Aggressive Angelfish

[Tonyarae]

I have a 55 gal with
3 Cory cats
1 Pleco
2 angels
3 bosemani rainbow fish
1 turquoise rainbow fish
1 tetra

My problem is this one angel is a jerk to the other angel. They are not locking lips. It will not let it eat all it does is hides and I'm wondering what to do. Should I get rid of the aggressive one. Please help

 

[mambee]

I had the same situation in a 90 gallon tank. The best way to solve it is by adding more angels and spreading the aggression.

I moved the subdominant fish to my 150 gallon tank, bought 5 more angels, and then moved the dominant fish. Now everyone hangs out together.

 

[Tonyarae]

How many angels do you think I should put in there? And should I get similar sizes?

 

[mambee]

You can probably fit 5 in total. Similarly sized would work best.

 

[Tonyarae]

Ok thanks I will see what the LFS has.

 

[Freakgecko91]

Complete opposite. They will pair off and cause you a much larger headache. Remove the aggressor IMO


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[Tonyarae]

I have a 20 gallon that I might move him/her to. Just cleaned the 55gal that they are in and rearranged it and added more plants. I feel like it's an endless battle. I wish I knew someone that would take him/her. Thanks

 

[mambee]

I have them in a much larger tank (150 gallons), but my 7 angels co-exist well. This is even when 2 of them are spawning.

 

[Tonyarae]

Well today I put the aggressive angel in a 20 gal. I feel bad he is all alone but that's my only option. My other angel is now swimming around and seems to be less stressed.

 

[Andy Sager]

There's 2 things going on with these fish. Angelfish live in a hierarchal society so there will always be a dominant fish and subordinates in a group. Next, they are by nature a schooling fish so having just 2 brings the problem to the forefront that one needs to be on top and the other on bottom ( which you have witnessed). Having multiple fish does help deflect all the attention from one individual but then you need to have a tank large enough to handle all the fish. Larger Angels can live alone better than small ones usually do. If you were to get a single fish, you would be better off having a medium or large fish rather than a small. Smalls are better in groups ( more than 2 ).
Unfortunately, comparing 7 Angels in a 150 gal to a 55 gal is not a fair comparison. The 150 has a lot more room. By adding more to your 55, you will eventually need to thin them down to smaller numbers or get a larger tank to house them all. In groups, eventually they can pair off and if they are looking to breed, more chaos will be created in the 55 as a breeding pair can and often do, hurt their tank mates to protect their spawn. Even worse, the selection period for the fish, when the male and female choose each other, can become violent to themselves as well as the other fish in the tank. If this is something you are not willing to go through you might want to seriously consider a single larger Angel versus a small school of younger Angels. This will help eliminate this process.

Don't be fooled by their name, the Angelfish's behavior are far from Angelic.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tonyarae]

Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - View Profile: Andy Sager
Yes that does help. I have been trying the get these two to get along for months. And I feel if I didn't move one of them them my shy one would die. So yesterday I moved my mollies and put the aggressive Angel by his self.

 

[Frontosa Lover]

Treat them like tiger barbs.

 

[Andy Sager]

Treat them like tiger barbs.

Really? You can calm down a Tiger barb by adding more to the school. You do that with an overly dominant Angel and you have a bunch of dead Angels.

Not really sure that is very accurate advice.

 

[Frontosa Lover]

It worked for me...