29 gallon angelfish community

[sinibotia]

So, I'm looking at angelfish as a possibility for my new 29 gallon, but I'd like to get two. That said, would I really have room for much else? It seems like the angelfish alone would be enough to nearly fully stock the tank, but I'd like a school of midwater fish and a school of corydoras as well.

Does 2 angelfish, a small school of tetras (6-8) and 5 or so corydoras sound overstocked?

 

[treemanone2003]

I'd say that's extremely doable !!! I would make the suggestion to add the angels last. Try and purchase at quarter size and I'd start with three so you have a better shot of getting a pair and not two of each. They will get more aggressive as they mature. Lots of experience in that situation.


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[sinibotia]

Wouldnt it be better to get 6 or so to try to end up with a pair?

We were thinking harlequins or platies as upper level tankmates.


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[Luananeko]

Harlequins might be ok, but depending on the angel they may try to eat them. Having them grow up with the Harlequins increases your odds of success though. Platies are ok as long as you keep the PH between 7.0 and 7.5.

Aqadvisor.com may help you figure out how much room you have in the tank between the angel and potential tank mates. It's not perfect, but it's a good starting point.

 

[sinibotia]

Aqadvisor suggested that the tank would be overstocked after angels and corys, but that seemed off to me which is why I asked id really like the platies so the angelfish can hunt the fru


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[Luananeko]

Aqadvisor tends to be conservative, but I still wouldn't go too far past it's numbers. Another thing to consider is that Aqadvisor uses the adult fish sizes in it's estimates. Angels can get quite large when full grown, so I wouldn't be surprised if a single angel and a school of cories was nearing the stocking limits. It may look understocked while everyone's babies, but a full grown angel can be larger than your hand...

 

[sinibotia]

Well if aqadvisor is conservative, I should be OK. My stocking plan is allegedly around 125% but it'll take a while for the fish to grow anyway.

 

[Ricky 1]

Look at pristella's x-ray when your at the lfs, they are mid tank dwellers and very fast movers, I have 5 with my angels with no problem......

 

[sinibotia]

Look at pristella's x-ray when your at the lfs, they are mid tank dwellers and very fast movers, I have 5 with my angels with no problem......

My fiance would die for those but I somewhat doubt anywhere around here has them. I'm in one of the worst places to keep fish in the US.

 

[Fishobsessed7]

My fiance would die for those but I somewhat doubt anywhere around here has them. I'm in one of the worst places to keep fish in the US.

I'm in a bad place too


Fishobsessed7

 

[sinibotia]

She's decided we're gonna get a few platies as a midwater fish so we can watch the angelfish hunt the fry. SO the stocking will be:

2 angelfish
6 platies
5 corydoras paleatus

The tank is nearly cycled, so we're gonne pick up the corys and platies at petco next weekend and then get angelfish from the good LFS a week or two after that.

 

[44Paps44]

What happens with the fry the angels don't eat? They are pretty good at hiding.

Don't underestimate the number of fry you'll have in your tank within the next 3 months. Suggest that you get juvie angels and avoid the quarter size version.

Your other issue is going to be, what happens if you get two male angels since they are almost impossible to sex until spawning age. Alternate suggestion is to get one juvie angel and it's one less worry to have.

 

[Luananeko]

What happens with the fry the angels don't eat? They are pretty good at hiding.

Don't underestimate the number of fry you'll have in your tank within the next 3 months. Suggest that you get juvie angels and avoid the quarter size version.

Your other issue is going to be, what happens if you get two male angels since they are almost impossible to sex until spawning age. Alternate suggestion is to get one juvie angel and it's one less worry to have.

+1. I had six guppies in my 75g tank and had boatloads of fry survive even though I had 4 full grown Opaline/Blue/Lavender Gourami in there to munch on them. Livebearers are crazy fast at overpopulating a tank.

 

[sinibotia]

We're going to pick up 4 small angels and once they pair off return all but the one pair to the fish store. As far as surviving fry... I have quite a few tanks I could potentially put them in if it becomes a problem. Worst comes to worst, I'm fairly certain I could donate them to the aquaculture lab at my university because I know they use all kinds of tropical aquarium fish for their "biology of fishes" lab course. My fiance and I really like the idea of a pair of angels and watching them hunt the fry.

 

[44Paps44]

Cool, was hoping you had given thought to a back up plan. Sounds good, good luck!

 

[sinibotia]

We're actually thinking of moving our poor lonely kuhli loach out of our 10 gallon and adding 4 more, and then adding either the corydoras or the platies.

If the angelfish pair off and get mean, am I correct in thinking that they'll generally leave the corydoras and the kuhli loaches alone? At the very least I know the kuhli loaches can just disappear into the sand if the angels give them trouble.

 

[sinibotia]

So, the tank is running and the platies are doing well. I wanted to ask if the order of adding kuhli loaches and angelfish matters, since the loaches will mostly hide on the bottom and stay out of the angelfish's way. Would adding the angelfish before them still pose an issue?

 

[Ricky 1]

My angels are quite big and they never bother with my corries in fact they are too busy being nasty to the other angels to bother with the other fish........for now, when they get even bigger, may be a different story.........I don't have kuhli's so don't know.....

 

[izobelbransen]

The Angels will most likely eat the tetras or be nipped by them or vice versa. Angels should be in larger groups and definitely in a larger tank. 6" per fish in adult size! They need room to swim


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[Luananeko]

Angels are fine in singles or in pairs, they do not need to be in larger groups.

As for the order, angels are cichlids and therefore can be territorial at times. It's best to add them last.