Angelfish Pairing?

Hello!

I recently added a very sweet Angelfish named Oscar to my 20 G (long) tank. He is approximately 1.5 inches right now, and I will be upgrading to a 36 or 46 G tank before the end of the year.
At my LFS I spotted some beautiful Koi Angelfish that really caught my eye. If I purchased one of these Koi Angelfish as a "friend" for Oscar, would that work? I believe I heard that when put in pairs, Angelfish can become aggressive - though I saw multiple Angelfish in the tank where Oscar came from, as well as the Koi Angelfish at my LFS.

In case you need to know, I also have a school of White Skirt Tetras in the tank with Oscar, and am seriously considering adding 1 or 2 German Blue Rams that are currently small in size (about 1/2-1 inch). Again - these fish will be housed in at least a 36 G tank before the end of the year, if not much much sooner (which is my intent).

Thank you!

 

GBRs and Angels aren't temp compatible with Skirt Tetras.

 

A breeding pair of Angels will be somewhat aggressive but as they have smaller mouths and are slower swimmers save the occasional quick burst they don't pose a real threat to anything with any size. Note that until you see them breeding they are impossible to sex. Most people including myself think you are better off with a group of 4 or more if you are going to have more than one and for that you would need a pretty good sized tank.

 

Angels are very fast actually, they can and will catch fish that fit in their mouth including smaller tetras (not neons as they are temp incompatible), they do this thing when attacking where they turn almost sideways and dart across the tank (even 48" tanks). As juviniles they are more docile, but as adults they can be unpredictable. They may be calm and gentle with each other and other fish or they may decide the tank is their's and go on a killing spree. Pairs are pretty bad for a community tank as they spawn every 8-14 days on average and each time they get aggressive defending their territory which may leave other fish cowering in a corner or on the bottom of the tank dead.
Go as large as you can if you plan to get another angel (and some of the kois can be tempting, I have seven stunning juvies right now that have almost total orange coverage with little black on them).

 

Thanks for your input, guys. Yeah, those Koi Angelfish certainly ARE tempting. Absolutely gorgeous. But I definitely don't wanna stress them out or end up with dead tetras.

As far as temperature compatibility, I understand that there's a disparity - however, my aquarium guy @ Aquarium Co Op said that if I slowly and steadily increasing the temperature to 80 F over several days, then keeping it there and adding the GBR, I should be just fine, just need to keep a close eye on my Tetras at first.

Thanks again, everybody!

 

You could do two Angels when you upgrade....BUT Only if you can go into it with the mentality that you may have to rehome one if they get too aggressive for the community environment. It's entirely trial-and-error when keeping multiple angels. It may work long term, it may not.

And I agree they are very fast! And they're quite scary When they turn their bodies sideways and dart across the tank. It's kind of creepy looking! Lol

 

You could do two Angels when you upgrade....BUT Only if you can go into it with the mentality that you may have to rehome one if they get too aggressive for the community environment. It's entirely trial-and-error when keeping multiple angels. It may work long term, it may not.

And I agree they are very fast! And they're quite scary When they turn their bodies sideways and dart across the tank. It's kind of creepy looking! Lol

Yeah, for sure. My angel darted like that this morning when I opened the hood for feeding. I had no idea they were so fast

 

Yeah, for sure. My angel darted like that this morning when I opened the hood for feeding. I had no idea they were so fast

Streamlined for hunting smaller fish and defending territory. Think of them as flat torpedoes.