Thank you for the information on the Angels. I have read a lot elsewhere and they all suggest that breeding pairs can be kept in a 25-30 gallon breeder tank, with this tank being ~50 gallon do you really feel that a pair wouldn't have enough swimming room? Or do you mean that the process of growing them out would require more room?
The breeding pairs you mention, were they kept by "proper" breeders in breeding tanks? These tanks are usually bare and contain little more than a sponge filter and breeding cone of some sorts. Here's a photo: http
/www.aquarticles.com/images/Jamaica%20Ralph%20Holding/p-04%20Angel%20breeding.jpg
I think that keeping fish in this sort of environment for its whole life is extremely cruel. To me, it is no different from keeping breeding dogs in cages instead of as part of a family, for example, so it is out of the question even as a potential tank size for the fish. The main reason tanks like that are used is that it's a lot easier to breed a few 1000 fry per day if one squeezes more fish in.
Now onto the swimming room: I have kept angels and I can say that mine did most definitely make use of the space. It is difficult to calculate swimming room as it partially depends on the species (for example zebra danios can clear a 4-5 ft tank in under a second, while a fancy Betta splendens would take more like 10 seconds). The bigger angels I have seen were around 10 cm SL (tip of nose to base of tail) and relatively active. When thinking about swimming space, I look at how much is needed for the fish to not come up against the glass too often when "playing" with tank mates. When watching angels in a 3 ft tank, I have seen individuals almost bump into the glass when swimming in a straight line, in a 4 ft tank, they "got bored" before getting to the other end. Of course, pairs don't often spend as much time swimming around as groups do… but if they're determined to actually get some exercise, then they would use the space. All of this, combined with my experience of keeping them, leads me to recommend a 4 ft tank for healthy swimming space and growth. But 4 ft should be enough for more than two angels as their territories are usually quite small.
Having said that, many people would be happy to keep a pair of angels in the tank you have.
Hmmm, I can't find KH values, but I haven't noticed any buffering issues when adding the blackwater (I'm a sad-act chemist by day, so testing water parameters is a bit fun to me
)
No CaCO[sub]3[/sub] or *CO[sub]3[/sub] readings mentioned?
Again with swimming space, do you fell/find that the fish don't use the whole footprint of the tank as much as they would use the length?
It depends on the species. In the wild, the territory is roughly spherical, I would assume, but it becomes oblong in a rectangular tank. So for example, if a fish has a territory of 2*2 ft in the wild, in a 1 ft deep aquarium, the territory is likely to be 1*2.5-3 ft, so the area will be smaller, but slightly longer. Both matter in slightly different ways
For territory space, it doesn't matter much either way, for swimming space, the length is more important.
I wouldn't really mind just having 1 pair of rams, and the blue rams are the ones I prefer the look of, I just know they are harder to keep. I would be tempted with 1m2f with the rams though, if that would work?
I actually never found them more difficult to keep, having kept wild caught and German bred pairs, but they're also the only species I had break out in ich (which only happened once, when I added new rams). I recommend against 1m2f because they're a pair fish, not a harem fish, and the pair will pick on the 1f (I have seen this happen with my own when temporarily moving them around). Almost as with angels, best numbers are 6+ (equal number of each sex), proven breeding pair, 2m2f, then 1m1f. When keeping two individual fish of opposite sex together, I have seen them not pair up more often than any other species, so if you go for 1m1f, try to pick two which hand out around each other.
I have been mostly ignoring the other dwarf cichlids because I'd love to have a pair of Angels. Having looked at the Apistogramma now, I didnt realise how attractive they were! Can they be mixed with Angels at all in a 3ft or 4ft tank?
I have mixed with success, the angels mostly ignored the Apistos. If you decide to go for angels, I would recommend only one species of dwarf cichlids (so rams or Apistogramma). Most common Apisto species are harem ones (so keep 1m 2+f).
Bump, don't want it to just disappear into the ether
Some of us have real work too, you know
