Risks Of Adding Another Angel

[techen]

Now I know proven pairs are recommended but are the risks really that high if I add another angel?
 
I have 12 tetras and 1 angel at the moment, He's quite the picky type and am fairly sure he's a male.
 
Is 200L okay to add another angel? If so, What should I look out for?
 
I don't want to go out and buy 6 baby angels and see what happens, it's quite the effort.

 

[DrRob]

200l is ok for an angel pair, but you've got to be careful with a picky, established resident. If you're going to do it, disrupt the territory and keep a very, very close eye on things. I'd make sure you have somewhere to put a refugee if you're doing this too.
 
Next piece of advice is to not trust them, and to remember that these things are a real pain to sex accurately.

 

[techen]

Well, I don't really have a back up plan if it does not go well. I'd just have to return him/her to the LFS.
 
It's really touch and go as far as I hear it, Any tips to look out a suitable angel for them?

 

[Flute]

I would say that you have enough space for another angel. Angels are notorious for being difficult to sex at times though, so try and hunt down a proven female. When introducing them I would remove the existing angel and place it in a bucket, re-arrange the tank and release the new angel first, and then the existing angel second. Make sure you have loads of hiding spaces so they have places to escape from each other and hopefully they would pair off together. I introduced 2 new angels into a group of existing 4 without any major problems bar the occasional damaged dorsal fin (which healed within a week), but the up side to that was that any aggression was spread out in a larger group. So hopefully, if you changed things about in the tank more regularly they'll take to each other
 
And try and have a back up plan if things go wrong!
 
:EDIT: Rob beat me to it

 

[techen]

Thanks Flute, I'll put the new guy in first and slip the second one in alittle later. Gotcha, I'll try and find a good, peaceful female that might work out for him if not I'll end up with two females that I don't think is a bad idea?

 

[DrRob]

Oh I don't know, I've had some total nutters of female angels.

 

[techen]

Haha, Should be fun ;-;

 

[Daveo026]

A friend of mine had an angel and wanted another and kept changing them with the pet shop til he got one that paired up. But from personal exp iv never had angels

 

[techen]

Haha kinda the ideal. I'll speak to my LFS to see if I can trade a few till I get one that works.

 

[DrRob]

That makes the assumption that the one you have doesn't decide that it's territory is not to be invaded.

 

[techen]

When I bought the angel from my LFS he/she was chasing the other angels about so I donno they may be quite picky who they want to pair up with.