pammac1971

I have recently bought 2 Angel fish, they are in a 75 litre tank, together with a pleco, 2 silver dollars, 2 silver sharks, and 3 dwarf gouramis. One of the Angel fish is bigger than the other and keeps having a go at the smaller one, but not having a go at any other fish, why is this and what should I do?

Allie

First of all with that many fish you need a larger tank. A pair of angelfish would be good for your 20g/75L. Silver dollars and sharks get big...you should have a 75g at least for all of those fish. Sorry.
They are fighting b/c they need more room....depending on their size they could be looking to mate.

COBettaCouple

Angels (adult size 6") should have at least 30g, a Pleco (adult size 18") should have at least 55g.. Silver Dollars (adult size 6-7") should be kept in a group of at least 4. Silver Sharks (adult size 13") should also have at least a 55g tank.

Basically, that tank is severly overstocked and I'd also recommend at least a 75g tank for these fish. Such close quarters will lead to water chemistry problems and aggression problems, unfortunately.

pammac1971

All the fish I have are very small at the moment, the silver dollars are only 1inch, silver sharks about 2 inches and the angels are 1-2 inches, the pleco is also still small at about 3-4 inches. It is my intention to invest in a larger tank as they get bigger. Is my tank still considered as being too small as the fish are still small?

Sabi

At 1-2in the angels are too small to start fighting for pairing, i think. My guess is that because the big one is feeling cramped he is turning on the other of his species.

COBettaCouple

i'd agree and unfortunately as they grow, the conflicts will get worse in the attempt to establish territory, especially the angels. With these kind of fish, it's best if you can give them about 4g per adult inch - even at the current size, they'd need about 4g per inch so I'd look at upgrading as soon as you're able to, or perhaps returning some fish to ease their territory issues.