Oscars with Convict

[PearlTigress]

Angelfish are aggressive and soft water fish, so are neons.
Neons are natural food for angels. Angelfish need 55 gallon tank for a pair, they need to be in shoals of 4 or more and they need to be a mated pair if you want to breed them, and when they spawn they will get aggressive as they are still cichlids. Swordtails need hard water.

I didn't say neons, haha. I'm talking about larger tetras. I have a local breeder who raises her angels in our water without adjusting the hardness so I'm not quite as worried about that.

 

[PearlTigress]

I would stick to fish that suit your water it makes life easier as it’s replicating nature and in most situations there is a good balance to be struck with what sort of look you want in terms of numbers, colours, shapes and activity. For example rather than angels how about pearl gourami and instead of neon tetras you could get rummy nose rasboras which still have bright red and neon steel blue.

I love pearl gouramis but I think they prefer softer water as well. I didn't say neons, just tetras - I haven't decided on which ones yet but I do like rummy nose! I like their tight schooling.

 

[Byron]

On the angelfish, it is not a question of the GH since we worked your GH to be 11 dGH which is moderately hard and fine for angelfish, and probably pearl gourami too for that matter. The problem with angelfish is the tank is not large enough to keep them properly, as they "expect." Pearl Gourami would be a better fit from the tank size aspect.

Tetras is a big group of fish, within which there are species that would rip angelfish and gourami to shreds within hours, and there are species that would easily and readily be eaten by angelfish especially,...and then there are some that would be fine with sedate fish (angelfish, gourami are sedate fish that cannot have active swimming fish with them).

There is a lot of factors involved in combining different species into a peaceful and rewarding community aquarium, but we are all here to help.

 

[Salty&Onion]

I didn't say neons, haha. I'm talking about larger tetras. I have a local breeder who raises her angels in our water without adjusting the hardness so I'm not quite as worried about that.

Tetras are still softwater fish though. Angelfish are cichlids and will get aggressive and they need a 55 gallon tank for a pair and the pair needs to paired off already or trouble.

 

[PearlTigress]

Thanks for sharing your expertise