Angelfish stocking question

[TropicalChica]

Hi! I have a 60 gallon tank that currently has 3 angelfish and 6 sparkling gouramis and about 40 amano and chocolate shrimp.. Here is my question, two of my angelfish have become a pair and they actually just laid eggs, they have become insanely aggressive to the other angelfish, this has actually been an ongoing issue however it seemed to be okay bc my tank is heavily planted and the bullied angel seemed to be content to stay in one area where a lot of the sparkling gouramis hang out, however now the other two area bullying him even what I sort of thought was his area... my question is if it would be better to return him to the breeder or add a 4th angelfish or get a second female instead of having two males... even though the female also bullies him (the breeder is always fine with this, I have even traded back fish with him when I decided to change up on of my other tanks, he is a hobbiest and has huge tanks with tons of room and always has angelfish breeding etc). I'm just wondering if anyone has experience adding another fish and how it worked or if my tank is even large enough for a 4th angel etc. Thank you for any help!

 

[charliebankston]

We keep a big tank of angels. It's all male for that reason. The two females are in a separate tank. If your not trying to raise fry, you can remove the eggs and after a day or two things will go back to normal. Until they spawn again. Then it's back to being aggressive. Angels can be pretty mean when they spawn.

 

[charliebankston]

Adding another female will just double the aggression time, bc you'll have 2 spawning at different times trying to protect eggs.

 

[ghyti]

Makes no difference how many other Angels are in the tank. When a pair spawns all the other Angels will be driven away and into the far corners of the tank. Pull out the eggs when they are done and things will return to normal quickly.

 

[charliebankston]

Makes no difference how many other Angels are in the tank. When a pair spawns all the other Angels will be driven away and into the far corners of the tank. Pull out the eggs when they are done and things will return to normal quickly.

I agree 100%

 

[TropicalChica]

thank you!

thank you for all of the help! So... they are actually a little aggressive towards the 3rd angel even when not spawning...do you all think it would be better, in that situation, to return the outsider or to return the female? I sort of like how bonded the pair are but at the same time the outsider angelfish is actually the prettiest ha. go figure... I guess looks don't matter when it comes to angelfish dating!

 

[charliebankston]

thank you for all of the help! So... they are actually a little aggressive towards the 3rd angel even when not spawning...do you all think it would be better, in that situation, to return the outsider or to return the female? I sort of like how bonded the pair are but at the same time the outsider angelfish is actually the prettiest ha. go figure... I guess looks don't matter when it comes to angelfish dating!

Haha! The males will be inherently aggressive towards each other regardless. They just have that cichlid mentality. The female may spawn with either one at times. So you could rehome daddy and make a new family. And if they didn't spawn, then all the better cuz you wouldn't have the brood defense problem

 

[charliebankston]

I have 2 females and no males in a tank and they regularly spawn. Of course after a few days they just eat the unfertilized eggs. But they act just like a breeding pair. Crazy.