Any recommendations for colorful tankmates for Angels & Yoyo Loaches

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fredmertz

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Oct 16, 2011
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I have a 75g tank with 4 yoyo loaches (2-3 inches) and 5 angel fish (also 2-3 inches) and would like to add some colorful tankmates.

I had my heart set on some dwarf gouramis, but it seems like they wouldn't get along well with the angels.

Any advice on what species I can add to get some blues, reds or oranges into the tank.

The only fish I would rule out are livebearers, as I don't want to deal with a population explosion.

Thanks!
 
Fake plants unfortunately. I am still learning, so do you mind if I ask which fish that makes a difference for?
 
Population explosions are good lol The angels will have a tasty snack once in awhile with every spawn from the livebearers, or you could sell the fry.

To add more colour, I've had success with cardinal tetras in peaceful cichlid communities. Make sure you keep a larger school of 10 or preferably more. They actually added another dimension to my tank, made everything else look more natural. I had 14 Cardinals mixed with about 15 neons, jumbo neons and glowlights. Red eye tetras will co-exist without fear. Silvertips have a nice orange to them, but very quick swimmers, probably not ideal for the angels.

Aside from tetras, you could look into peacock cichlids, or rams. I like kribs but they won't add the pop you're looking for.

If your angels ever have nipped fins, look at the yoyos, not the other angels. Yoyos are notorious fin nippers. The more you have, the more they keep to their own kind. I have 6
 
Some fish eat plants. I found out the hard way...Buenos Aires tetra. Have a 150g planted tank and bought a school that ate a bunch of plants.

I'm assuming you are going to community fish.

I love my neons..just bought 10 more an hour ago. Cardinals work too.
I have Eastern Australian Rainbows..not AS colorful as the boseami or some others but they are still great to look at.
 
Boesemani's are sexy schooling fish. Not sure how they would do with angels though, but they are both centerpiece fish, so in my opinion I don't think it would look great.

I'm going to start researching if I can get a half dozen rainbows for my peaceful cichlid tank.
 
Since your angel fish are smaller now you'd be fine with neon's but as they get bigger they might try to eat them.
Althought I'd love to say Rainbows are compatible I don't think they are.

Cherry barbs may be an option? They aren't aggressive. From what I've read they don't really school so you could get a pair or two.
 
I've had no issues mixing angels with boesemani's. Other rainbows would be an option as well, such as yellows or turquoise. Cochu's blue tetras and kerri tetras are good options to add some blue. For a pop of red you could do an apisto caca double/triple red.

Cherry barbs are schoolers. Like most barbs, they actually do better in larger schools then the minimum size, like 8-10. The smaller the group, the more likely they will get aggressive.
 
I have rainbows with an angel, they get along fine. Congo Tetras would be cool. You could get a couple different kind of gourami, one gold, one opaline, one blue, mix up the colors. A school of cardinal, or penguin tetras. A school of pictus cats would be cool too. Any of those would work fine.
 
Of course..not saying it won't work but I don't think it's fair to say it will either. It's a combo some have had good luck with and some have not. I don't think it would even be fair to say it works most of the time, as I've heard many reports of troubles with that pairing.
 
I have an angel in my 46 gallon tank, he had other friends, but over the years he is the only surviving angel. I added tiger barbs to my tank. I know that this is frowned upon, but the barbs I added were small (young) and I added 6 of them. They do not bother the angel or any of my other fish at all. They were a cool addition to my tank.
 
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