Robert.Althorpe.

Hello everyone i am fairly new to the game of fish keeping and seem to be doing ok at the mo i have 2 angel fish, 1 male fighter, 3 female fighters (lucky boy lol) red tailed black shark and two red rams.My tank is roughly about 3 months old everything has been going fine had a few ammonia scares but discovered my pinch of food was a bit to much i cut back on the feeding and now thats fine.The one problem i have is that one of my angel fish has started to loose its top fin it is possible it could be fin rot but im not 100% sure what advice would you kind people give to a trying beginner.Look forward to hear from you guys

Lucy

Hi Welcome to Fish Lore
I'm sorry about your Angel.
What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
It's possible he's getting nipped. Unfortunatly, you have some incompatible fish.
Angels can sometimes be aggressive with one another in your size tank.
Imo, I'd blame the bettas for his fin. Most bettas don't make very good community fish. They can get very aggressive or be picked on.
Males and females shouldn't be kept together. Females will sometimes tolerate each other, but usually in much larger tanks and if they're sisters who grew up together.

My suggestion is to separate the bettas in 5g tanks of their own.
Here's our Betta Care Guide

I hate to be so blunt, but you really should separate them before some one is more seriously hurt or killed.

After you get the fish sorted out, keeping the Angel's water pristine to prevent infection along with some added stress coat should help him heal. You can also add a few drops of Garlic guard or garlic juice and Fish Protector.

All of your fish are amazing, just not together.
Best of luck.

Robert.Althorpe.

thanks for the reply lucy im still waiting for my test kit to arrive but i have it tested regulary at a fish shop near me and they havent said that the nitrate or nitrite are a concern the only thing that has been a bit high was my ammonia but it was only very minimal so have just cut down the feeding a little bit and hopefully it will be back to normal this week.As for the fish not being compatible im a bit annoyed because i was very carefull in choosing the type of fish i have so as not to have this problem i trusted the fish shop in pointing me in the right direction as i have little to no knowledge of fish compatability as i have only just started, but i have not seen any of the fighters attack anything they are very placid also the angels seem very happy as a pair but i will make sure i keep a close on those as well.Would you say that the rest are fine together, do you think i should seperate the angels and have just the one? The only problem i have in seperating any of them is that i only have enough room for the one tank as i have a little daughter and another baby on the way, cant have all the room now can i lol. thanks again Rob.

Lucy

lol, You'd be surprised how many tanks you can fit in a room. Seriously, I do understand what you mean. Congrats on the new baby! That's exciting.

I don't know that much about angels. I'm pretty sure if they pair off you'll be ok. Sometimes if you have 2 of the same gender, they might not get along. You have a better chance of them getting along with more room.

I'm glad the bettas don't seem to be causing a problem. Keep your eye on them and separate if needed. Remember, we can't watch out tanks 24 hrs a day. Especially with a little daughter. lol

If they're not picking on each other, it very well could be your water conditions. If I remember correctly, angels do best in well established tanks.

Let me send a message to someone who's more familiar with angels and ask them to look at this thread.
Is there anyway you can post a pic?

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!!

love new babies!!! human and aquatic

I agree with lucy...either one angel is bullying the other, the bettas are being bullies or overcrowded with fin damage as they grow.......

having male/female bettas in the same tank is making the male very stressed....they dont make good tank mates with many fish, especially their own kind

in a 24 gal tank, thats enough room for your angels only as if they are overcrowded, their fins wont develop properly ..so it could be that also...

Robert.Althorpe.

Thanks for your replys guys much appreciated i will get a check done on my water asap and let you know the outcome, i am very annoyed at the shop for letting me have fish that are deemed to be incompatible when all of the fish i have purchased are from the same shop, i have asked everytime i have been in how many fish i should have in my tank, i have told them the tank size on every occasion.Also they arent a big department store they are a little family run shop who are also fish keepers with alot of experience (they say). What would your advice be then guys? thanks rob

Shawnie

dont be hard on yourself...we have all been there one time or another...fish stores are out to make money and MOST dont really care about the health or outcome of our tanks very sad but very true...you do have a few that are great, but the majority stink...if you have a www.craigslist.org or a kiiji around your area, theres always a ton of good deals on used set ups..sometime you can even get entire setups for very reasonable prices..otherwise, id keep the angels and rehome home the rest...unless you want to divide your tank and keep your male betta on one side, and your females on the other and rehome everything else.....but then you take a chance of the females killing one another or stressing eachother at some point in time...

Robert.Althorpe.

hello again guys just a quickie regarding the (seachem purigen) product i was told by my local fish store that it was great,so i purchased the bag type as this seemed the better option the guy in the shop said that it can sit anywhere in the tank and it will soak up all the rubbish and give me great water quality. Just wondering if any of you guys have used it or are using it because i have just read the box and it states that it should sit in my filter that would be great but the filter in my tank is too small for it to go in as i only have a small tank (90 litres) will it do the same job just placed in the tank or will this be a waste of time ?

Shawnie

im sorry but, IMO its a waste...it buffers the water too quick and from what ive heard, isnt good for the pH .....your tank has too many fish and needs to be cycled and thats not going to help it only cover up the bottom line issues is that the same fish store that sold you all those fish for your 90L tank? because they are not compatable and dont have enough room....the test kit recommended and daily water changes with prime or amquel+ are going to be what helps the most...as well as either rehoming or moving some of those fish to a bigger tank....dont let them sell you anything else at this point ....