Small Fish With Angels

[meejo]

Morning!

I'm looking at getting a shoal of small fish, neon tetra esq to keep in a tank with angels in. I suspect if I got actual neon tetras the angels would eat them. Are there any other small shoaling fish that angels don't consider as lunch?

 

[Rickzayne]

How big are your angels?

 

[meejo]

Purely body I'd say 2-3 inches, I have 3 of them.

 

[Rickzayne]

Tbh by time your angels get big enough to eat the baby neons, they would of grown to at least 30-35mm which is to big for angels anyway. Also if kept in a big enough group they would be fine.

 

[MBOU]

More to the point, how big is your tank!?

Angels will happily eat neons and cardinals etc, if not when they are small...then when they grow up...

Look for deep bodied species so Black/Red Phantom Tetras, Rosy Tetras, XRay Tetras etc...

Smallest i think you'd get away with would be large/adult Harlequin Rasboras... avoid slimline fish, lots of people keep Rummynose etc but my adult male angels just ate the rummynose tetras!

Congo Tetras and Dwarf Rainbows and Celebe Rainbows work well with Angels if you have the space...

 

[meejo]

My tank is 6x2x2, I already have a couple of decent sized congo tetras I've had for a while.

I have a shoal of 12 silver dollars, I did have 9 large ones but sold them to get 12 young ones. So I'm looking for something small, I've had some young Rasboras before and they ate them. Celebe Rainbows look good, but aren't they just the same size as neons?

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

Have you looked at melanotaenia praecox?

When thr silver dollars get big they will slso eat small fish!!

 

[MBOU]

Yep, you need to avoid all small fish with Silver Dollars in the tank, the dollars can hit adult size so rapidly its not even worth starting out with small fish.

If you can find a supplier with slightly older fish, Celebes Rainbows can hit 6-8cm, twice the size of your biggest neons...

But I think you'll be risking it with any smaller tetras....

How about Buenos Aires Tetra, Red Eye Tetra or Columbian Tetra? These all reach reasonably good sizes and larger than most tetras. I love the Buenos Aires and you can get an Albino variation too.

I think Id be more tempted to look at Kutubu Blue Rainbows, or the Splendida Australis Rainbows, they are active, shoaling and a sensible size.

Saying that, some of the barbs would look good too! I would avoid Tigers as they are nippy and will most likely go for the angel...

Denisoni Barbs (also known as Torpedo Barbs)
Maharaja Barbs

If your tank is running at the lower end of tropical... (about 23 deg C) you could try:

Gold Barbs
Odessa Barbs
Rosy Barbs (Fire Barbs)
Giant Danios
Moustache Danios


M.Praecox is the scientific name for Neon Dwarf Rainbows

 

[meejo]

The silver dollars I've sold are still in the tank, being collected tomorrow, they're between 5 and 6 inches, I put a neon in there last night from another tank, a young one. the dollars didn't touch him, they have no interest in anything other than flakes and vegetation. Only one of my angels showed an interest in the neon, chased it around a while then ate it. Thankfully I didn't put my whole shoal in

I'll look into the melanotaenia praecox, are these the dwarf rainbows?

 

[MBOU]

Sorry, edited my previous post with the reply, im not very awake! lol

Praecox is the scientific name for Dwarf Rainbows

 

[meejo]

I've had tiger barbs before, don't fancy some more. To be honest I'm trying to get a bit of an ocean feel about the tank without actually being marine, the most important thing is that they school together, I'm struggling to keep up with all the suggestions haha. Are the torpedo barbs placid then?

 

[MBOU]

The torpedos are actually very gentle! Never known them to nip at all, they have two downsides, one is irrelevant to you but as adults at 15-18cm they are fairly large and will eat anything that fits in their mouth but no more so than dollars! Although more adept at catching smaller fish lol.

Their other downside is their price! On average, they are about £12+ each and I wouldnt bother getting them if you arent willing to get at least 6, they wont shoal happily or colour up otherwise...

HOWEVER... if you search around, they are being sold at about £6 in a fair few shops so dont get suckered into paying silly money!

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By the sounds of it, you have another tank? You could buy fish smaller and grow them on to a decent size before moving them if so...

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Blue rainbows look like the belong in the sea, find a really decent male and thy are gorgeous blues, greens and yellows...

http/www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=male+lacustris+blue+rainbow&hl=en&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=Hqo08OLo0X8YzM:&imgrefurl=http/www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php%3Fgenus%3DMelanotaenia%26species%3Dlacustris%26id%3D821&docid=KGCcIv-1nvTUAM&w=450&h=300&ei=_DhvTsWMEIG68gOO7aSICg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=156&vpy=213&dur=476&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=121&ty=63&page=2&tbnh=161&tbnw=222&start=12&ndsp=6&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:12&biw=927&bih=512

 

[meejo]

I do, that was the plan with the Neons, but I don't think they'll get to a size where the angels wont eat them

I'll do a bit of research on the suggestions and go to a few LFS and see what catches my eye and is compatible.

 

[keimak]

Emperor tetras look nice too in my opinion, they get to a decent size to not get eaten by your angels

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

Yeh haha i always do the latin names, force of habit im afraid but the neon dwarf angels are brilliant little shoalers, males have a neon blue colouration with vibrant red fins, females are the same with yellow fins, easily sexed because of this. They stick together, get a very nice size and have tonnes of character!