One angel, one gourami?

[Irish.OG87]

I have a 36g bf that has one 4" size angel fish. That's housed with other community fish i.e neon's,rummynose and some corys.
But recently changed to a dark substrate to bring out my plants color. and in doing so i purchased a pearl gourami because of the beautiful colors and got the recommendation from the lfs guy that it would be save with my angel.
I've search online since purchasing it and just yes and no answers is all i can find no 100% answers.
I bought the biggest pearl they had..if that makes a differeence. Just need certainty from someone, thanks.

 

[shellyx]

I had an angelfish in with my pearl gourami & they never bothered each other. But every fish is different.

 

[phishfriend]

I agree with shellyx. Every fish is different. You won't know till you put them in the tank together. There just is no 100 percent. I will say that in my experience. You may not find out until the Angel reaches full size.

 

[Irish.OG87]

thanks for the input, and the pearl was hiding behind my hob filter..and I've read that if a fish stays near the top most off the time it feels treated, is this true? Is this usual Is for a new fish?

 

[phishfriend]

It is a sign that there is a problem. Most likely caused by stress.

 

[joemamauggly]

You said you have neons they will become food

 

[Zimmanski]

You said you have neons they will become food

Not definitely, I have neons with my angels and have no problems at all. It all depends on the fish and if they grow with smaller fish, and it helps if you make sure your angels are well fed haha

 

[joemamauggly]

But stil if they fit in the mouth they're likely to end up their eventually

 

[Rivercats]

But stil if they fit in the mouth they're likely to end up their eventually

This is simply not correct. I've kept angels since the 80's and can tell you from alot of expierence with them that angels will not eat whatever they can fit in their mouth. In fact even older adults have small mouths. Angels have distinct personalities and actually most leave small fish alone. What I have learned is wild caught angels and large aggressive mature breeding males are the ones that can cause problems with killing little fish. The last bunch of angels I raised was 14 juvies. Once they matured and began spawning I had to remove 2 large aggressive males. I keep my 12 spawning angels with almost all small fish... threadfin rainbows, cardinal and rummynose tetras, white cloud mountian minnow, and very small Rachovii killifish. I also recently added a 3/4" very young Honey gourami who actually gets right up and feeds in the middle of the angels. You can't generalize that all angels will likely kill and eat smaller fish as it's simply not true.

OP as for the Pearl gourami right now it is hiding due to stress. Depending on the attitude of the angel and how long it's been in the current tank you have a 50/50 chance of everything being okay aggression wise. Angels as they mature in a tank have a bad habit of viewing the tank as "thiers" and often if old enough have real issues with new fish being added. But you said the angel is about 4". Is that fin to fin measurement or body size. Mostly when refering to angels you go by body size. For example is it's body dime, nickle, quater, half dollar size or ??? If the angel is only 4" fin to fin then you shouldn't have any issues from it, depending on the attitude of the Pearl it may or may not be a problem. Just watch and be prepared to intervien if necessary.

 

[Irish.OG87]

I've had the angel since it was a juvenile and added it to my tank that already gad the shoaks of a fish I named above. The angel is very well behave and ive never had an issue with him trying to eat any other fish, he does however like to out compete everyone for food during feeding time. My angel is about half dollar size. And I purposely purchased the pearl to be larger (about 4-5"long) if that's makes a difference in them getting along.

 

[Rivercats]

I've had the angel since it was a juvenile and added it to my tank that already gad the shoaks of a fish I named above. The angel is very well behave and ive never had an issue with him trying to eat any other fish, he does however like to out compete everyone for food during feeding time. My angel is about half dollar size. And I purposely purchased the pearl to be larger (about 4-5"long) if that's makes a difference in them getting along.

The best way I found to feed tanks with angels or other food hogs is to feed at both ends of the tank... they just can't be at both ends at once which gives the other fish a chance to eat in peace.

 

[Irish.OG87]

I've actually been doing that as of late and it works out great.

 

[Rivercats]

I've actually been doing that as of late and it works out great.

I've also found that when adding new fish that feeding the angels at one end of the tank and adding the new fish at the other end of the tank works great too.