2 Angels, 2 Boeseman's in a 29-gallon tank?

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Paulie B.

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Hi folks. I recently returned to the hobby after a long time away. In the past I had great success keeping a pair of angels in a 29-gallon tank along with a few smaller species. I'm thinking of getting another 29 gallon and stocking a silver angel and a gold marble angel. I'm wondering if anyone has successfully kept a pair of angels and a pair of Boesemani Rainbow Fish in a 29 gallon, or if they'd even fit. I know the inch-per-gallon "rule" is out given the species' height.

If the Boesemanis won't work, are there smaller options that would give me a similar color scheme?
 
Hello! Welcome back to the hobby!


While you may have had success with 2 angels in a 29g in the past, I would argue that lightning does not often strike the same place, twice.

Angelfish do not behave like angels - they are definitely an aggressive cichlid and also borderline impossible to sex. Most websites and experienced fish keeps recommend (unless growing them out), to place 6 juvenile angels in a 55g tank or larger -- Angels are sociable fish and the hierarchy they establish will help prevent bullying to a single fish (which can happen with just 2). As angelfish get so large, the 55g will allow them enough room to swim and have enough height so that they don't damage their fins.

Additionally, Rainbows are a schooling fish and need to be kept in groups of 6-8 in a 55g in order to best care for them.

I would recommend not moving forward with your current plans - and if you decide that you really want to keep these fish together, purchase the appropriately sized tank and stock as recommended.
 
I agree with above post (#2) but I would however add that angelfish and Boesemani rainbowfish are not compatible in any tank; the active swimming nature of a group of the boesemani will unsettle the sedate angelfish.
 
I agree with above post (#2) but I would however add that angelfish and Boesemani rainbowfish are not compatible in any tank; the active swimming nature of a group of the boesemani will unsettle the sedate angelfish.
Thanks @Byron.

I will note that I have only kept Rainbows once - and never with Angelfish. Before crafting my reply I did a perfunctory search of compatibility online and saw some websites that say they are fine, others that state the opposite. Since I've never kept them together I cannot use anecdotal experience.

I did has some concern that juvenile angels (usually nickel size at most LFS) would be stressed by Rainbows but again - I've never kept them together to say with any "authority".
 
As many here know, I am not a believer in "experience" trumping scientific fact. We learn what a species requires in an aquarium by studying the habitat, and many sources, sites like Seriously Fish, CorydorasWorld, Planet Catfish, etc, have done just that, or used the knowledge of those biologists who have. If I were to ignore this and keep "x" with "y" it is likely I would not have a clue as to reading the fish's signals, unless the extreme presented itself (physical aggression leading to death). And such "experimentation" is inhumane because the fish is forced into a situation it does not understand and is more likely to suffer the consequences.

Angelfish do not occur in habitats that have fish charging around them; at least, I have never seen video evidence or verbal suggestions of this. The angelfish prefer to remain among branches, sunken logs, tree trunks and roots, or in some areas plants. The water is dimly lit due to floating plants or more often the forest canopy. From my published profile of Pterophylum scalare:

Origin and Habitat: Occurs in several rivers in the Amazon basin including the Amazon itself (Brazil, Peru, and Columbia) and in the Rio Oyapock (French Guyana) and Rio Essequibo (Guyana). It is found in swamps and flooded forest where vegetation is thick, and in slow-flowing streams where they remain close to the banks around aquatic plants, roots, branches and/or overhanging vegetation.​

This is one reason they are so well suited to have tankmates like discus and black ghost knife fish--though I am not recommending discus, these should never be combined with the more aggressive-feeding angelfish--but the point is that these fish are all sedate and "quiet." :fish:
 
Thanks so much guys. Your advice is well taken and I will scrap the plan. You know it's funny I do seem to remember thinking at the time it's a miracle these two (the angels) are still alive.

After your responses I think what I need to do with the 29 is just make another cool community tank.
 
Hi :)
29 gallons is 30" x 12" x 18" if I'm not mistaken so it enables quite a few possibilities :)
 
Thanks so much guys. Your advice is well taken and I will scrap the plan. You know it's funny I do seem to remember thinking at the time it's a miracle these two (the angels) are still alive.

After your responses I think what I need to do with the 29 is just make another cool community tank.

This is a nice-sized tank, assuming it is the basic 29g that measures 30 inches (75 cm) in length by 12 inches (30 cm) width front to back. I have two of them, I liked the first one so much. I have a work in progress in my functioning 29g, an Amazonian blackwater tank, with small (basically nano) fish so I can have larger shoals and more interest from the variety as well as the interactions of individuals with the species.
 
Just as one example of what you can consider for this 29g tank, here's a photo of my Amazon blackwater 29g today. Still a work in progress, and the photo from my phone is not the best, but it gives the idea. "Blackwater" to me involves the parameters (0 GH/KH, pH at or below 5) more than the tint of dark water. All fish here come from blackwaters.

Fish presently are:
7 Corydoras pygmaeus (all grown fry from spawning about three years ago in the other tank)
13 Paracheirodon simulans (green neons)
9 Hyphessobrycon amandae (Ember Tetra)
4 Nannostomus eques (pencilfish, last of the group acquired 9-10 years back, I will add more if I see this species in stores)
8 Carnegiella strigata (Marble Hatchet, lineage one in the genus)

Floating plants include Ceratopteris cornuta (Water Sprite, adventitious plants from the parent plants in another tank) and Salvinia (not sure of the exact species, need to research this but haven't had time).
Lower plants are Anubias, Java Fern and Java Moss. The latter has grown from miniscule bits on the wood, the JF and Anubias tossed in from another tank just for some "green" in a lower light tank.
 

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