Dying fish

[Bmtiz92]

I had surgery a week ago, so my tanks have been in the hands of my dad. I expected a little fall out, but I did huge water changes and cleaned everything the day before I went in and made sure everything was ready for when I wasn't here. However, 3 of my until recently very healthy neons have died and so have two of my ottos. Amm is 0, trites are 0 and trates are 20. I can't do a water change yet but I'm going to get my mom to help me do it later this afternoon.
Everything that has died's stomach has been really big, one even popped. I think my juvenile angels may be starting to try to pair off, could it be then picking at the smaller fish? I'll try to watch the tank today and see what's going on, but any ideas?
Btw the ottos are new. Got them about 2 weeks ago, I've never had any issue with stock from this store. They quarantine for 2-3 weeks before putting them out on the sale floor.

 

[librarygirl]

Hm, well your water levels are good; has PH changed dramatically at all? It could be as you said the Angels, best thing to do is monitor the tank and see what's happening. Otos can be sensitive and some people have bad luck with them, particularly if there isn't enough algae for them to eat as some won't take to fish food. Maybe your dad overfed them and they died of bloat? To be safe do a water change when you can and just monitor things closely. Sorry about your fish.

 

[Bmtiz92]

Angels have finally paired off, and at the worst possible timing. Apparently they will NOT be the angels to coexist with other fish. Now I need to figure out what to do with them. I thought with all the plants in that tank they wouldn't be able to terrorize anyone, but I was definitely wrong lol
I have a 20 high that's free, can they go in there by themselves or is that considered too small?

 

[Samzter]

Angels have finally paired off, and at the worst possible timing. Apparently they will NOT be the angels to coexist with other fish. Now I need to figure out what to do with them. I thought with all the plants in that tank they wouldn't be able to terrorize anyone, but I was definitely wrong lol
I have a 20 high that's free, can they go in there by themselves or is that considered too small?

I think they'll be fine in a 20h. If you could move them to a 30g later on that would be fine.

 

[Bmtiz92]

Ok, that's what I will do then. Thanks a bunch

 

[Alyxx]

I had my pair in a 20 high and they did very well. Bigger is better, but a 20 high is generally the accepted minimum for a pair of angels. Mine bred a few times in there, too. Three times that I know of, they probably devoured eggs before I got to see them other times, they were horrid parents.

 

[Bmtiz92]

I just looked in and realized they haven't just paired off, but actually laid eggs on my sword plant! I really thought they were too young for all this still. Will it distress them to take them from their eggs? Should I just let this run it's course and then move them? That plant is very well established in that tank do I don't want to move it.

 

[Bmtiz92]

What should I do? They have all the other fish huddled into a corner of the aquarium. There's another juvie angel (the smallest), 2 platies, and only 2 neons left. They don't seem bothered by the 2 dojo loaches, they're leaving them be thankfully. I could move the other fish into the 20H for now, or the angel pair but I don't want to overly stress the parents by yanking from their eggs if that's possible.

 

[boadams87]

If you have another established tank, just break the leaf off that the eggs are on and weigh it down in the tank. It wont stress them to remove the eggs.