How To Tell Which Angelfish To Keep?

[tyedyefishy]

I bought 12 assorted Angelfish

(koi, veil marble, gold/white, striped red eye?) about 4 months ago in hopes of having 3 pairs, maybe keeping 4-8. I planned to take the misfits back to my lfs. I should have done a lot more reading before buying this many. They are pretty large now (3 inches not including fin). I'm not looking to successfully breed... they are in a community with gourami, loaches, and plecos.

There's nothing unusual going on and none of them seem to be pairing... some have done the whole lip-locking thing but still seems like they all are just always pretty nippy towards another. There's never chasing, just constant biting.

When should I decide to take some back to the local fish store?
How many should I keep?
How do I decide which to keep and which to rehome?

Thanks for reading! Hope to hear all your advice!

 

[UKSPEED]

How big is your tank out of interest?

 

[Sherry1966]

My rule of thumb is they should get 10g of water per angel. I have 5 in my 55g tank. I am pushing it with that. They are 9 months old now and are not pairing yet. Waiting for the day. I find a couple are getting pushy, but nothing really dramatic yet.
For 12 angels you would need about a 120gallon tank minimum. So for a 30gallon tank I would put no more than a pair in that size tank.
Make sure you do lots of water changes. Angels like very clean water.
This is just my 2 cents....

 

[tyedyefishy]

I bought them pretty large, I'd assume they are all pretty close to maximum size, no idea on the age though.. I have a 125 gallon (473 litre tank). I do large water changes (almost 3/4 changed at a time) once a week, and rinse out my filters at different times twice a week. I didnt really intend to keep this many and I dont want to overcrowd. Its just hard to tell when some should be rehomed, and which ones? I'm having a hard time finding any information about keeping more than two angelfish in one tank (paired or not)..

 

[mike os]

as long as they are happy just leave them... they will breed when they are ready...some just never do.

all cichlids bicker constantly

 

[JohnCS]

As Mike OS said, all Cichlids will bicker and nip, they're like women in that way!

Personally speaking, i'd get rid of the Koi and Gold/white,they're the less natural morphs amongst the group you have, but thats just me, i prefer keeping fish that are as close to natural as possible, i'm not really into morphs and line bred colours etc...

Another idea, keep the smaller Angels, the bigger ones will be quite nippy as they're currently the 'alpha males' of the group, remove these and the smaller ones should burst into life and start growing a lot faster.

 

[-Craig-]

I would take the least aggressive and most aggressive back, I like aggressive fish to an extent but when they start killing its over for me, I just like mid range temperament, Thats my opinion.

 

[GShorty1981]

I bought them pretty large, I'd assume they are all pretty close to maximum size, no idea on the age though.. I have a 125 gallon (473 litre tank). I do large water changes (almost 3/4 changed at a time) once a week, and rinse out my filters at different times twice a week. I didnt really intend to keep this many and I dont want to overcrowd. Its just hard to tell when some should be rehomed, and which ones? I'm having a hard time finding any information about keeping more than two angelfish in one tank (paired or not)..

Dont rinse out your filters that often!! you'll kill the bacteria, i only do mine once every 6 months+