Angelfish Growth

[WBAC88]

I've had a set of four angelfish (trying to find a mated pair) for probably four months now. When I got them, they were small, maybe the size of a half-dollar, including fins, but since then I haven't noticed any appreciable growth. Are angel fish just very slow growers or could I be doing something that's stunting them? Or are there varieties that are just smaller? They're all active and I haven't seen any overly aggressive behavior from any of them. I was planning on re-homing two of them when they got bigger, but I haven't seen that happen yet.

I have a 65g planted aquarium. Thanks.

 

[mudraker]

Hmm, they should have shown some - if not a lot - of growth by now. What are you feeding them?

 

[zparticle]

My marble angels just about doubled in size in that time.

 

[WBAC88]

I feed them mostly dry flake food, but occasionally some frozen brine shrimp. I feed them once a day, in the mornings, about as much as the whole tank can eat in a couple minutes.

 

[mudraker]

For optimum growth and health, Angelfish really need a high quality cichlid blend of a good brand such as Omega One, or New Life Spectrum. Flake or pellet will work.

In mid-October I got seven nickel-sized Angels, they are now well over two inches in body, not counting fins and have paired off.

While not all strains will reach it, Angles can max out at six inches in body size, not counting fins.

 

[BillD]

Angels will grow very quickly if fed lots and kept in clean water. the latter probably being at least as important. I have had fish larger than your stated size double in 3 weeks when fed live food, 24/7. The problem is when you feed large quantities, you need to increase the size and or frequency of water changes. In general, growing fish need to be fed more often than fish being kept on a maintenance diet. When feeding live or frozen foods, you have to increase the quantity by as much as 8X because of the high water content (up to 90%) compared to dry foods, which are generally no more than 10% moisture.
as long as you aren't getting accumulations of uneaten food, you aren't over feeding. It sounds to me like you need to feed more food more often (several more times per day), and change enough water to accommodate the extra feeding.

 

[bob mccoy]

i do every 3 day 25 percent water change and feed brine shrimp morning and good flake food in evenings. mine grow like crazy

 

[WBAC88]

Ok, the problem seems obvious. I just picked up some Omega One cichlid food and will start them on that today feeding multiple times a day. I'm good at PWCs so that shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully they'll make an improvement.

 

[UZOTANK]

My angels have always grown fast. Those buggers love to eat. I had some guppies in tank. Those things have a ton of lie babies and the Angel Fish s a fantastic predator. Between searching for and eating them and flake food they grew like crazy. Matter of fact when the las one died I had to bury it because it was so big.

 

[mudraker]

I think you will see improvement within a few weeks. Let us know!

 

[janky]

my angel won't eat
We had him in QT and just got him out a couple days ago and he doesn't seem to wanna eat. The cichlid pellets float at the top, and neither him nor the apisto will go up there to get food.

If I put in flake, bloodworm, or beefheart, my tetras go nuts and just scavenge it all up.

These guys need to come out of their shell and start eating!!! Kinda makes me nervous..

 

[UZOTANK]

Keep an eye on him if he starts swimming weird. Angel fish can get swim bladder where their equilibrium is thrown off because of a swollen bladder can cause death.