New Tank Mates for an angelfish?

[angelfish1985]

I have a 10 gallon tank, that has an angelfish and a common algae eater. I would like to find at least one more fish to put in my tank. The problem is that I have a very aggressive angelfish, and it is rather large. The priority is to not have my angelfish nipped at, but I also don't want it to kill the new fish in one day. I have tried guppies in the past, but it killed all three of them in less than a week. I am having trouble finding information about what fish can go in with an angelfish, because all of the sites seem to think that angelfish are peaceful. HA! not mine. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

[Watcher74]

A 10 gallon tank is really way too small for an angelfish. The smallest size tank recommended for an Angelfish is 30 gallons. An angelfish in that small of a tank will become stunted, deformed, and die an early death.

[ChicoRaton]

ditto. Also, is this common "algae eater" one of these:
http://aquariacentral.com/species/db2.cgi?db=fresh&uid=default&ID=0208&picture5_page_view=1

Because if so, they get VERY large and are also way, way too big for a 10 gallon.

Might be best not to get any more fish for that tank and perhaps look into a bigger one.

[angelfish1985]

No my algae eater isn't a plecostomus. It's a Gyrinocheilus aymonieri. It has doubled in length since I got it last year, but is still only about 3-4 inches long. Anyways, back to the angelfish. The funny thing about it is that I just moved it to the 10 gallon tank. When I got him over a year ago he was really small, and lived fine in a 5 gallon. Then he trippled in size and I had to get a bigger tank. I live in a college dorm though, so 10 gallon is the biggest I can have. He seems to swim fine in the tank, even though he is the biggest angelfish I have seen. I really would like to get one more fish so it doesn't look quite so lonely, but if the tank is all ready too small I guess I won't.

[Watcher74]

Urhm...Its too small for even a single Angelfish. I don't mean to step on any toes, but it will be very harmful to keep him in a 10 gallon tank.

[Blinky]

One reason your angel is probably more agressive than other people's angels is that he's in a small space (mine's in a 45g and the only territorial fish, and he's an absolute sweetie). Cichlids are territorial, and 10g is a very small space for housing even a single angel. He likely sees the entire tank as 'his' and that's why he behaves agressively towards any other fish you add to the tank. I'd leave well enough alone and not add any other fish.
I understand that in your dorm you're not allowed to keep a larger tank, how would they feel about a tank with the same footprint as a 10g? I'm not sure but I think you can buy 15 gallon 'tall' tanks with the same length and width dimensions (or at least pretty close) as a 10g, they're just a lot taller. Your angel would be happier in a taller tank since it's such a tall fish, and another 5g of water would help in terms of space as well as controlling the amount of waste produced by two fairly big fish.

[angelfish1985]

The problem with getting a larger tank, is that I travel home (a 2.5 hour trip by car) with my fish. Emptying and then refilling a 15 gallon tank every 2 months would be a lot more work. Thank you for all of your suggestions, but I think I'll just leave well enough alone.