Poorly angel

[Pinkyfish]

Hi all

I need some advice. I have a community freshwater tropical 60 gallon biorb with small tetras, some gouramis, 2 blue/pink cichlids and red and black mollies. I have 2 angels which were bought together. The tank has been set up for 6 months. One of my angels a black and White zebra has rapidly lost his fins and I have no idea how he is still alive! He is eating bit seems very sad. It seems worse in the morning, so I have no idea if he is being attacked. All of the fins on every other fish are fine.

Does anyone have any ideas who the attacker or what the problem might be?

Thanks

Pinkyfish

 

[ejaramillo01]

Angel

Angels are really active during night time. If the angels are not a pair mates, my best guess is that the other Angel.
Is the poor Angel smaller in size? (versus the other Angel).

If the Angels are pair (male & female) then most likely the attacker is one or both of the cichlids.

My suggestion is to find a new home for the poor Angel.

 

[Pinkyfish]

I bought the angels together however the healthy one has grown MUCH quicker than the poorly one and is nearly 4 times bigger. They were the first 2 fish I bought and have both been fine. I added the 2 cichlids most recently and are aggressive at feeding time. The angels have never been aggressive towards eachother but I have no idea what sex either of them is. How do I tell??

 

[jenatron]

Are you sure it's not 60 litres? I have a biorb life and as far as I know they don't make one larger than 16 gallons, which is 60 litres. Also, they market their size in litres, not gallons, thus 60.
In that case the angels and cichlids certainly shouldn't be in the tank.

 

[ejaramillo01]

I think that the big one could be a male, based on your last post, the cichlids could be the ones attacking the Angel.
60 G tank is a decent size, maybe you can try to add plants, ornaments, decoration, etc to try to "separate" the tank in areas, this sometimes helps to reduce aggressive behavior in the fish.

My suggestion, hopefully more people give you more ideas or advice.

 

[ejaramillo01]

If the tank is 60 litters, in that case is too small!
No way to keep angels, cichlids, etc in a 60 liters tank.

If the tank is 60 liters as Jen suggested, it is better to return some of the fish to the LFS for the benefit of your tank in the long run.

 

[becrac16]

There's really nothing you can do other than rehome the smaller fish. No matter who the attacker is, unless you're willing to get rid of possibly all 3 of the potential attackers, the small angel won't get left alone.

 

[fort384]

They do not make a 60Gal biorb. It is 16 gal/60 liters. The tank is way too small for the fish you have in it...

 

[Pinkyfish]

Thanks guys I'll try to Rehome the cichlids as I'm very fond of the angels. They are the only ones with names!! I do think that they are responsible as Iv had no problems until I added them recently.

 

[Pinkyfish]

Oh I have 11 fish the biggest being the angel at around 3 inches. Is this too many for this size tank?

 

[fort384]

Yes, too many and wrong kinds of fish. Angelfish should not live in a tank that small, even if there were no other fish.

 

[GuppyLover]

People normally use an inch of fish per gallon of water as a guideline. I have a 20 gal with 10 fish that are and inch each and I left room for my 2 angel fry to grow.

 

[fort384]

The inch-per-gallon "rule" is flawed. It does not account for temperament and behavior of certain species. Species like angelfish can become aggressive and territorial in small tanks. The smaller tank size can stress the fish, leading to illness. I did a quick search, and every link that came up states 20gal (most say even more) is the smallest tank you can keep angelfish in.

Here is a quick sampling of articles/sites about angelfish:
The Basics of Angelfish Care

Angelfish - Pterophyllum scalare

Freshwater Angelfish Care

Tropical Freshwater Angelfish Care

The Angelfish

So, at 16 gal, your tank would be too small to even house just the 2 angelfish, if you go with 20gal as the absolute minimum... when you add more fish into the mix, there is even less space, lower water quality, etc etc. This is why you cannot always use the inch per gallon rule. It works great for fish like most tetras and danios, but not so much for cichlids and other larger fish.