Angelfish in a 20 gallon

[NEWBIE124]

I currently have one angelfish, one mollie and 2 zebrafish in a 20 gallon tank. I had more mollies and a second angelfish but the nitrites shot up and I lost 4 fish in 24 hours. We are currently getting the nitrites under control with water changes and I’m adding a bubbler however I am wanting to make sure I get a good group of fish when I restock.

I want another angelfish if possible, and I want to make sure I get a few more zebras so they can shoal. Maybe 5 or 6 total. Then I feel like I should get some more mollies for the panda mollie but after they mostly all died I’m not sure.

Advice? I don’t want to overstock but I also want a nice community tank.

I also should add that we have really hard water so I’m trying to keep that in mind as I add more fish as well.

 

[Andy Sager]

I currently have one angelfish, one mollie and 2 zebrafish in a 20 gallon tank. I had more mollies and a second angelfish but the nitrites shot up and I lost 4 fish in 24 hours. We are currently getting the nitrites under control with water changes and I’m adding a bubbler however I am wanting to make sure I get a good group of fish when I restock.

I want another angelfish if possible, and I want to make sure I get a few more zebras so they can shoal. Maybe 5 or 6 total. Then I feel like I should get some more mollies for the panda mollie but after they mostly all died I’m not sure.

Advice? I don’t want to overstock but I also want a nice community tank.

Unless you have a breeding pair of adult Angelfish that you want to keep alone, a 20 gallon tank is not really large enough for Angelfish. Your other fish are fine but I would skip the second Angel and if possible, rehome the current one to a larger tank. Angelfish are actually schooling fish that live in a hierarchy so with only 2 fish, one will always pick on the second one as they grow. With that, you really should have Angels in schools of at least 4-5 fish in a larger tank so that they can spread out to protect themselves from the more dominant fish while still being part of the school to feel secure from other predators. So you see, a small tank is not a good tank for raising Angelfish.