A Few Angelfish Related Questions

[sputnick]

OK so i have finally decided to switch my 45 US GAL african american cichlid tank to a community tank! My plan was to have a pair of angels, which brings up my first question.
 
How would i pair angelfish off? I have never done it before so some tips or input would be great.
 
Also Is there a difference (other than the obvious longer tails) between a veil angelfish and a regular angelfish?
 
Then finally i was planning on keeping two schools, a school of 7 odessa barbs and another school of snakeskin barbs. Would there be any problem to this? I know some barbs can be nippy but i haven't really heard anything on snakeskin barbs.

 

[Jenste]

I would not recommend barbs with any fancy finned fish such as angels as their fins are an easy target.

To have a pair of angelfish you need to either buy a proven pair from a breeder or buy a school and allow them to pair themselves off. They are nearly impossible to sex until they are in breeding mode and they drop their papilla, and even then throwing any female and male together could end in disaster.

 

[Tuxyu3]

Odessa Barbs need temperatures way too low for Angels to be comfortably kept. I have kept Snakeskins with an Angel temporarily and would not recommend it, they are quite shy and skittish.
Cherry Barbs could work but fully grown Angels may eat them

 

[kad191]

+1 with jenste. Proven pair or buy multiples and let them pair but you will most probably need to rehome the others in that size tank.

 

[sputnick]

Well after lots of research i decided to buy 5 snakeskin barbs. They have been in for a few days and they seem happy. Also they are not very skittish and they come up to the front of the tank everytime I walk by it. I plan on getting more this weekend to make a full school. As for Angelfish, my plan was to buy 3 or 4 and I know my LFS will take the angels back when I find a pair. So I'm not worries about being able to rehome them.

 

[r.w.girard]

The more angelfish you have, the higher the likelihood of getting a pair.  Thus with a pair, it is a 50-50 chance of getting one pair.  This is in part because it is so difficult to sex angelfish. Having six raises the chances for one pair to 95%.  Every one you add increases the chance, every one you remove, reduces it.  If you can have more to start with, go for it...  Otherwise, three or four will not guarantee a pair, although four would be more likely than three.

 

[sputnick]

Oh alright, that makes sence. Well some bad news, we had an ice storm over night the night before and our power went out for a good two and a half hours. That plus the room my tanks in is normally cold, I lost two snakeskin barbs. 

 Hopefully the LFS will still have enough to make a school.

 

[kad191]

That's hard luck, sorry for your loss

 

[Zikofski]

i agree with jenste too but i'm keeping 1 angel with 11 tiger barbs at the moment lots of plant cover and the tiger barbs leave the angel alone, having 11 of them they squabble and fight within them selfs 

 

[r.w.girard]

It generally seems, anecdotally at least, that barbs kept in larger groups tend to show less external aggression in the form of fin nipping.  6 might lead to nipping, while 12 might not.  Of course, there isn't always room for a larger school.  But as with all schooling fish: the more the better.

 

[sputnick]

I was planning on keeping a rather large school in those hopes. Also its weird maybe I was just that tired that I saw two dead fish but I counted this morning and i still have 5 snakeskin barbs.. 

 but I'm not complaining! 

  and trust me I counted at least 5 different times.