Fish That Go Well With Angels?

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Smellycat

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Hello again :)

My tank is looking a little bare only with my two angelfish. It's a 55 gallon, and I was considering looking for hardy schooling fish that will liven it up a bit more. I'm looking for some suggestions as to what species would go well with them...thank you
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Hi, some of the larger tetra's work well with angels and they will school. By larger I mean such as emperor's or some of the deeper bodied tetra's. Anything neon sized or smaller are at risk of becoming food.
I have harlequin rasbora's in with my angels and because they are deeper bodied they are avoiding becoming food too. They will also school well.
 
The only way really to get away with the smaller tetra's is to get them when the angels are young so that they grow up together. There is a lot of research of angels living with smaller tetra's peacefully when they have grown up in the same tank. I currently have some black neons in with my angels but the neons were there before the angels and so the angels have lived with them from a young age. So far all is fine but I'm not trusting them 100% with the neons
 
How old are your angels?
 
One of them is going on 3 years, the other is 2 years old now. When I got my first angel, he shared a tank with pristella tetras. Would those still work? What else is there?
 
I'd agree with emperors, beautiful fish and big enough to co-exist with angels, a dozen or more of these particularly in a well planted tank look great. How about a shoal of corys too?
 
Still on a tetra scheme, pristellas WOULD look good. I think congo's and bleeding hearts would also fit the bill.
 
okay so they are adult sized so that rules out allowing them to grow up with the smaller sized fish. There are way too many tetra's to list and they all come down to personal taste. Purple is my favourite colour so I have kerri tetra's and palmeri tetra's - both are large tetra's. 
 
I'd advise doing some research into tetra's and see what you like :)
 
Generally, the best characins (tetra, etc) for angelfish are the disk-shaped species, such as the Rosy Tetra, Robert's Tetra, and some others.  In this group there are also some fin nippers, like the Serpae Tetra, so avoid those.  Bleeding Heart Tetra is another from this clade, but it comes with a caution; several have had this fish nip angelfish, and since your angels are older and the newly-acquired BHT would be young and thus more likely to "play" at nipping, I wouldn't risk it.
 
The larger hatchetfish in the genera Thoracocharax and Gasteropelecus can work, though all being basic silver there is not much colour, but they will liven up the upper level.  None of the pencilfish are good here, nor the linear tetra at this stage.  Substrate fish like corys will be OK.  Perhaps a Whiptail Catfish?  Or the "red" form, Red Lizard or some such silly name, but a nice reddish-brown form of the common Whiptail.
 
Avoid the larger tetra like the Colombian and Buenos Aires, as both are likely to nip angelfish.
 
Whichever of these you select, or other species, make sure you get a largish group, no fewer than 10-12.  This has two benefits, for both the angels and the tetras.
 
Byron.
 
I looked at black widow tetra's for a bit before I got the palmeri's but I read they could be fin nippers too so I ruled them out. It just comes down to research. I have 3 different fish books on my shelf full of different types of fish. I tend to start there when looking at a new species for my tank. If I see a photo of a fish I like in the book then I read what the book has to say and then come online and research some more.
 
I find that the best way to search for something you like
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I'm still testing the neon tetra theory with my pair of breeding angels who are over a year old now. But my angels were introduced young with an established population of adult neon tetras (7), glofish (3), zebra danios (3), and Harl. Rasboras (7). I think my angels are now big enough to have a go at the neons, but, so far, none have disappeared in the night. So I agree with what Akasha said regarding young angels.
 
I do not think I can safely introduce any young neons or danios now. I think the angels would try to snack on them. So I'm kind of stuck in letting those shoals decline naturally over time. As they die from old age I will probably replace them with more Rasboras.
 
I bravely added my new purple harlequins last night, they're still really young and technicly small enough for the angels to eat. I added 4 at 6pm-ish last night and I still have 4 almost 24 hours later!! I think I just have a very good pair of angels though. At the moment they're too busy knocked hell out of each other to notice. I suspect eggs are imminant but then I keep saying that and none seem to arrive 
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