Angelfish attacked by BSK - Urgent advice needed

[Nadine]

I know this is long, but please read if you have the time.

The tank is a 60 gallon long that has been running for just over 8 months. I haven't had any problems with it, no illnesses only one death (guppy, was perfect the one day, was found partially eaten the next morning). I change 8% (10 liters) of water a day, heating and adding conditioner in another (empty) tank before adding it. It is home to about 10 guppies, 5 Black skirt tetras and 3 snails along with the 4 angels.

I got the 4 young 1-2 inch angels on the 27th (Wednesday) and all of them have been doing great. My black skirt tetras started picking at the one angel (the only one thats mostly black). I just forgot about it, it was only an occasional nip, not a full on attack.

This morning all was still well in my tank, but a little while ago I found one of my young angels almost cowering between some rocks, just above the substrate. His fins are shredded to the point where they are almost useless.

I've put the angel in a 10 gallon QT tank with a large corner box filter, heater and a few plants. He has perked up a bit, but is obviously still having trouble swimming.

I need advice on what to do next; how to treat/care for him while in this state and what not to do.

Ps: I am getting rid of those tetras, only one or two of them are aggressive, but I don't want to risk letting something like this happen again.

Thanks for your time, ANY advice would be appreciated as this is my first time keeping Cichlids

 

[Nadine]

He didn't make it, died during the night

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm sorry to hear that The angels were still quite small - if the angels were full grown the tetras may not have been so aggressive toward one of them. However, if you're seeing that much aggression now, it's best, as you said, to remove the tetras from the angel tank.

 

[Sonomakid]

Sorry to hear about you lose, have you tried rearranging your decor and such to curb the aggresion

 

[Lynae]

Black skirts are very aggressive, and nothing will deter their trouble-making. I had to give my school of BST to an other fishkeeper, as they were mindlessly tearing my female bettas fins. I'd remove them ASAP!! It will calm down soooooo much, its amazing what terrors they are.

 

[Nadine]

Black skirts are very aggressive, and nothing will deter their trouble-making. I had to give my school of BST to an other fishkeeper, as they were mindlessly tearing my female bettas fins. I'd remove them ASAP!! It will calm down soooooo much, its amazing what terrors they are.

They even look malicious now, hahaha. I hope my lfs agrees to take them back tho. My dad even suggested that I ask them if i can trade them for another angel. They're all friendly people though, so let's hope I get lucky.

Sorry to hear about you lose, have you tried rearranging your decor and such to curb the aggression

I did rearrange the large rocks in my tank on the day I got the angels (before putting them in the tank). I like changing something every time I get a new fish specifically for that reason. I think that might have even contributed to the problem, making the tetras want to 'claim' territories from the angel

I'm sorry to hear that The angels were still quite small - if the angels were full grown the tetras may not have been so aggressive toward one of them. However, if you're seeing that much aggression now, it's best, as you said, to remove the tetras from the angel tank.

I'm not only doing it for the angels' sake; I think that the angels will start to turn on the tetras as they get older, so I want to get them out of there for safety of both the angels and tetras. Being so hardy, the tetras can easily be relocated

Thank you so much for replying guys!

 

[WhiteDevil]

what are you feeding the angels to aid their growth?

Get some frozen beefheart and bloodworms they will size up healthier and quicker then on flake.

 

[Nadine]

what are you feeding the angels to aid their growth?

Get some frozen beefheart and bloodworms they will size up healthier and quicker then on flake.

At the moment theyre on 2 brands of flake, a goldfish flake made by a company called 'aqua plus' and a generic supermarket tropical flake. They also get freeze dried tubifex. I love the golfish flakes, because they are soft and a lot less 'salty' then other brands.

I'm not sure that I'll be able to find beefheart, but i'll be sure to get some frozen bloodworms at our lfs when I return the BST. Thanks a lot for the tip!

 

[WhiteDevil]

petco and petsmart have the frozen beefheart, thaw it up, put it in a medicine syringe and feed it to them, they will come and get it, they are curious by nature.

tubiflex have been known to cause tank issues. Hikari brand has less moisture and more protein then others, try and get that, it should be about 4.50 for 4.5 oz. of hikari. dont get bloodworms in cube form, its a waste of money.

 

[Nadine]

Should i try and get a hold of live bloodworms? I thought frozen was just as good (not freeze dried cubes)

I live in South Africa, Petsmart and Petco don't exist here. I have read a few articles on preparing beef heart, so I'll go ask at our butcher's if they have any for me. I'll check on some websites, even ebay to see if can find Hikari's tubifex, shouldn't be too hard.

 

[WhiteDevil]

there is a site that has the food dirt cheap but Im unsure about shipping to africa.

I use these guys for mine when I order in quantity and now with a discus only tank being built right now ill use them alot more

Frozen Tropical Fish Food--Bio - Aquatics Frozen Fish Food and More

 

[Nadine]

Thanks for the link, I've scanned trough their shipping details and they say that they only ship overnight to ensure that the food is fresh. I'll email them later to find out if they could ship freeze dried foods over to me.

You've been a great help, thanks again

 

[WhiteDevil]

yeah again I am stateside and its not a bad deal for the quality of food.