Angelfish problem

[JoLtNbolt]

<I also posted this in the new world cichlids board>

Hey all!

I just added 5 small gold veil angels to a 25 gallon tall tank with 6 madagascar rainbow fish, 2 juvenile silver mollys, and 2 baby blue crawfish (1 inch in size). The fish seemed to be doing fine, and then I went to work a double shift and was away from home for about 14 hrs. When I got back, the angels were all sort of laying around the bottom of the tank, and looked to be struggling. I also noticed that the baby crawfish were attacking them. I suspected that the water quality must be the problem although the other fish seemed to be doing well, so I immediately removed the angels and placed them into my 2 gallon betta tank which just had a water change the day before. For some reason I was only able to find 4 of the angels... the 5th one had completely disappeared!!! The angels seemed to perk up and start swimming around in the betta tank once i removed the betta to a bowl. I then did a 60% water change in the 25 gallon tank, and replaced the angels. They seemed to be doing fine, then I got home the next day after another double shift, and the angels seemed to be sick on the bottom of the tank again, so i put them back into the 2 gallon tank where they are doing fine again. Any thoughts on what is wrong? Did my other fish eat the 5th angel? I have one of those ammonia monitors that is supposed to change colors when levels become elevated, but there has been no change in color.

 

[Nospherith]

that 5th angel probably got eaten by the crawfish. there's a couple of redflags that I noticed about your tank: 25g is too small of an enclosure for angelfish and a shoal of rainbowfish. they need bigger tanks cus they get really big.

have you checked other parameters? maybe it's one of the nitrAte/nitrIte/temp levels that's making them act sickly. If you haven't gotten a test kit yet it would be best to at least have your tap water and tank water tested at the lfs.

 

[JoLtNbolt]

I have a test kit on order, just waiting for it to arrive? Do you think a 2 cm crawfish could eat a quarter sized angel? I started out with 2 rainbows, then found out that they're a schooling fish, so I got 2 more... then I found out that they grow to 6 inches Looks like I'm gonna have to get a larger tank or give some of these fish to a friend.

 

[tmkx3]

How long have you had your tank? My local fish dealer told me that angels are very sensative to new tanks. She said that the tank needs to be at least 6mons old before I add angels. I lost one when I was cycling. Newbie mistake.