other fish in the tank is another story). Once they were given their own tank, I still have not seen any aggression (1 year and counting). The other pair (still in the community tank) has turned out to have "squabbles" every day for that same time period. One day one is the aggressor and the next the other.

So it just goes to show that personality has a great deal to do with how they behave. As mentioned in previous threads getting them young and having them grow with the tank also helps a good bit.

[DarkRevoultions]

It depends on what type.

I go for the faster type of fishes. Because if the angels are trying to eat them, then the fishes will swim fast enough to stay out of their way.

Don't get convicts and africans, my angels killed a lot more on the africans than the convicts.