Freshwater 55 gallon, need stocking help

SuperSword48

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I have a freshwater 55 gallon that has two angelfish, an Australian rainbow, a ropefish, and then a moonlight and opaline gourami. The angelfish are a breeding pair so one of them has to go as the breeding is a source of aggression, this has led to me considering what to do with the tank. Everybody in the tank gets along as I have observed them for hours at this point and I am pretty certain of this except for the breeding of course. I am considering rehoming everybody but the ropefish and adding 8 angelfish and narrowing it down to 4-6 males to stay with the ropefish. I am also considering removing one or both of the angelfish as well as the Australian rainbowfish to add some smaller schooling fish, another option would be filling out the school of rainbowfish and figuring out what could go with that. The only fish I absolutely want to keep is the ropefish so I wanted to hear some suggestions as to what I should do
 

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I had a similar situation with my 60-gallon tank. Had to rehome my two angelfish (both females who didn't get along) and only had 3 oto, 3 cory, and 8 neon tetra. I ended up getting 3 Australian rainbowfish, 3 turquoise rainbowfish, and 2 boesemani rainbowfish. I enjoy watching the rainbowfish school. They never bother the other fish and never do any damage to each other. They can all do different things to show off to the other males (boesemani get darker stripes, turquoise can turn their head orange, and the Australian's flare their fins).

So, you can totally do a rainbowfish school and they will school with different types of rainbows. I've got a school of them, a school of neon tetra, and a school of serpae tetra with cory as my bottom dwellers and nerites and otos as my algae crew.

And you can do your angelfish option but angelfish are cichlids so there will almost always be small little territory disputes between them. Some can go very bad other times they can work out just fine. I'd do a group of all males and would make sure you're monitoring them and have a reliable LFS to rehome them if any one starts being too aggressive.

So at the end of the day, it's up to you and what you want to do :) you have options to choose from and they're all perfectly fine. Depends on what you're looking for in your day-to-day enjoyment when watching your tank.
 

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I had a similar situation with my 60-gallon tank. Had to rehome my two angelfish (both females who didn't get along) and only had 3 oto, 3 cory, and 8 neon tetra. I ended up getting 3 Australian rainbowfish, 3 turquoise rainbowfish, and 2 boesemani rainbowfish. I enjoy watching the rainbowfish school. They never bother the other fish and never do any damage to each other. They can all do different things to show off to the other males (boesemani get darker stripes, turquoise can turn their head orange, and the Australian's flare their fins).

So, you can totally do a rainbowfish school and they will school with different types of rainbows. I've got a school of them, a school of neon tetra, and a school of serpae tetra with cory as my bottom dwellers and nerites and otos as my algae crew.

And you can do your angelfish option but angelfish are cichlids so there will almost always be small little territory disputes between them. Some can go very bad other times they can work out just fine. I'd do a group of all males and would make sure you're monitoring them and have a reliable LFS to rehome them if any one starts being too aggressive.

So at the end of the day, it's up to you and what you want to do :) you have options to choose from and they're all perfectly fine. Depends on what you're looking for in your day-to-day enjoyment when watching your tank.
I’m really indecisive, I think I’m leaning towards the male angelfish tank due to the challenge of it and because I already have honey gourami in a 20 gallon. But the rainbow fish also seem like a fun option
 
Angelfish are very difficult to sex, I watched my pair laying and fertilizing eggs and it was still tricky to catch who was doing what. If you are splitting up a mated pair of angels to avoid squabbles, it seems strange that you would add male angels which will probably be worse."

Australian rainbows are amazing, I watched mine grow to large sizes and amazing colors. I had three electric blue acara with them, Acara are another fish you might be interested in if you rehomed the Angels, but somtimes they squabbled too of corse.
 
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Angelfish are very difficult to sex, I watched my pair laying and fertilizing eggs and it was still tricky to catch who was doing what. If you are splitting up a mated pair of angels to avoid squabbles, it seems strange that you would add male angels which will probably be worse."

Australian rainbows are amazing, I watched mine grow to large sizes and amazing colors. I had three electric blue acara with them, Acara are another fish you might be interested in if you rehomed the Angels, but somtimes they squabbled too of corse.
I’m splitting the angels up due to the aggression during breeding and would be making an all male tank. I also don’t have the tanks available for breeding which is why I’d also be splitting them up. This would prevent breeding aggression although they would still squabble for dominance sometimes. The rainbow fish might be a good idea and some blue acara as well. My only concern with the blue acara would be them digging up my rooted plants however
I plan to keep the tank as an all male tank as I do not have the resources to breed. I'd like to keep a small school of tetras or something similar as well as a small school of cory catfish to act as a cleanup crew.
 
Some keep 2, some keep 10, most say 6-8 is best. A 55 is suitable for a few angelfish but it depends. Is it planted? How much maintenance will you do?
 

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Some keep 2, some keep 10, most say 6-8 is best. A 55 is suitable for a few angelfish but it depends. Is it planted? How much maintenance will you do?

- 2 if it's lightly planted with little maintenance.
- 4 if it's lightly planted with okay maintenance.
- 6 if it's moderately planted with good maintenance.
- 8 if it's heavily-planted with okay maintenance.
- 10 if it's heavily-planted with good maintenance.

If it's lightly planted with little maintenance, 2-4. If it's heavily-planted with high filtration and frequent maintenance, you could go all the way up to 10.
I think I am gonna aim for six, I plan to do maintenance weekly at about a 50% water change and I have multiple java ferns, two bamboo, ludwigia and ludwigia mini red, blue stricta and moneywort. They are in the process of recovering from the store but hopefully should not die.
 
That’s not a good idea. Angelfish aren’t like peacocks or African cichlids males where that works. Angelfish are territorial creatures and sorry but 6 males isn’t going to work in a 55 gallon. They will beat eachother badly. It’s just not a good move in my eyes. I would keep a single angel if you don’t want breeding issues. I would say angelfish are worse than most. I had one that was 10x more aggressive than my tiger Oscar’s I currently own it would attack literally everything. I would keep a single angel and add a blue acara. it will dig but it won’t cause you problems like angels will in a community setup. Unless you are looking for a species tank and maybe some bottom feeders. Also if you want to keep the rope fish they really prefer to be kept in groups they enjoy each others company they get a good sized to so you are really limited in a 55 with a group of ropes I would rehome the rainbow fish and forget the whole community idea because adult ropes will devour your small fish they get 10 to 12 inches and like to eat fish. I will give you 3 stockings that I would do. Depending on what you’re looking for.
1 angel
1 blue acara
3 rope fish

4 male angels
4 pictus catfish for the bottom
1 bristlenose pleco

1 angel
1 blue acara
10 rainbow fish
1 bristlenose pleco
10 Cory cats or 4 pictus for the bottom
 
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  • #9
That’s not a good idea. Angelfish aren’t like peacocks or African cichlids males where that works. Angelfish are territorial creatures and sorry but 6 males isn’t going to work in a 55 gallon. They will beat eachother badly. It’s just not a good move in my eyes. I would keep a single angel if you don’t want breeding issues. I would say angelfish are worse than most. I had one that was 10x more aggressive than my tiger Oscar’s I currently own it would attack literally everything. I would keep a single angel and add a blue acara. it will dig but it won’t cause you problems like angels will in a community setup. Unless you are looking for a species tank and maybe some bottom feeders. Also if you want to keep the rope fish they really prefer to be kept in groups they enjoy each others company they get a good sized to so you are really limited in a 55 with a group of ropes I would rehome the rainbow fish and forget the whole community idea because adult ropes will devour your small fish they get 10 to 12 inches and like to eat fish. I will give you 3 stockings that I would do. Depending on what you’re looking for.
1 angel
1 blue acara
3 rope fish

4 male angels
4 pictus catfish for the bottom
1 bristlenose pleco

1 angel
1 blue acara
10 rainbow fish
1 bristlenose pleco
10 Cory cats or 4 pictus for the bottom
The first suggestion won’t work. generally people agree that only 1 rope fish will barely fit in a 55 gallon, meaning three isn’t an option because ropefish can get a foot long. The other problem is that from what I’ve read blue acara don’t like to be housed without any of their own kind. If you have housed blue acara alone please let me know how that went as I could be wrong. I like the second suggestion and I may go with that. The third suggestion has the same issue with the blue acara and my Australian rainbow fish prefer a temp between 70-80 while the angelfish normally prefer to sit at 78-82. While I’m sure it would work it wouldn’t be ideal and I’d have to pick a different rainbow.
 
Angels will be just fine at 76 or 78 and you just said they like to be between 70 and 80? Pretty sure that’s in the Range of an angel. and I mean it’s doable with the ropes but you would need to have some heavy filters and great water change regime. Blue acara are perfectly fine alone I’ve kept the electric blue version and the regular and they had 0 issues being the lone blue acara.
 
I think I am gonna aim for six, I plan to do maintenance weekly at about a 50% water change and I have multiple java ferns, two bamboo, ludwigia and ludwigia mini red, blue stricta and moneywort. They are in the process of recovering from the store but hopefully should not die.
Six sounds good. I hope your plants recover :)
 

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In one 55 I have (2) adults. Not exactly the best setup as I feel they could use more room. This tank is planted and has a couple pieces of driftwood in it. Other occupants are a few platys, my son's beloved 10" albino sailfin, a yellow bn, a 4 stripe pictus, and some (ok, ok, a bunch) of gold mystery snails that are reproducing like rabbits. **Planning for larger tank so in the immortal words of Aaron Rodgers...relax :)

In another 55 I have (8) juvies - some have bodies the size of a quarter, others are 50c pieces. They're in with (2) large featherfins and several diamond tetras. Tank is also home to a galaxy pleco and a few (ok, ok, more than a few) gold mystery snails. Everyone gets along fine for now with the featherfins slated to move into a larger tank later on. They're gentle giants and really don't do anything other than occasionally chase eachother for maybe 5 seconds then go back to chilling out in their areas.
 
How many angelfish can go in a 55 gallon tank.
a. 6-10 juveniles for growout until they mature and start getting territorial. Then remove them all.
b. A breeding pair until they separate (Angelfish are not infinitely monogamous but may separate and look for other partners at some point)
c. A single specimen if it's a community setting.

And neither of these options is ideal in my opinion.
 
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a. 6-10 juveniles for growout until they mature and start getting territorial. Then remove them all.
b. A breeding pair until they separate (Angelfish are not infinitely monogamous but may separate and look for other partners at some point)
c. A single specimen if it's a community setting.

And neither of these options is ideal in my opinion.
What do you suggest then? is keeping a community of 4-6 angelfish a bad idea?
 
It could work depending on the individuals, but the tank is rather small for 6 full grown ones. I had 6 (now 5 as I had to remove an aggressive one) in a tank that measures 160 x 60 x 60 cm (that is over 150 gallons and 2ft tall). They do seem to take up quite a lot of space in that tank, they get bigger and taller than most people seem to imagine. Mine are all males which makes things easier as apart from one (which was actually OK for two years) they all get on with only minor bickering.
 
In my case, the (2) adults are fully grown and they just don't seem to have the space to swim that they deserve. I couldn't imagine keeping more in the same sized tank - it'd be asking for trouble. Mine sometimes nip at each other, nothing drastic, but you will seem them go at it a bit. Usually calms down and neither are hurt but more room would be better.

I mean, we're talking about a fish that is larger than my cell phone so not a small fish in the least.
 
You can probably keep 4 males IF you raise them together from dime size; it is not a given and things can change when they mature but typically i have found that if raised together they will establish their pecking order and behave (this presumes they end up being all males - not a given). I've been exceptionally happy with this fellow marble angels (normally i don't like marble but they have turned out to be pretty decent fishes): whataguppy_7 on eBay

His platinum are also pretty decent but his blacks seem to have more problems (i'm speculating inbreeding but not sure).

You have to remember male angels can get quite large; a 55 has no width and the angles won't be able to hide from each other if things go sour so you have to be prepare to remove a few when they mature IF they don't get along. If you end up with a female either keep a m/f or get rid of the female. The angles won't bother with cory - so that won't be a problem. If you keep a tetra it needs to be larger than cardinals as adult male angles will eat cardinals.
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If you do keep the female with a male let her pick the male; if she dislikes the male you choose she will kill it.
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You will need to do large water changes weekly if you keep four adult angels in a 55; if you are not prepare to do the water changes keep fewer fishes.
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I recommend that you do not keep a pleco with them.
 
I'm going to be honest about this, it hinges on the filtration you have and how much work you want to do also. filtration will only get you so far, water changing gets you the rest of the way.

if you want an easy time and you have a decent filter, 4-6 adult MALE angels TOPS. If you will have other fish with them and don't want it looking overrun with angels, go with 4 adult males, fill out with larger amazon tetra species, not huge ones but if neons they have to be the 1" to 1.5" max size adults or the angels will corner and kill them if they are juveniles and not fast enough yet.

More angels than this and the density gets rough, it gets expensive on food to keep them gaining mass, nitrates build quick and water changes have to happen more often to keep the water quality up, if the water quality declines your first signs are fin fuzz and/or a cloudy eye, which will progress to more serious issues if the water quality isn't corrected.
Can't stress it enough, you can have mediocre looking angels with poorer water quality, or you can have pretty stunning angels with pristine water quality. So the easier you make it on yourself by not overstocking, the easier it is to keep them in top condition. A big school looks great, BUT it's a LOT of work to keep them fed and in top condition. A bunch of raggedy fish don't look good at all.

About impossible to identify males from females with certainty before maturity. I had luck rehoming females and buying quarter sized body juveniles to fill out again to get all males. and just kept 1 female on the side to breed to get to my group which i've whittled down to all males "I think".

If you go that route of unsexed angels, start with 6 juveniles, 1 or maybe 2 will be females, possibly 3.
Dime size bodies or smaller will get chased and maybe beaten to death with the mature angels wanting to eat them maybe at the nickel sized body also, Juvenile angelfish introductions to mature males, they really need to have that 25mm (1") body or bigger. That goes for all fish kept with adult male angels, they need to at least be 1" body plus fins to have a shot of being ignored as food. you can decide later to stay at 4 or 5, or go to six as they grow, or just 2 or 3, but seriously you have to stay on top of it, you can't leave females in there, and you have to watch for maturity and pairing or all heck is going to break loose and fish will get damaged.


I do not recommend more than 4-6 angels for anyone with any size tank above a 40 breeder and less angels for a smaller tank, 2 angels and nothing else, 20g minimum tank size, and that's pushing it.
Unless you have a couple years of experience with angels under your belt and have been through everything with them and then decide to do the work and be attentive to it. then you can make it as hard as you want. But I don't recommend making it harder than it has to be from the start until you get experience with them.
And I don't suggest going for 6 mature adults if you want to keep other fish with them.

I also recommend at least a 20g QT/Hospital tank, they are bound to get injured from time to time they are cichlids, its going to happen, or a constantly picked on fish needing TLC to catch up. it's good to have flexibility. to be able to remove a fish at a moments notice like in the case of a female maturing, or one of them getting picked on too much and needs some time to catch up to the rest and de-stress. Even if you keep two juveniles in the 20 and 4 in the 55 and move fish around from time to time to keep it cycled in both places and everyone knows everyone and used to the switching around and fish coming and going. it kind of breaks them of the "mine" habit and becoming more sharing and less dominant.

You may find, that 4 or 6 fish just don't work for you because of the individuals involved, between dominant males and females maturing, but for some reason two fish get along like peas and carrots, or 3, and you might decide to rehome the ones that are difficult and just keep two or 3 males that aren't trouble.. or for the size of the fish and how you want the tank to be with the other fish, and how you want it to look or to take care of the tank, decide to go with just two or 3, so it's not so much work, or not Angel dominant. ,Also why I suggest that 20g "flexibility" tank. No harm no foul doing that. If you don't need it, you can always take it out of service. but it's a lifesaver when things aren't working out and you have to separate someone until you can rehome it.


best of luck. you can always add more, but start easy and get the fish you want first, add more or less so it's how you want it to be. there are mild mannered angels out there that just follow the herd their whole lives, and relatively easy, there are some really ornery ones also, it may take some time to find the right fit for you and your tank. that works for everything long term.
 
I do not recommend more than 4-6 angels for anyone with any size tank above a 40 breeder and less angels for a smaller tank, 2 angels and nothing else, 20g minimum tank size, and that's pushing it.
Unless you have a couple years of experience with angels under your belt and have been through everything with them and then decide to do the work and be attentive to it. then you can make it as hard as you want. But I don't recommend making it harder than it has to be from the start until you get experience with them.
I think i can safely keep 8 in an aquarium that is 10ftx4ft ;)
 
I don't think it is just about filtration and water changes though, but also abut the space the fish have for swimming and moving around.
 
I think i can safely keep 8 in an aquarium that is 10ftx4ft ;)
No no no, you are being modest, with a little headache you can handle 2 dozen I'm sure.
 

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No no no, you are being modest, with a little headache you can handle 2 dozen I'm sure.
Visually looking at the tank that has only two angelfish in it with a few gourami, I don't see how six wouldn't fit especially since I am hoping that without the females they won't mark territory. However I have never had more then these two fish and I am highly inexperienced, hence why I don't trust my opinion lol
 
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  • #23
So as an update, I bought a total of 8 juvenile angelfish and put them in a 75 gallon aquarium with 10 lemon tetras and 7 bronze corydoras. The plan at this point is to let them grow and observe their behavior, I plan to take out any females to hopefully prevent breeding aggression and whittle their number down to 6. This is somewhat of a personal experiment to see how they get along and if it will be enough space, as I have heard that non breeding angelfish shoal and do better in groups. I am more inclined to get rid of breeding pairs then keeping one in a community tank, as in my experience they get extremely aggressive even if it is only for a day or two. While it doesn't seem to prove any long term damage to the fish, I am sure the unnecessary stress isn't best for either the angelfish or fellow community fish, although it does raise the question of how bad this stress really is, and whether or not it is minimal enough to justify keeping a breeding pair in a community tank. Anyways I may update this thread with how the experiment turns out. Please feel free to critique this setup or my thoughts as I am always looking to expand my knowledge or gain other insights, this topic seems largely divided however.
 
Hello supersword!

I am an angelfish “mom” and I agree with many things already said above. Personally I have a 110g tall with 5 angel fish, 2 are part of a Breeding pair, 1 laying female but no mate, and 2 unpaired males (so that’s 2 females and 3 males). They all have their own personalities and yes it can be frustrating when it comes to them breeding , we make sure to remove the eggs right away, sometimes the eggs get eaten by the parents if the other fish don’t leave them alone. It saves the headache and stress of them nipping and chasing the other fish. My biggest fish is about palm size and the smaller are about golf ball size bodies. They all hold their own and take turns being bumholes to each other, the bully becomes the bullied but in general they have plenty of space and as long as we keep the eggs away it can be quite peaceful. I would say that you won’t know unless you try. My husband used to have a family 29 gallon tank as a child/teen with a bunch of rasboras, neon tetras, 5 full grown angels (including a breeding pair), pleco, rainbow shark, corydoras and a few more fish I don’t recall. They all lived in there and got along, and they were absolutely overstocked but they were super healthy fish who lived atleast 5+ years, I think the angels close to 10 years together. Not saying that’s ideal at all, but I’m trying to say that if you have the right fish they will get along.

In my tank along with the 5 angels I have a rainbow shark, a platy (I had another platy who wouldn’t stop pecking and fin nipping the angels so it had to go), 4 ottos, corydora, 2 gourami , snails. My tank is very understocked and the worst personality in there is actually the rainbow shark who is supposed to be the peaceful one lol
 
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  • #25
Hello supersword!

I am an angelfish “mom” and I agree with many things already said above. Personally I have a 110g tall with 5 angel fish, 2 are part of a Breeding pair, 1 laying female but no mate, and 2 unpaired males (so that’s 2 females and 3 males). They all have their own personalities and yes it can be frustrating when it comes to them breeding , we make sure to remove the eggs right away, sometimes the eggs get eaten by the parents if the other fish don’t leave them alone. It saves the headache and stress of them nipping and chasing the other fish. My biggest fish is about palm size and the smaller are about golf ball size bodies. They all hold their own and take turns being bumholes to each other, the bully becomes the bullied but in general they have plenty of space and as long as we keep the eggs away it can be quite peaceful. I would say that you won’t know unless you try. My husband used to have a family 29 gallon tank as a child/teen with a bunch of rasboras, neon tetras, 5 full grown angels (including a breeding pair), pleco, rainbow shark, corydoras and a few more fish I don’t recall. They all lived in there and got along, and they were absolutely overstocked but they were super healthy fish who lived atleast 5+ years, I think the angels close to 10 years together. Not saying that’s ideal at all, but I’m trying to say that if you have the right fish they will get along.

In my tank along with the 5 angels I have a rainbow shark, a platy (I had another platy who wouldn’t stop pecking and fin nipping the angels so it had to go), 4 ottos, corydora, 2 gourami , snails. My tank is very understocked and the worst personality in there is actually the rainbow shark who is supposed to be the peaceful one lol
Thank you for the input! I never considered immediately removing the eggs, I suppose that would circumvent the issue of the aggression during breeding. The rest of your post seems to confirm my suspicion that the "proper" amount of angelfish in a tank is subjective and based more so on the fish aggression.
 
You cant determine wich angel fish are female until you see them laying eggs. So I hope you have a good plan to rehome them before injuriers occur, but goodluck, and I hope to hear how it works out!
 
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  • #27
You cant determine wich angel fish are female until you see them laying eggs. So I hope you have a good plan to rehome them before injuriers occur, but goodluck, and I hope to hear how it works out!
I have a 20 gallon for temporary rehoming until I can give them to someone or a lfs. So I do have a plan to deal with any immediate aggression.
 
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  • #28
Another update to the thread, I have had the 8 angelfish for about 6 months now and they are a little smaller then a saucer plate. I do see some aggression and occasionally an angelfish will get a fin fracture or a small piece of fin/scale damage. Otherwise the fish have never been ill and look great. Another note is that the aggression isn't really ever from just one fish and so there isn't a bully to remove. My conclusion from this is that keeping 8 angelfish is doable, however it is not ideal. They all eat together and generally get along, however there isn't enough space for them to be able to really get away even with hiding spaces. I think 6 would be the maximum for a 75 gallon tank unless it was very seriously planted, which I found difficult in my low tech setup as the large bioload made algae go crazy. It is possible that I got a more ornery group, or maybe having a temperature of 80 in the tank is producing more aggressive behaviors as they start to become mature. So with those possibilities in mind, keeping more then six would definitely require a balance of selectively choosing certain angelfish or setting up a tank in a specific way to avoid any damage. The other option is to accept that damage will happen sometimes as they are cichlids, but personally I'm trying to avoid damage as much as possible considering in the wild they do isolate in pairs and therefor shouldn't really be taking constant abuse in a shoal.
 
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