Need Advice on Angelfish Agression

[Lysaell]

Hey everyone! I have a juvenile Angelfish with quite a bit of spunk. (S)he is housed in my planted 36 gallon and I’m a little conflicted. He was the first inhabitant of the tank and lived alone for a bit until I added a tiny bristlenose. While curious, he has left it alone without any issues.

I got a platy the other day, wanting to see how it would play out with my Angelfish before I brought home a whole school of fish. When I first put her in, he was chasing her back and forth across the tank and managed to rip her fins a bit. I quickly placed her into my large mesh breeder net and decided to try again in the morning. Similar reaction occurred the next time around, but not as aggressive.

I was just about to move her to my empty 10 gallon when I gave it one more chance. But this time, it went ok! My angelfish, if not slightly ignoring her, will just kind of try to “intimidate” her and move in closer but without any chasing.

I don’t have much experience with fish aggression, so what would be a good plan/action here? I’m leaning towards leaving her in, but nervous about the possibility that the Angelfish will go back to chasing and seriously injure her. There is also the question of any further fish for this tank, which I DO want to have, but not at the expense of, well, fishy death.

 

[Fish4848]

if you are planning on keeping the platy, you should get more as they are a schooling fish. Also, my platys team up on my angel when he bothers them, so strength in numbers I guess. Also, it is better to add more fish while your angel is young. make sure there are plenty of hiding spots and you are good to go!

 

[Fish4848]

you could also get some fish that are a little aggressive themselves, like an apistogramma or bolivian ram cichlid. they won’t bully other fish, but they are quite beautiful and they can stand up for themselves.

 

[Lysaell]

if you are planning on keeping the platy, you should get more as they are a schooling fish. Also, my platys team up on my angel when he bothers them, so strength in numbers I guess. Also, it is better to add more fish while your angel is young. make sure there are plenty of hiding spots and you are good to go!

you could also get some fish that are a little aggressive themselves, like an apistogramma or bolivian ram cichlid. they won’t bully other fish, but they are quite beautiful and they can stand up for themselves.

Alright! I definitely would like more platies as I love the little buggers. Sounds like a good plan as far as that goes. I’m working on getting dense groupings of plants, but at the moment there is pretty decent driftwood and rocks to break up some line of sight. If a group of platies go well, I will probably add a group of one of the “tougher” schooling fish.

I also didn’t think about doing that! Would a single kribensis also hold up while not trying to beat other fellas up?

 

[bizaliz3]

Here is what happened in my opinion.

The angelfish had the tank to itself for a long time. It was 100% his territory. The addition of the pleco wasn't an issue because it occupies a different area of the tank.

You then added one small fish to its territory. One fish that had to take the brunt of it all. And the angel dominated. Had you added a group of them, the aggression wouldn't be all on one fish. And the group factor might have deterred the angel from chasing and nipping at them. Key word...might. lol

What I suggest you do is completely rearrange the tank so it is no longer the angelfish's familiar territory. Add a full school of fish and try it again. Maybe even put the angel in a bucket while the new fish get comfortable.

Angelfish are cichlids. And they can be aggressive. But usually only with other angels. Key word usually. Lol

In my opinion the issue was 100% because this particular angel has never had to share its space with anything. So it felt invaded. "Only child" syndrome. Lol

 

[Fish4848]

you could probably keep a krib in there

 

[Lysaell]

Here is what happened in my opinion.

The angelfish had the tank to itself for a long time. It was 100% his territory. The addition of the pleco wasn't an issue because it occupies a different area of the tank.

You then added one small fish to its territory. One fish that had to take the brunt of it all. And the angel dominated. Had you added a group of them, the aggression wouldn't be all on one fish. And the group factor might have deterred the angel from chasing and nipping at them. Key word...might. lol

What I suggest you do is completely rearrange the tank so it is no longer the angelfish's familiar territory. Add a full school of fish and try it again. Maybe even put the angel in a bucket while the new fish get comfortable.

Angelfish are cichlids. And they can be aggressive. But usually only with other angels. Key word usually. Lol

In my opinion the issue was 100% because this particular angel has never had to share its space with anything. So it felt invaded. "Only child" syndrome. Lol

Ah! Makes complete sense. I’ll see if I can go to the LFS again this weekend and pick up a couple more females. My current gal is faring well in there at the moment as the aggression has died down a bit, but she would definitely appreciate friends and a tank could always use some rescaping haha. Would you think I should move her to my empty 10 gallon in the meantime or let her be? Thanks!