Angelfish in groups of three or more?

[RedStarFishy]

I have read on one site and haven't seen it since then that angelfish should be kept in groups of three or more. i think the explanation was that the dominant angel will pick on the less fortunate ones, hence the more you have him to pick on, the less likely he will terrorize one to death. is this true? do i need to have more than two angels in a tank? i got three young ones recently and was unfortate to lose one. i don't want my bigger one of the babies to kill the smaller one.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have read something along those lines too a few times. I have kept couples and groups of 4. I think if you are going to keep 2, you want them to be male and female so they will not be aggressive with each other and having a biggish group minimises the aggression on the lower ranks.

 

[RedStarFishy]

I think if you are going to keep 2, you want them to be male and female

yeah, but isn't it hard to sex angels? i thought only when they're breeding can you tell... which means until my two start giving each other love looks... i don't know what they are?

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I think if you are going to keep 2, you want them to be male and female

yeah, but isn't it hard to sex angels? i thought only when they're breeding can you tell... which means until my two start giving each other love looks... i don't know what they are?

This is true.

Most get a group of young angels and wait until 2 pair off (they don't need to be very old/big before this will happen) and then sell on/give away the others. I suppose this only happens if you want to breed them, which you might not.

I am sure that 2 angels would be ok in most circumstances. I have had 2 sets of 2 and they have been fine, although one set did breed.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

I made the mistake of adding a baby angel to a tank that had 1 adult already. But instead of the adult picking on the baby, the baby was terrorizing the adult. I eventually moved the baby and added one more baby and the two have gotten on fine since then.

 

[David]

When I was a newbie I bought 2 angels, and I got lucky as they were male and female and they paired off. So you might get lucky with two, try it if you want. Look in the tank at the LFS and if you see two that seem to be swimming around together and getting along well, get those.

 

[KnuckleHead]

In nature angels are shoaling fish and do prefer large groups. Angels are also highly adaptable and do quite well alone or in pairs,

 

[Cheese Specialist]

In nature angels are shoaling fish and do prefer large groups. Angels are also highly adaptable and do quite well alone or in pairs,

Ah, and this is a man who knows his angels!

 

[RedStarFishy]

In nature angels are shoaling fish and do prefer large groups. Angels are also highly adaptable and do quite well alone or in pairs,

Ok, so hopefully my two will be ok with each other. they seem to follow each other around a lot, its rare to see one somewhere without the other one pretty close. so i have a feeling they might be a breeding pair... how big will they be when they pair off?

 

[David]

They can pair off when quite small, about quarter-sized. My first pair was about silver dollar-sized when they had their first spawn.