angelfish and rummy nose tetras

[dwk5270]

So I just added six rummy nose tetras with three angels. The angels are trying to make a snack of them...

 

[Rivercats]

I have 10 angelfish and a school of 21 rummy nose. A couple of questions... first how big is your tank? How long have the angels been in it? How small are the rummies? Mine came in really small. The angels actually would follow them for short distances and a couple actually nipped at the rummy's tail but within about 30-45 minutes the newness wore off. After that they haven't paid them any notice. Do you have other small fish? The Rummy's will grow if they are small. Angels are cichlids and will always see if something is a snack first. Since my angels had to go in the 220g tank first, everything added after them had to be checked out, nipped at, at least once, then ignored. If I were to add anything now the angels would immediately go after them with their routine. I usually just stand there and wait to see if I need to distract them. Another good method when adding new fish in an angel tank is to wait till you are just literally about to make your additions and then put some of the angels favorite food in. Since angels tend to be piglets when it comes to food, the food is more important than checking out the new kids. Also it's good to have alot of plants in an angel tank. It gives alot of places for all the fish to have areas they can retreat to. Things should settle down in no time. The only way angels will keep at the rummy's is: (1) the rummy's are neon (snack size) size (2) the tank is really small. Rummy's do like alot of plant cover. They will school when they feel safe swimming all over the tank, but if they feel threatened they will stay hidden or down low if plants. Hope this helps.

 

[Aquatic_Adam]

This is the OP that you suggested Rummys too in his last post. The tank is a 40 Hex with half dollar sized Angels.

If I were you, depending on the size of the Rummys, I wouldn't worry about it. Rummys will grow too large and active to be eaten easily by an Angel. And that's what dither fish are for, taking a little bit of aggression

 

[dwk5270]

The tank is a 40 hex. They killed one rummy so I took them out. The rummy were almost an inch and the angels are a bit bigger then half dollars.

 

[Rivercats]

Is the tank very open or is there plant or some type decoration cover for smaller fish to retreat to? My angels were silver dollar size when I added some very small rummy's. But I have alot of plants so the rummy's when first added could retreat from the angels. And I always stay and monitor behavior when adding fish. I actually have a very thin doll rod that I can put in the water that I can redirect any aggression towards new fish. In all the years I've kept angels I've never lost any small fish to them. I even had a 40 Hex before with angels too. Rummy's are one of the commonly kept tetras for angel tanks. My angels did the same thing with the rams, the diamond tetras, which were full grown, and even the little oto's. It is cichlid behavior but typically they won't go in for a kill unless it small enough to eat. Did the Rummy's scatter when put in, swimming like crazies (which many newly added fish do for a few minutes)? There is a reason which needs to be found or they will do that to all invading fish. Another thing with aggressive fish if it continues you will need to take the angels out, just in a bucket for a very short time, re-arrange the tank, add the new fish, then put the angels back in to a different looking tank. That is a big distraction as it suddenly isn't "their" tank.

 

[dwk5270]

I have a few plants but two bigger pieces of diftwood. They did scatter at first but eventually calmed down but the angels still went for them