Angelfish Agression

[ras0787]

I have a fully grown angelfish who is approximately 5 inches long and 5 inches tall. She is the lone resident of a 20 gallon fully established tank. The water readings are all normal. There are 3 live plants and a couple fake ones. There is also a wooded decoration in the middle, which is not tall - short and long.

The angelfish seems to be fairly aggressive (or at least looks aggressive) towards anyone who gets anywhere near the tank. She comes right up to the front of the tank and repeatedly runs into the glass (at least that's what it looks like she's doing.) And if you were to move to the sides of the tank she will closely follow with the same behavior. At first I thought she was just not getting enough food, but when she is being fed she sometimes won't even eat unless I walk away from the tank and give her space.

I thought she was just being territorial because, she has laid eggs on more than one occasion. Her behavior, however, is similar no matter if there are eggs in the tank or not. I understand she would be territorial with eggs in the tank, but I figured she should calm down if there were none. When I stick my arm in the tank, either to clean, or to do some other kind of maintenance she will run and hide which is expected behavior. I never put my arm in the tank when her eggs are there so as to be careful not to disturb them.

So I'm wondering why she behaves like this. Is she simply being territorial of the area where she lays eggs? Is she stressed? Is she lonely? Is this her natural behavior? Should I be concerned?

Any advice would be much appreciated

 

[gilpi]

I have a fully grown angelfish who is approximately 5 inches long and 5 inches tall. She is the lone resident of a 20 gallon fully established tank. The water readings are all normal. There are 3 live plants and a couple fake ones. There is also a wooded decoration in the middle, which is not tall - short and long.

The angelfish seems to be fairly aggressive (or at least looks aggressive) towards anyone who gets anywhere near the tank. She comes right up to the front of the tank and repeatedly runs into the glass (at least that's what it looks like she's doing.) And if you were to move to the sides of the tank she will closely follow with the same behavior. At first I thought she was just not getting enough food, but when she is being fed she sometimes won't even eat unless I walk away from the tank and give her space.

I thought she was just being territorial because, she has laid eggs on more than one occasion. Her behavior, however, is similar no matter if there are eggs in the tank or not. I understand she would be territorial with eggs in the tank, but I figured she should calm down if there were none. When I stick my arm in the tank, either to clean, or to do some other kind of maintenance she will run and hide which is expected behavior. I never put my arm in the tank when her eggs are there so as to be careful not to disturb them.

So I'm wondering why she behaves like this. Is she simply being territorial of the area where she lays eggs? Is she stressed? Is she lonely? Is this her natural behavior? Should I be concerned?

Any advice would be much appreciated

As much as I love Angels, their behavior never surprises me. Could it be that she's been in the tank alone too long?

At times I think they develop habits, I have an adult angel alone in a tank that does the opposite, soon as it sees me, it turns its back on me, never fails, I had this angel over a year and you would think by now it would have gotten used to me. This angel was in the same tank with another one but had to separate them due to aggression. All my other angels come right up to me as most cichlids do. I enjoy them more when they are smaller, they are less aggressive and have less habits.

 

[Rolance]

Sounds like she's lonely. But now that she is like that i have a feeling it would be hard to find an angel she would get a long with.

Are you interested in putting other fish in there?

 

[Khuligirl93]

You might be able to try a small shoal of corys to test if she will tolerate other fish. They will mostly stay on the bottom and would not get in the angel's space.

 

[Buckfins]

I have 6 fully grown angles that are quite large. EVERY one of them come racing to the glass when I approach the tank. And they will follow me around it when I do maintenence. They have always done this and they have tankmates. They are normally aggressive and territotial but I also have a mated pair in there. But the aggression is only towards each other and not much more that busting each others chops. I think you may just have a friendly fish that is glad to see you .

 

[gilpi]

I have 6 fully grown angles that are quite large. EVERY one of them come racing to the glass when I approach the tank. And they will follow me around it when I do maintenence. They have always done this and they have tankmates. They are normally aggressive and territotial but I also have a mated pair in there. But the aggression is only towards each other and not much more that busting each others chops. I think you may just have a friendly fish that is glad to see you .

I wish I had your luck. Very few times I have been able to keep angels together without having some kind of aggression issue. I'm growing some juveniles at the moment starting all over.

 

[ras0787]

I would love to put more fish in with her. Do you guys think the 20 gallon tank is big enough for her and a couple companions? Corys would work well. Do you guys have any other recomendations for what to put in there? Keep in mind I don't want to overstock the tank either.

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[Autumnsky]

If you are considering getting a larger tank at all, it may help. A full grown Angel in a 20G Tall doesn't leave much room for swimming. I know it is an acceptable size but my most aggressive Angel I had was in a 29G tall and not even full grown and she got rehomed to a bigger tank and was fine. All Angels have their own personalities of course, just thought I would share my experience.