Angelfish Perdictiment..

[Nix]

After about...6-ish years of ownership my female angelfish has died.

What happened was I was wiping water spots off the tank, and it appeared she must have freaked out slamming into something, knocking herself out.
I saw her normal...then looked and she was laying in the corner. She woke back up, and swam around kind of dazed for the rest of the day.


Well, the next day I was gone from 9 am until 11 pm, and when I returned home, I expected she would be dead. (She didn't look good at all in the morning).


Now I'm stuck with this, what do I do with my tank? In particular, my male.

He's a mostly black marble, pretty big guy.

Problem is, I'd like to continue breeding them (maybe), however I don't think its very likely I will find a large female I will like, nor am I even sure about how willing he would be to accept a new partner.

Do you think I should try and get another female? Bad idea? Even plausible?

Or do you think I should just bring him into where i work (a LFS) and start over with two hand picked angels (or maybe something else?).

What is your opinion?

By the way, the tank is a 29 gallon, and the only other fish in there are 3 cories.


I've also got some high end lighting coming, and I'm working on my co2 system. (so keep in mind if you suggest any fish, they need to be plant compatible.)

 

[ox5477]

it would def be near impossible to hand pick a new mate for him at this point. Being a mature cichlid he would prob not accept new fish into his tank. If you really need to have a mating pair then I guess your best option is to take him to an lfs (where hopefully somebody will come to look for a full grown adult male) and buy 6 more smaller angels and see if you can a new pair. Thats kind of sad that this whole situation happened.

Might be best to just let him live his life out. But, if you really don't have too much of an attachment then go for the 6 younger ones to find a new pair

 

[Nix]

Well, I have no problem being able to pick a female out. However, large females are going to be slim picking, and getting "exactly" what I want in terms of breed, and style ext. is going to be the real tricky part.

I may go ahead and purchase some young ones, and I know we've got a tank with a handful of large angels already inside of it, (like 5) at my work.

I have some thinking to do.....

thanks for the food for thought.

 

[ox5477]

well i dont think the issue is finding a mature adult female. The issue is that the male will most likely not accept her. Like many competitive species, most cichlids want to choose their mate. If you just put the first adult female you see into the tank then the male could percieve this new fish as a threat and attack it. Or at the best, the male will ignore the new fish and you won't have a mating pair

 

[Nix]

Yeah, I think todays the day I'm going to bring my angelfish in for trade.

Eventually when or if I find some someplace else I like I'll replace em'.


My favorite was the female anyway...

 

[kribensis12]

Got any pics before you take him in? Im sorry about your female! You must have taken good care of her to get her to live 6 years. The male too. Why dont you use some of your younger Angels?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

It could be a long shot, but the only thing I could recommend would be to take this angel out and rearrange the tank, but don't put him in yet! Get 3 or 4 new fish around the size he is and add them back all together. You should end up with a pair, but who knows if it will be with the fish you have at the moment...


During this process, make sure you keep a close eye on them. If they are getting too aggressive with each other then don't hesitate to separate them...

 

[Nix]

Thanks guys, currently all their fry have been sold.


It just isn't worth it for me to cram 4-5 large angelfish in such a small tank, if I had a 55 gallon, I would consider it, but 29 gallons, not worth the risk.

I took him back on Saturday.

I guess I'll be shopping now.