Behavior of Angelfish?

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dmac

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 18, 2006
Messages
93
I bought a single small angelfish about 18 hours ago and as of today it mostly just hangs out way at the top, hidden behind the filter intake extension. IT occasionally does come down and swim around a bit, but I haven't even seen it eat yet. (flakes?)......Is it just skittish of the new environment, does it need another angel mate, or is something wrong with my water conditions? (77 deg, KH 120, pH 6.8 )
 
From personal experience, I've never had any luck with angelfish >.< I'd just watch it for a while to make sure it's going to do alright, it should eat flakes though ._. It may just be afraid when you come over to the tank to feed it *shrug*
 
Hmmmm, dose not sound to good, as Purti said keep an eye on him it may be that it is ill, usually they will eat within 24 hours, i personal have had good luck with them, i hope you do as they are great fish. try feeding it bloodworm as they love to eat them, anyway good luck.
 
Good news. He came out of his hiding place for a few minutes so I put some more flakes in and he went right for them.....He's actually swimming all around now gobbling up the flakes..............Hopefully this gives him confidence to swim around more...I hate it when he hides up at the top there as you can't see him! Beautiful fish otherwise...


After the meal he went back to his spot. I think once he gets comfortable he'll come out more. Its just good to see him eat.
 
I'd still watch him for the next few days cuz I've had some that die that night or a few days later >.<
 
Angels are usually a bit shy at first. What size tank is it in? And what other fish do you have? Fast swimming tetras and fish can sometimes make them more stressed. Just make sure it has somewhere to hide. It should come around within a few days, its good it is eating though. Angels are usually voracious eaters (atleast my 3 are), so not eating is bad.
 
If you don't have a planted tank try leaving the tank light off, illuminating it with just room light. Limit any unnecessary commotion around the tank. As long as the fish is eating it's ok, if it hides in the back like that without eating it usually indicates internal parasites.
 
So it continued to act sketchy all weekend, spending about 90% of its time hovering at the top behind the filter intake....................It did come out at about 6pm to swim around and I put some flake in specifically to see if it would eat -it ignored the food completely.........Just did a final check before bed and its lying on its side on the bottom of the tank, dead.

Not sure what went wrong here, all water tests seem to be ok......KH is suddenly very high, but pH is low.......Any idea why?
 
Pretty much the same thing just happened to my girlfriends pearlscale. I'm thinkin Internal Parasite but i really dont know. The water parameters were right on hers and it did the same thing. hth.
 
yeah they are completely skittish the whole time, least energetic, least enthuiastic fish around are angel fish, they act like "Ohh, life is kinda borring, i hope i die tommorow, or maybe next week"
 
Well I finally got around to replacing the angel with another..........So far this one is much better. I introduced him with the light off and since then he is swimming around quite a bit, and is moving in areas where I can watch him, though he stays close to the glass so far. I feel optomistic about this one.


What is the smallest fish that should be kept with angels? I hear as they get bigger they could eat the small guys......
 
Neons and smaller guppies are all you really have to worry about. Don't house barbs with him they will nip at his fins.
 
Ok, so the 1.5" blue guppies I saw would get swallowed hole.
 
Well the replacement angel was found lying on the gravel this morning, dead. Thats 2 dead angels, my only casualties thus far............He was more active than the first one, but lately was hanging out at the top behind the filter intake, like the other..............He didn't eat very often either..................I'm thinking my next go round will be introducing 2 angels at once, since I think they were lonely by themselves....He constantly chased his mirror image up and down along the back glass.

Can anyone give me the optimal water conditions for angelfish?
 
So, I went with my next go round, a pair of beauties that I thought were going to finally flourish..........Once again I was wrong.....I'm now 0-4 with Angelfish........Clearly some of parameters are wrong.

I'm done with them for awhile....................I just need something cool to finish off my tank, perhaps 3 or 4 fancy guppies are in order.
 
actually I'm quite fond of fancy guppies and I'm on my way to the store to see what they got into today. You certainly can't beat the color of a beautiful fancy guppy in a community tank.
 
I used to think guppies were absolutely boring, but my experience was limilted to feeder guppies (which I used to buy long long ago for my angels). I bought some Fancy guppies not too long ago as cycling fish (yes, I know better now and will use a fishless cycling methods from now on) and I've come to really like them. They are not overly bright, and are rather piggy eaters, but are playful, colorful, and VERY friendly (probably hoping for more food!!!).

Also, Cherry Barbs might be okay with angels. They don't seem to nip fins, and are probably large enough and fast enough to avoid being eaten by angels... What do more experienced angel-keepers think?

In the past when I kept angels, they seemed to do best in soft, slightly acid water (pH of 6.6 to 6.8) with rocks/caves (for other tank dwellers to hide in), driftwood, and plenty of plants! My angels really seemed to do best when I had a fair number of plants in the tank... Also, be careful to ALWAYS treat your water (i.e., with Prime) when doing a water change, and carefully match water temperature before adding the replacement water. Angels can be really delicate at times. One I had was amazingly hardy (even surviving a 5-6 hour trip home when I graduated from college), but others seemed a lot more sensitive...
 
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