Bullying

[giffmastaflex]

I have 3 angel fish and one is being picked on by the other two and his fins are starting to look a little torn. One angel picks on him more than the other. What should I do to prevent any more harm, do I need to add another angel to disperse the anger? I don't know what to do

 

[Obsessedfishlover]

I have 3 angel fish and one is being picked on by the other two and his fins are starting to look a little torn. One angel picks on him more than the other. What should I do to prevent any more harm, do I need to add another angel to disperse the anger? I don't know what to do

I think you should add another angel if not a few depending on the angels gender you need to even out the genders.

 

[giffmastaflex]

But it's hard to determine the gender though

 

[Obsessedfishlover]

But it's hard to determine the gender though

I'm sorry I'm not the best angelfish person to ask but I would just say add a few more and see what you get.

 

[Rivercats]

What size is the tank? Is it planted? How long have you had the angels? Are two of the angels staying together?

What could be happening, depending on the age of the fish, is that two have paired off. This leaves the single Angel which they will try to drive out of their territory. If the tank is smaller the single has no where to go and they could possibly stress him/her to death. Adding other angels would depend on the size of the tank. Another thing you can try is remove the two angels leaving only the picked on angel, rearrange your tank so the line of sight is broken from one end to the other, then readd the two angels. What this does is trick the removed angels into thinking they are in a new tank which means they have no territory and often lowers or eliminates aggression. Rehoming the odd angel is also a very good option.

 

[giffmastaflex]

Well they are in a 55 gallon but ill be moving them to a 40 gallon breeder within two months or so and the picked on angle is about a moth older and try have all been together since October, how many angels should I add? Will one do it? And I have a few plants but not a whole lot yet.







That is the extent of my plants but I want to add more in the future and change out to sand but that won't be for about 3 months do to the time it takes to set up the old tank and do a few eye pleasing backgrounds

 

[giffmastaflex]

And the two angels aren't always together sometimes I see the pick on angel with the less aggressive angel and the other non aggressive angel looks like it is being picked on too, the back fun is looking alittle roughed up

 

[Rivercats]

In a 55g you could add another angel but honestly that probably won't fix the problem. It usually takes at least 6 angels in a tank to spread out aggression so no one individual is getting picked on all the time. A 55g is too small for 6 angels. I have 12 angels in a 100% planted 220g. I had to rehome two large aggressive males that were very aggressive with everyone and that finally settled things down. Not all mine are paired but with the high number of them and the fact there is so many plants there is very little aggression. Also if your moving them down to a 40g tank I wouldn't add any new angels.

 

[giffmastaflex]

Thanks, ill try rearranging a few thinks maybe more plants in the middle so it's a barrier? Would that work?

 

[Rivercats]

You need to remove the other two angels before rearranging. Adding something like an Amazon Sword would be a good idea. It grows tall and can work very well for this purpose.

 

[giffmastaflex]

Where can I place these angels? And should I leave the angry one in there still? Should I put them in individual 5 gallon buckets?

 

[DavidAl]

Since the two least aggressive angels can sometimes get along, I would remove the most aggressive angel and see how things work out. Do you have any other fish in this tank? If not, try adding a school of fish (not neons) and see if it takes some of the attention off of each other.

David

 

[giffmastaflex]

Yeah I have a leaf fish a African featherfin cat and a rainbow shark

 

[Rivercats]

You can either take the aggressor out as David suggested or take both angels out and leave the one that gets picked on in the tank. Either way is fine.

Take enough tank water and add to a bucket and just put the fish in. It doesn't take overly long to rearrange (unless your me) and the fish will be fine. You also don't need to fill an entire 5 gallon bucket. Just add enough water that the fish can fully extend their fins with alittle extra.

 

[giffmastaflex]

So I took out the two aggressive angels today and placed them in separate buckets for about an hour and changed everything around and took out some decorations then I placed the fish back in and so far so good, I don't see any anger issues... Yet. Do you think that the same angels will become aggressive again? I don't want to be doing this every week or month. And I couldn't get any plants today cause the fish stores did not have eye appealing plants. Does anyone know of a place to purchase healthy plants? I'm looking at the packages from some plant sites but not sure if its a good deal or what.

 

[Rivercats]

It all depends on the angels since they have different personalities. One thing I have found over the years is dominant males are usually the really aggressive ones. If it starts again I would just rehome the problem child.