I'd like to have a colony of angelfish in a 130g but I am concerned about a few things. There would be interbreeding for one, not that I would plan to sell the offspring in this case, but not that I'd expect that many to survive either. There's also fighting, I'm concerned that if one fish became weak for some reason it may be harassed to death, perhaps a territorial dispute or breeding dispute would cause one to suffer and begin this process.Does anybody have experience with this? How many fish (of each sex, size etc.)? Would I need to cull numbers after breeding etc? Would an old adult male I currently have alone handle such an invasion?
Angelfish species tank
- Thread starter JoelB
- Start date
If you got all females and just a few males, you'd be fine. I'd say in your tank, if you got 5 females and 2 males, you'd probably be OK. That would leave enough females for the males, and also enough space for everybody in there.
There's one problem with that. Angelfish are primarily not harem breeders. In fact, I have never heard of angelfish being bred in a harem. They pair for life. If you did the 5f/2m, pairs would likely form, and the other three females would get pretty beat up. I think your only option here, and this is borderline, is to have only two pairs. They will pretty much claim one side of the tank each, but scuffles might occur. You could add quite a few apistos to take up space, and something else to fill the top space that do not nip fins.
I hate to kind of shoot down your idea, but there would be a lot of damaged fish involved.
I hate to kind of shoot down your idea, but there would be a lot of damaged fish involved.
I have a tank, such as you decribe -- it's a 75 gallon tank. I started off with 4 baby angels I bought a local store. Turns out, two were male, two were female. They have both spawned and produced eggs -- MANY times. The babies, after they hatch will NOT live unless you intervene, put a divider in tank so the parents can take proper care of the babies and then you'd have to put foam over the filter tube so that babies don't get sucked up. You then have to hatch your own live brine shrimp and feed it to the babies every 2 hours or they will die. So -- I did this for one of the egg batches and let me tell you it's a heck of a job -- but I ended up with about 75 healthy angel babies -- I gave about 60 of them away to the local aquarium store. So now, I have the original 4 angels plus another 15 "babies" which are now fully grown. One of them is albino -- kind of interesting. In any case, I now have 19 full grown angels in my 75 gallon tank -- it's TOO MANY. Some of the offspring have already paired off and spawned and the original parents still lay eggs every 4 weeks or so. They all try to defend a small area of the tank and there is non stop poking and prodding and threats and aggression. They are beautiful marble angels, but if I had to do all over again, I probably would have given away ALL the babies and just kept the original 4. Don't worry about your angels having babies because unless you intervene to help them, they will all die after the eggs hatch and/or perhaps get eaten by the other fish.
I am not sure what you mean by interbreeding.
there are 3 currently recognized species of Angelfish
P. Altum
P.Scalare
P.Leopoldi
the most common is P.Scalare and probably what you have.
Are you concerned about breeding?
if you have a colony of Angels the more you have the greater the chance of a pair forming.
Angels are actually very aggressive (conspecific) meaning they will fight amongst themselves.. this is more an issue if a pair forms up.
then it's no holds barred. a breeding pair of angels can literally make the tank non-inhabitable for other Angels.. a large tank tend to help as it has more places that non breeding fish can hide in.
having more Angels may also help spread aggression.
but there is a chance.. and this is a relatively high chance, that some Angels may get injured or killed.
if you have a breeding pair and you find them aggressive
there is not much you can do but either isolate the pair or break them apart and remove one of them.
but remember if you have many angels you may still get another pair formation.
there are 3 currently recognized species of Angelfish
P. Altum
P.Scalare
P.Leopoldi
the most common is P.Scalare and probably what you have.
Are you concerned about breeding?
if you have a colony of Angels the more you have the greater the chance of a pair forming.
Angels are actually very aggressive (conspecific) meaning they will fight amongst themselves.. this is more an issue if a pair forms up.
then it's no holds barred. a breeding pair of angels can literally make the tank non-inhabitable for other Angels.. a large tank tend to help as it has more places that non breeding fish can hide in.
having more Angels may also help spread aggression.
but there is a chance.. and this is a relatively high chance, that some Angels may get injured or killed.
if you have a breeding pair and you find them aggressive
there is not much you can do but either isolate the pair or break them apart and remove one of them.
but remember if you have many angels you may still get another pair formation.
I have heard of angels behaving as Star_Rider describes but never witnessed it.
I have a 165g with 18 angels in it. All three species. Although there is squabbling, it is never too serious.
Even when I had 12 scalare in a 6 foot tank, the would nudge, bump and flare at each other but because there were a few, it was never serious.
Ways I have found to cut down on 'bullying', fighting and what not is tall visual barriers. Normally from the bottom of the tank to the top. And I usually have quite a few of these. Also keeping them well fed and water clean.
In a 130g I would put 10-12 if the are the primary fish. What are the dimensions on your tank?
I have a 165g with 18 angels in it. All three species. Although there is squabbling, it is never too serious.
Even when I had 12 scalare in a 6 foot tank, the would nudge, bump and flare at each other but because there were a few, it was never serious.
Ways I have found to cut down on 'bullying', fighting and what not is tall visual barriers. Normally from the bottom of the tank to the top. And I usually have quite a few of these. Also keeping them well fed and water clean.
In a 130g I would put 10-12 if the are the primary fish. What are the dimensions on your tank?
:iagree:
larger tanks with good visible barriers do help.
I have raise P.Scalare in 75 g tanks with lots of fighting even with visible barriers.
I have not been able to locate a reliable source for Altums.
but have seen altum in large schools in large tanks with few problems.
and you can find some angels that seem to get along while others are ruthless stalkers.
larger tanks with good visible barriers do help.
I have raise P.Scalare in 75 g tanks with lots of fighting even with visible barriers.
I have not been able to locate a reliable source for Altums.
but have seen altum in large schools in large tanks with few problems.
and you can find some angels that seem to get along while others are ruthless stalkers.
True, some angels are just *******s. I have found that fish raised in cramped quarters like they are here, then put into tanks that have A LOT more room often quietens them down. I have only ever had one psycho angel and it was a solid black angel.
I had 8 or 9 silver scalare in my 75g for over a year with no problems except an occasional (and I mean occasional) split fin. I turned the 2 back corners into almost isolation boxes with driftwood barriers. I also made horizontal visual barriers.
I do have a little more current in my tanks and i have a feeling this could help a little to get rid of that extra 'fighting' energy, but not going to bet my house on that.
I had 8 or 9 silver scalare in my 75g for over a year with no problems except an occasional (and I mean occasional) split fin. I turned the 2 back corners into almost isolation boxes with driftwood barriers. I also made horizontal visual barriers.
I do have a little more current in my tanks and i have a feeling this could help a little to get rid of that extra 'fighting' energy, but not going to bet my house on that.
I agree w/cockroach - 10 to 12 w/lots of tall plants/driftwood and other barriers. I raise angels and I have several adults in a 55 and a 95 and they bicker but do fine. More angels = spread out aggression and it is less likely for one to be picked on. If you want to minimize aggression, pull all the spawns after they lay the eggs and that will help.