Angelfish

[Majjie]

I had a pair of young Koi angels one of which has just died (subject of a separate thread on New World Cichlids). They were always very peaceful with each other and other tank mates

The tank is 72 litres, 47cm high - but I'm planning to get a much bigger tank in about 5 months

All other tank inhabitants seem fine, including the surviving angel which is about 1.5 inches body size.

Questions are:

should I get another angel now (after checking all remains ok) - before survivor gets used to being alone?

or should I wait until I have the bigger tank and get two or three?

if I do get another should it be another Koi - do angels prefer their own colour?

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

Was it a breeding pair? If it is an adult fish i would leave it alone until you get the bigger tank, than introduce other angels with it. If its a young angel fish, you could add more younger ones so they will become used to eachother as they grow up. Right now id leave it alone till you get a bigger tank.

 

[Majjie]

No they weren't a breeding pair. They just hung around together most of the time.

The survivor is not fully grown and I do feel nervous about adding another one - I just wondered whether he'd get too used to being alone and might not accept a companion later.

 

[Liam]

I think it should be okay to add another angel, they are social fish and only territorial when breading, they do have a pecking order. Maybe change the décor around a bit if that’s possible before introducing the new angel. It doesn’t matter what variety koi or other, as long as it’s the same species. The angels don’t see any difference, they are all species (scalare) its rare to find the other species. It would also be fine to wait until they have a bigger tank and introduce the new ones then. I haven’t had a single angel and added another but I have had angels so I expect either option would work.

 

[Majjie]

Thanks Liam. These were the first Angels I've had. I'll make sure the other fish in the tank remain healthy for a while and then look for another angel - a lot of the fish I've seen in my lfs have looked a bit ropey recently - lots of split fins.

Might be a good excuse for a trip to Wharf Aquatics

 

[drango91]

well how did the angel die? age? cancer?

 

[Majjie]

I don't know why it died - that was the subject of my first post. Certainly not old age. And no tumours or any other symptoms - that I could see. Water stats were all ok and all other fish in the tank are fine.

I posted this question in Tropical Chit Chat because more people look there and I really wanted some advice It's been moved back here - but at least I got a couple of replies first

Angels (and Rams) are popular fish with us community tank people - who know nothing about other cichlids

 

[BigIan]

i find my angels kep to gether in their pairs, (the 2 black ones aqrte always together and the 2 gold ones are always together)

id certainly leave the tank for a month or so, just so you can be sure no other fish are ill

 

[sylvia]

I would wait until you get your larger tank (as this one is only 18 gallons and therefore not large enough for even a single angel - 30 gallons should be the minnimum) and then add both this established fish and one more, new, angel to the tank at the same time - you should aim for something that's about the same size (and therefore age hopefuly) so that they are mroe likely to pair up. This way you not only get to add a new fish to act as a companion for this one but you also avoid all the territoriality/hierarchy issues that you might have if you just add another angel to an established setup.

You mentioned adding 2 or 3 more angels - just how large is the new tank going to be? unless you are looking at something larger than 30 gallons, a pair is realy all you can keep comfortably (consider that, being the cichlids they are, they'll be aggresive if they pair up and breed as well).
Also, avoid getting an odd number as you are then in danger of finding that all the angels pair up - leaving one alone to be bullied constantly.

 

[Majjie]

OK Thanks Sylvia. That makes sense. I haven't decided on the new tank yet (depends on finances ) but - yes, definitely bigger than 30g.

This fish forum can be very discouraging. Do you get a lot of people joining and then going away despondent

I had the two angelfish in that tank long before I joined this forum. I did quite a lot of research before getting them. A person of my advanced years tends to rely on books for research . I have an Interpet Publishing book on Tropical Fish that says a 60cm wide tank is the minimum for angelfish and another book that says 45cm is the minimum depth, several other books make no mention of a minimum tank size ...... so my 67.5cm wide by 47 cm high tank seemed fine. Also fitted in with the stocking level recommended by all five of my tropical fish books: 1inch fish per 10 -12 sq. inches surface area.

I have attached two pics taken today (apologies for the quality - light is not good:

The angel that died was slightly bigger - but not much. In what way is that tank too small at the moment?

I'm not stupid mind - the books say that angels can grow to 6 inches - hence the plan to eventually buy a bigger tank

 

[Majjie]

Oh and thanks BigIan - when I finally get one or more further angelfish I'll definitely find at least one more Koi