Mini Angel Fish?

Hello,

I have been unable to identify this species of fish in my tank:









They look like miniature angel fish. I don't think they are babies, because when I first got them they were smaller and didn't have so much color. Their backs have turned light yellow, their stripes have gotten more pronounced, and their eyes turned red. Also their anal? fins have these little hook structures on the tips now which weren't there before.

Can anyone tell me what these fish are? Thanks!

 

Most definitely an angel to me. Not sure what the baby ones look like, but I have seen angels this small. He/she is looking really good. =]

 

Looks like a very young and healthy angelfish to me! They can look like minI angels as soon as they are a month old. They just have a lot of growing to do still!

 

I’ve had them for maybe two months now and they haven’t gotten any larger. I guess I’ll just wait and see!

 

There isn't a miniature species of Angel. If they're not growing, they could possibly be runts, or not getting enough food or water changes. How much do you change, and how often?

 

25-30% every day or every other day. They are in a heavily stocked tank at the moment, but wil be moving into something bigger soon.

Now that I look closely I guess they have gotten slightly bigger. How long does it usally take for an angelfish to achieve adult size?

 

How big is the tank. That might be the issue

 

I bought them out of a fish market tank where there were probably ~20 in a very small tank, I'd guess about 2 gallons. Now they are in my 11.5 gallon, and I will be moving them into a 33 gallon within the next couple days. I know that it should be more like a 55 gallon, but 33 is the best I can do for now (~_~)*

 

The tanksize is the reason they are hardly growing.
They need space.

 

I will have a 33 gallon and an 11.5 gallon. I bought a lot of fish before I knew anything about keeping them, thanks to deceptive fish sellers. I have 3 angelfish (1 big, two small), a rainbow shark, 8 mollies, 6 platys and 4 guppies (3 female, one male). How would you split them up between those two tanks for optimum happiness?

Right now I plan to move the angel fish, mollies and shark to the larger tank once it's ready. I am not sure what to do about the guppies once they start breeding though. What about adding a betta to eat the fry? I am worried that once the larger fish are gone they will overpopulate the tank.

I want to keep the fish the best way I can with the two tanks I am able to have at the moment. The only option I have to get rid of fish is to kill them, which I don't want to do

 

The rainbow shark needs a minimum of 55g, a single molly needs 29 gallon minimum and angels should never be kept in trios..
I would check on social network or craigslist..sonething to rehome some of your fish.
If not, a lot of lfs will take them in

 

The only option I have to get rid of fish is to kill them, which I don't want to do

I hate to say this but, to put it bluntly, you are killing them all right now. A long, slow, stressful death at that....

You aren't just a little bit over stocked... you are incredibly Dangerously overstocked. I'm sorry you ended up in this situation :-( it's a tough spot to be in.

Do you have any local fish stores that you could bring them to?

 

And I also don't wanna be rude but think in the first place it is the buyers responsebility to read, inform etc.... on the fish one's buying. Don't (only) blame the seller. To be honest : he is doing is job.

There are a lot of other ways than to kill them (as mentioned by the other members).

 

I would put the two small angelfish and the guppies and maybe two or three platies in the bigger tank, and 3 or 4 platies in the smaller tank and rehome the rest.

 

Just popping in to wish you luck with these fish! I hope you manage to keep as many as possible, especially the Angels, pretty! And I hope you successfully re-home the rest.

Keep us posted on what happens. Here to help! ️

 

I’ve never kept fish before, so I didn’t research because when a seller tells you “oh yeah, all these species can live together in this tank” you don’t start to question it until fish start dying.

I live in China ,so there is no LFS or concept of animal cruelty here. After learning about fish I wouldn’t feel right returning them to the fish market. If the dealers would even take them, they’d just be going into more overstocked tanks than they’re in now and be doomed to live a short and horrible life.

I had even more fish before, but unsurprisingly a lot died. I gave some to a friend, and then they also died. So I don’t want to rehome any more unless I meet a competant hobbyist here. The remainder of the fish seem to be healthy and stable for now. No one is having fin rot or has shown other signs of stress for a while. No one is fighting or being territorial either.

So yeah, all I can do is keep the water clean and hope for the best, upgrading as I am able.

 

In that case...I'd do mollies, guppies shark and the larger Angel in the bigger tank. Baby angels and platys in the smaller tank.

 

You're going to need a very large tank to hold all of those fish in a healthy environment..
Just saying.
Good luck

 

In that case...I'd do mollies, guppies shark and the larger Angel in the bigger tank. Baby angels and platys in the smaller tank.

I disagree with baby angels in.the smaller (tiny) tank. Angels don't belong there and more important : don't grow !

 

In a 33g, 7 mollies, 2 angels and the shark at a minimum would have to go..
The guppies could stay if you had a plan for the fry..which sounds like survival of the fittest would be the plan. And with 3 females and a male, still doesn't sound like it would work. IMO
And adding a betta in the mix? No..that would be a bloodbath.

I still think the best option is to sell or return the fish. Just my opinion

 

I disagree with baby angels in.the smaller (tiny) tank. Angels don't belong there and more important : don't grow !

Just to let you know my thought process for putting them there...platies are the least aggressive/nippy fish so it would be safer that way, I'm not sure they will grow well in either tank with how overstocked they are, and tbh I would expect 3 to 4 fish deaths over the course of the next month or so to possibly make room for some rearranging. And odd numbers of angelfish seems to be bad.

There's really not a good solution at all here and the large angel and shark are likely to kill their tank mates this overstocked.

 

What are the dimensions of your 33?

 

Dimens. Arent really a matter. Sounds like you need a larger tank. But a lot of members have produced many good things.

Keep doing your regular waterchanges. This is crucial for territory issues, water quality, and fish health.

When your tank is up, I'd for sure put the large angel and the shark in there. They should coexist with another peaceful group. Guppies? Or platys?

Dont add any more. Either you get an aggressive Betta that eats the fry AND kills the adults, or you get a peaceful and it just takes up more tank space.

But also a growth factor is their food. When you can suffice the best tank to suit each group, feeding bloodworms/etc etc etc can be a great source of growth.

Growth:
-water quality
-tank size/tank mates
-food
-overall stress (bare bottom tank versus planted for example)

 

If it's a 33 long then it will have the same floor space as a 55.

 

I definitely agree, adding a Betta is a recipe for disaster, as if things aren't bad already. way too territorial and will lock in on those Angels for their long fins, eat fry, kill adults. Not good. I agree with Skyy's post. Try your best to make things work and keep everyone alive.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I will do my best to keep them alive and as happy as possible. Next item on my wish list is clearly a 55 gallon tank and finding space to keep it!

The new tank is 80cm*40cm*40cm. The small tank has plants, the new tank will be dirted and planted if all goes to plan as well.

Why do mollies need so much space? They seem to school well and only be like an inch or so long. How does the hobby determine how much space a fish needs beyond observing its health? I’ve seen people write that guppies are the most suitable for small tanks...but they seem to be about the same size and activity level as my mollies and platies.

Also, would removing decorations from the tanks except for the plants make the fish more happy? (to give them a little more swimming room)

 

Space a fish needs is determined by viewing it's health mostly, how it acts in nature, studies conducted to view it's stress levels, life span and growth rate in different conditions, how much it poops (looking at you, goldfish) and how large it becomes at adult age

I'm not sure about the decorations thing. If they can't hide inside of it maybe, but if they can hide in it then taking it away won't help their stress levels much. I guess if they don't interact with it at all, hiding in it, swimming through it, laying on it, stuff like that.

 

All I have in there is some stones and a piece of driftwood. The fish do hide in them frequently, especially the platies. I will just leave them in then.

 

Sounds good!

 

Mollies grow bigger than Guppies and Platies.

 

I just wanted to update you guys on my tank situation. There is some good news and some bad news.

I ended up losing one of my platy fish, but I found a good deal on a 52 gallon tall tank. It is on its way to my place now. In the meantime, most of the fish are growing. One of the smaller angels is really sprouting up, but the second remains stunted. My large angelfish is starting to show signs of stress, with a bit of fin damage. I haven’t observed any nipping, but it could be occurring at night.

Once the large tank is up I will migrate the majority of the fish there ASAP.

If I use cycled filter material and a solution of cycled tank water and treated water to fill the new tank, how long should I wait before it’s safe to move my fish there? I presume it would be a much shorter period than starting from scratch.

 

First I like to give a big applause for your actions so far. If you'll use (all) the cycled filtermaterial I'd say you can put them in directly.

 

I just wanted to update you guys on my tank situation. There is some good news and some bad news.

I ended up losing one of my platy fish, but I found a good deal on a 52 gallon tall tank. It is on its way to my place now. In the meantime, most of the fish are growing. One of the smaller angels is really sprouting up, but the second remains stunted. My large angelfish is starting to show signs of stress, with a bit of fin damage. I haven’t observed any nipping, but it could be occurring at night.

Once the large tank is up I will migrate the majority of the fish there ASAP.

If I use cycled filter material and a solution of cycled tank water and treated water to fill the new tank, how long should I wait before it’s safe to move my fish there? I presume it would be a much shorter period than starting from scratch.

I'm sorry you lost a platy, however getting the bigger tank will help keep that pattern from continuing and is AMAZING news! You're going to have so much fun with it!

 

Congrats on the new bigger tank!! Your fish will love you for it! And hopefully those stunted angels will really flourish in there!

 

Wow, just caught up on this thread, what a situation to be in! You've really done your best by them though so well done

I just want to add that moving your filter media or gravel or decor over to the new tank will carry your beneficial bacteria but not the water. Just put new, clean, conditioned water in the new tank. Also that if you're going to move over the filter media, be sure to move the fish over at the same time, otherwise there will be no ammonia products from the fish to feed the bacteria and they may starve

 

Okay, final update for this thread. I got my next tank up and going, it's a dirted bottom 175 liter with lots of plants. Comes out to around 42 gallons, not 52 as I had mistakenly said before.

So my small tank (43 liter) now has 4 guppies (1 male, 3 female), and 4 platy fish (haven't bothered to sex them), an albino minI frog, 4 mystery snails and unknown amounts of tiny snails that just appeared. Not sure if they snuck in on decorations or are baby mystery snails or both. Last night one of my snails made a daring tank escape through the power cord hole in the lid. My cat apparently found it and transported it to the hallway outside my room. When I discovered it in the morning I put it back in the tank and it seems to be fine. I dub him Panzer-snail.

In the 175 liter I have my rainbow shark, 8 molly fish (5 male, 3 female), one big Angelfish and two juvenile angelfish. The younger angelfish are slowly growing now, but I'm still not sure how long it's supposed to take them to get big. After learning to sex the mollies, I discovered that the males are basically constantly on the females. Though one of the females seems to be the dominant molly overall, because at feeding time she goes agro and gets to eat before any others. There are four males who compete over the ladies, and then one who is the punk. They seem to run him off and sometimes 'mate' with him too, but don't tear up his fins or anything. There are plenty of places for him to hide, so I think it should be okay. I would prefer to get rid of 3 of the males and replace them with females, but I don't have a way to do that really.

Everyone seems to be doing better now. Still doing daily water changes because the tanks are still crowded, but I think not so much that anyone is going to die from stress. The rainbow shark in particular is looking great, with some really vivid colors popping out and her rear ventral fins all turning black.

Thanks for the help!

 

The albino frog is likely an African Clawed frog. If it's a female it will get large enough to eat the guppies and platies and similarly sized fish and should be moved to its own tank. Glad everyone seems to be doing well.

 

Yes that clawed frog will eat your fish! She needs a new home!

 

Okay, final update for this thread. I got my next tank up and going, it's a dirted bottom 175 liter with lots of plants. Comes out to around 42 gallons, not 52 as I had mistakenly said before.

So my small tank (43 liter) now has 4 guppies (1 male, 3 female), and 4 platy fish (haven't bothered to sex them), an albino minI frog, 4 mystery snails and unknown amounts of tiny snails that just appeared. Not sure if they snuck in on decorations or are baby mystery snails or both. Last night one of my snails made a daring tank escape through the power cord hole in the lid. My cat apparently found it and transported it to the hallway outside my room. When I discovered it in the morning I put it back in the tank and it seems to be fine. I dub him Panzer-snail.

In the 175 liter I have my rainbow shark, 8 molly fish (5 male, 3 female), one big Angelfish and two juvenile angelfish. The younger angelfish are slowly growing now, but I'm still not sure how long it's supposed to take them to get big. After learning to sex the mollies, I discovered that the males are basically constantly on the females. Though one of the females seems to be the dominant molly overall, because at feeding time she goes agro and gets to eat before any others. There are four males who compete over the ladies, and then one who is the punk. They seem to run him off and sometimes 'mate' with him too, but don't tear up his fins or anything. There are plenty of places for him to hide, so I think it should be okay. I would prefer to get rid of 3 of the males and replace them with females, but I don't have a way to do that really.

Everyone seems to be doing better now. Still doing daily water changes because the tanks are still crowded, but I think not so much that anyone is going to die from stress. The rainbow shark in particular is looking great, with some really vivid colors popping out and her rear ventral fins all turning black.

Thanks for the help!

I didn't see this mentioned but I saw you want to replace your male mollies with females ... they will likely already be pregnant so if you are wanting to keep your population low you may want to go with males. They are live bearers like the guppies and platys. I would also get rid of the females there if possible.

Just my opinion. Or at least house them in separate tanks so they can't continue to breed. They will store sperm for months after mating so just going with all females will only guarantee more fry in the future.

 

I’ve had the frog longer than the fish and I’m pretty sure it’s not an african clawed frog. It doesn’t look like one. I think it’s just an albino african dwarf frog. Anyway it stoped growing a while back and it’s not big enough to eat the fish.

As for the live bearers breeding, I have yet to see any fry from anything except the guppies, and they immediately ate the fry themselves. I’m going with survival of the fittest for now. If any of the fry ever survive to adulthood I’ll figure out what to do with them then. Either sell or transplant them somewhere else.

I’ve read it’s good to maintain 3:1 female to male ratio with livebearers in several places, because the males are insatiable and they will wear out the females with all their loving if there are more males than females. This seems to be true from my observations. Poor female mollys never get a break except at feeding time. This was my logic with wanting to switch them out.

I’m considering whether to add a dwarf gourami to the 175L tank but have been dithering. I’m prety sure the tank could support the additional bioload, but I’m worried it might be too agro. The gouramis at the LFSs are mainly in community tanks with other species though, so that bodes well for their agresion levels.