Found My Angelfish Pair!

I'm so excited. There was someone local on Facebook marketplace that had to rehome a bunch of angelfish (juvenile and pairs). I'll be picking up a breeding pair of Black Angelfish this weekend! I'm super excited. He says they have had a successful breeding already. I'm pretty excited. He had a beautiful marble koi and platinum koi pair (didn't like them at first but they've grown on me) but the blacks are what I've really wanted! But yeah, I'm stoked!

 

that's really exciting I love angels especially koi. hope it goes well!

 

Awesome congrats!
What kind of set up do you have for them?

 

They will be going into my 37g Amazon river tank. It's a Blackwater setup with Amazon sword, Brazilian pennywort, watergrass, and mayaca fluviatilis. Ph is 6.8, 3pieces of mopanI driftwood, one piece of regular driftwood, almond leaves. The only fish currently in the tank is an albino BN Pleco (added yesterday) and the pair will be coming home tonight. Eventually I'll add SterbaI Corys and lemon tetras

 

That sounds awesome!
What about the babies though? Where do you intend to put them?

 

At this particular point, I'm not set up for them to breed. I'll let nature take it's course at first (if any fry were to survive, I'd probably just look for people that wanted them). When I get to the point where I'm ready for breeding, I will likely get one of the boxes for separating them from the rest of the tank.

 

A breeder box will only work for a couple weeks tops. If you do hope to breed at some point, you will need a large tank to grow out the babies properly. Not a breeder box or net.

Anyway congratulations on the pair

 

My ultimate goal is to have a separate tank for them, but it's not my immediate goal as I am just really starting to get back into this hobby

 

You dove back in head-first getting a breeding pair of angels! That will come with challenges. Even if you don't intend to raise their young. They will be spawning every couple weeks and will be VERY aggressive to any other fish you put with them.

A 37 gallon tank has the same footprint as a 29 gallon. And a 29 is the bare minimum for a breeding pair. Many people would say even that is far too small. I keep a breeding pair in a 29 and I wouldn't dare put any other middle swimmers with them. Your tank may be taller, but it is the same footprint and that is a tight one for a breeding pair of angels to share with any other fish other than maybe some bottom dwellers.

Basically...where I am going with this is, if you want your 37 gallon to be a successful COMMUNITY tank, a breeding pair of angelfish is not the way to go. :-(

 

That's very good to know! Thank you! My primary concern is the angelfish. They are my favorite fish, so even if it's only them in there with the pleco, I'd be happy. Everything else was an afterthought based on what proteome we telling me to put in with them.

 

Also, I do have a 20 gallon x-high. Would that be ok to start with the offspring in?

 

For off spring a 20 high would be fine.

 

That's very good to know! Thank you! My primary concern is the angelfish. They are my favorite fish, so even if it's only them in there with the pleco, I'd be happy. Everything else was an afterthought based on what proteome we telling me to put in with them.

Angelfish Are my favorite as well!! You have great taste
The other fish you mentioned would work well as a community in your 37 gallon with one adult angelfish. But a breeding pair would wreak havoc on all those other fish making it not a very peaceful enjoyable community to look at. Three-foot or Four-foot long tanks can handle a community that includes a breeding pair of angels with the right conditions. But your footprint unfortunately is a bit tight. I'm only looking out for you! Angelfish are very protective parents!

Also, I do have a 20 gallon x-high. Would that be ok to start with the offspring in?

A 20 gallon would work for the babies for a few weeks to a month. It largely depends on how many you try to grow out. A huge spawn, no way. A small group of like 10 babies? sure.
The thing is, they will grow VERY slow in a smaller tank. Making it take a very long time before they are large enough to sell or bring to the LFS. My grow out tanks consist of three 46 gallon bowfronts and a 40 breeder. In tanks that size, a group of 30ish babies take months to get to nickel size bodies!! Cut the tank size in half and it'll take significantly longer. So my suggestion, when the time comes, is to selectively reduce....and keep 10 babies to raise for fun. If you want to get more serious about it and raise larger spawns, you really must have a large grow out tank.

 

bizaliz3 knows what she's talking about, you'll definitely want a grow out tank larger than a 20, even if you only choose to grow out a small batch. You'll thank her later when you have a bunch of healthy beautiful baby angels to show for it.

 

Congratulations. I think everybody loves Angels. That picture shows what appears to be a horribly overcrowded tank. Make sure to check the water parameters they're in now so you don't shock them when they're moved. You might want to do a very slow acclimatization if anything's... wait for it... fishy.

 

Congratulations. I think everybody loves Angels. That picture shows what appears to be a horribly overcrowded tank. Make sure to check the water parameters they're in now so you don't shock them when they're moved. You might want to do a very slow acclimatization if anything's... wait for it... fishy.

It was way overcrowded. He had the two I took(that are a breeding pair) with another black angelfish the same size (about half dollar), and at least another 15 quarter sized ones, a couple 5" rainbow sharks, and 8+ 2inch bn pleco. 75 gallon tank. I was happy to get them out of there.

I slowly introduced them, floating method while slowly adding water from my tank.

 

It looks to me like these guys may have gotten nipped a bit in the tank they were in. I have just them in the tank with a 1.5" albino bn. They seem to be adjusting to it well. They have 4pieces of driftwood and a bunch of live plants in with them. I'm excited to see how they progress!

 

Congrats on the breeding pair. They arw beautiful. I love the blacks.

Bizaliz is correct and I'm so glad you are taking her advice. I have my breeding pair in a 38 gallon and there is only "dither fish" in with them when I no longer want eggs. It makes their egg laying intervals longer. They will need a larger grow out as well. I have a 55 gallon tank and 2-40g totes for the 60 plus angel babies I have and I'm not sure that will be enough. They grow super fast in the right size tank.

You are correct as well it looks like they had their do s nipped. I'd keep an eye on it and ensure that the water changes are done frequently to ensure they heal up.

Congrats again.