Angelfish Or Cichlids & Proper Tankmates ?

[Faythee]

Hi there. I am picking up a 55 galllon tank tommorrow and have a few questions. I will be sarting the fishless cycling.

Set up:
-I want a natural setting, driftwood and rocks, plain black background. I would like somthing more like sand, other than gravel. Is there such a thing for freshwater tanks ? And then I am wondering how you would clean it.
-What type of filter do you recommend, within a decent price range.
-I have seen stuff at Petsmart that is supposed to speed up the cycling process, does it actually work ?

Fish:
-My home has an african jungle type decor. I am torn between getting cichlids ar angelfish. I am leaning more towards the striped angelfish (zebra like). What are good tank mates for the angelfish ?
-I have a polka dot pictus catfish that I will be transferring to the tank from my 10 gallon as he has grown (store said he wouldn't get much bigger....yeah right !) Will that be okay ?

 

[flash22]

I keep black widow tetras, honey goramis, plecs, zebra loaches and rasboras with my angels. Anything goes really as long as thay arnt nippy fish (within reason)

i have a mix of angels koi,blusher and silver (name escapes me at the mo)

 

[Faythee]

okay...well I finally found a site that has suggestions on tankmates for the angels. Let me know if you think any of these ARE NOT good tankmates for them. I have learned my lesson not to believe everything on the internet about fishtanks !

South America
Pictus Catfish (Pimelodus pictus)
Emerald Catfish (Brochis splendens)
Silver Dollar (Myleus argenteus)
Rosy Tetra (Hyphessobrycon bentosi)
Bleeding Heart Tetra (Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma)
Diamond Tetra (Moenkhausia pittieri)
Peppermint Bristlenose (Ancistrus hoplogenys)
Spotted Leporinus (Leporinus maculatus)
Black Ghost Knifefish (Apteronotus albifrons)
Marbled Headstander (Abramites hypselonotus)

Other Cichlids
Red Hump (Geophagus steindachnerii)
Festivum (Mesonauta festivus)
Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus)
Jurupari (Satanoperca leucosticta)
______________________________
Central America
Platy (Xiphophorus maculatus)
Rainbow Cichlid (Herotilapia multispinosa)
______________________________
Asia
Silver Shark (Balantiocheilus melanopterus)
Clown Loach (Botia macracanthus)
Pearl Gourami (Trichogaster leeri)
Siamese Flying Fox (Epalzeorhynchus saimensis)
Red-tail Black Shark (Epalzeorynchus bicolor)
Tin-foil Barb (Barbus schwanfeldi)

African Riverine
African Butterflyfish (Pantodon buchholzi)
Congo Tetra (Phenacogramma interruptus)
Kribensis (Pelvicachromis pulcher)

Thank you flash...I am going to look those up and see what they look like

 

[Darkerwhite2]

i have four angels and i house them with bleeding heart tetras, lemon tetras, clown loaches, green spotted pleco. No nipping at all i just would like to up the number of the tetras so they shoal better (i think thats the term) right now there are 3 of each. I recommend large tetras in a large shoal i think they look really nice with the large angel fish.

 

[Catfish Jack]

you could get a pair of boliviain or german rams, IF you can find a male and female. as this was very hard for me. i like the wya your going witht he natural look and the natural striped angels, ive been looking for some of those for quite a while. a school of black phantoms or rasboras would look nice too.

 

[Faythee]

Thank you so much y'all !

 

[I Love my fishies]

I have 2 x bolivian Rams, 8 rummy nose tetra, 8 x harlequin Rasboras and 2 x bristlenose in with an angel.

the angels interact with the other fish fine how ever I did have four angels and scrappy (the remaining angel) killed the other angels nasty little thing he is.... I was unlucky coz that behaviour doesn't happen all the time just depends if you get a devil of an angel in the group.

 

[Straydum]

angels imo can be kept with a long list of fishes as long as the fishes cant fit into their mouths or are able to fit the angel into its mouth. of course there are exceptions here and there