angelfish & guppies

[samvandersteen]

I just put a single angelfish in my tank and the guppies are attacking it. I've now removed 2 of them and it seems to be going ok. Is there anything I can do other than removing all the guppies?

 

[meegosh]

How large is the angelfish? In my tank it is the opposite, my angel eats my guppies. I went away last week and a friend feed the tanks every other day and he still ate two adult guppies, and a diamond tetra.

You can try providing more cover for the angel but usually its the other way around.

 

[kaiofcanada]

.....I agree with Meegosh. My angels also eat guppies and they are not even very big yet.

I am also curious what size tank you have. Guppies are very peaceful fish, but if your tank is overstocked they might be stressed and a bit more territorial. What size tank do you have current and what do you have stocked in it?

 

[samvandersteen]

My Tank is 52 litres (divide by 3.79) to get gallons. I can get up to 21 fish so its not overcrowding. The angel is about 3 inches long so its not a big one but it's not tiny either.

I know it's supposed to be the other way round, so it is a bit of a weird scenario After removing 2 of the male guppies I still have a male and female left and they haven't gone near it - so maybe the other two were just strangely aggressive

 

[meegosh]

At a little over 10g, that tank is going to be too small for an adult angelfish. I don't know where you came up with 21 fish but that is WAYYYY to many. You will most likely run into stress and unbearable water issues.

You could probably get away with the guppies by themselves for a while until they start to breed like crazy and you will have to sell them or give them away. This happened to me a while back, I had more guppies than I knew what to do with.

Although an angelfish does work as a way to control guppy populations you will more than likely have some fry survive to be large enough not to get eaten. This is when you run into overstocking issues. You will also have to start culling the fry as more inbreeding occurs between the generations.

 

[kaiofcanada]

I agree with Meegosh completely...10g is just enough for your guppies. In fact I would only stock 5 guppies in that size tank. And this of course depends on keeping none of the fry in the same tank. Guppies will make lots of babies like it or not. You will likely have alot of little cute fry sooner than later and then they will appear every 30 days or so per female.

I would take the angel back to the fish store and get your money back. Unless you plan on upgrading to at least a 30-55gallon tank I would not consider keeping an angelfish. They grow to be 6".

As for the aggression from the guppies, ...if you have stocked more than 5 or so guppies in your 10 gallon I would not be surprised to see some stress related uncharacteristic behaviour from the guppies. Reconsider adding the angelfish or any other fish for that matter. Perhaps some ghost shrimp or a snail would be more fitting.

 

[severum mama]

I agree with Meegosh completely...10g is just enough for your guppies. In fact I would only stock 5 guppies in that size tank. And this of course depends on keeping none of the fry in the same tank. Guppies will make lots of babies like it or not. You will likely have alot of little cute fry sooner than later and then they will appear every 30 days or so per female.

I would take the angel back to the fish store and get your money back. Unless you plan on upgrading to at least a 30-55gallon tank I would not consider keeping an angelfish. They grown to be 6".

As for the aggression from the guppies, ...if you have stocked more than 5 or so guppies in your 10 gallon I would not be surprised to see some stress related uncharacteristic behaviour from the guppies. Reconsider adding the angelfish or any other fish for that matter. Perhaps some ghost shrimp or a snail would be more fitting.

+1-- really couldn't agree more.

To avoid overpopulation, I'd stick with 5-6 male guppies in a 10 gallon, and nothing else.

 

[match55]

agree with kaiofcanada, adding ghost shrimps and snails can help provide a better place for the fishes as they clean up the mess at the bottom and on the glass. if u don't wanna see little fry all over~ give every 1 male 4 female, wish I m a guppies LOL

 

[WhiteDevil]

angels eat ghost shrimp. they eat fry, I have two adult barred angels that only eat fry. Never have they touched a grown or juvenile fish ONLY FRY.

 

[severum mama]

If your "adult" angels are not large enough to eat adult guppies, IMO they are either stunted or they have not yet reached full adult size... or else you are the exception to the rule. Angels are ambush predators and the vast majority will eat whatever they can fit in their mouths. I've kept angels that were easily large enough to eat guppies. For obvious reasons, I didn't keep them with guppies.