Angelfish Advice

[Axyadbad]

Hi all, been a while since I've been on here but I have a question regarding my angelfish.

I've had two angelfish fish for the best part of a year and for the past month or two, one of them has been slightly bullying the other one. I got them about a month apart and the older one is the one doing the bullying. It's not terrible and there is the tiniest amount of fin damage, but the younger angelfish does seem to be hiding quite a lot.

I don't want her to be miserable and also don't want to get rid of either of them, they're great characters!

Would adding more angelfish be a solution or make it worse? I'm getting a 260l, 4-foot tank in 2 months abd my current tank is 200l.

Sorry for rambling, any suggestions would be great!

Thanks
Axy!

 

[DreamertK]

Angelfish are ciclids, so it's possible the dominant one will kill the other since it doesn't seem like they've made a mating pair. You could try only having one angelfish, or try swapping one out for another to see if they form a pair.

 

[Byron]

I agree.  Adding angelfish to a tank containing one or more current angelfish is very risky.  Angelfish are by nature shoaling fish, meaning that they live in small groups.  They will have a distinct hierarchy within the group, and provided there are five or more, there is less chance of any single fish being picked on.  However, once a fish or two are in a tank, the dominant will consider the entire tank "his" space.  Adding one or more fish is asking for trouble.  But this sometimes works if the existing fish are removed, and the tank re-arranged significantly, and the entire group added together (same time).  Adding them to a new larger tank achieves the same end, and it might work.  But it might not.
 
Are you certain you have a pair, i.e., the smaller is female?  Might be another male.  With the two of them on their own in the present tank, the larger may have now decided it is time to exert his authority.  There is no way to change this (other than the above) and I would separate them.  The stress on the weaker fish is very considerable, and this weakens the immune system which is asking for more problems.  And I agree with DreamertK that the weaker may well be killed, either directly or by simply wasting away out of stress and fear.  Just having the "bully" in the tank is stressful, as much for fish as for kids, even if no actual physical interaction occurs.  Though it obviously is here as you've noted.
 
Byron.