Should she stay or should she go?

[mozart]

My angel just seems to get a bit meaner everyday. I can understand when she has eggs on a leaf, but now she is even picking on my friendly bottom fish. Cories get along with everyone! They aren't allowed to come up for air. She is a beautiful centerpiece fish. I haven't luck with any "centerpiece" fish. Would she more friendly if she had a buddy, or do I give her back to the shop. She is fairly large at this point. I'm not sure if I could even introduce a couple of babes.

 

[Star_Rider]

This, really, is a decision you need to make.

Angels are Cichlids and often have serious attitudes.

unfortunately, adding a mate may or may not help.

if you decide to add more angels her aggression will then, either turn to finding a mate or picking on the other angels in the tank.
the other option is to find other tank mates that can get out of the way of the angel.

 

[Charlie Greiner]

If you want to add a few new angels please understand that unless they are full grown they will get beat up a bit. Some may even be killed. A critical point is your tank size and the other inhabitants - can the tank handle more. If tank size is not an issue, rearrange the decor just before releasing new fish into the tank. Then they will all need to reestablish their territories.

She may still be extremely aggressive and may ultimately need to go.For some reason many of the fish we keep have not read the books about they are supposed to behave. Some reamin more ornery than others.

 

[petluvr]

I have two like this, one has a 30 gallon that she rules with several larger columbian tetras and another has her own 29 that she shares with cardinal tetras, they both rule with an iron fist I agree with Star they are cichlids and unfortunately this does happen.

 

[BettaFishMommy]

i agree with angels being ornery! i've got one that bosses my 9 inch oscar around.

 

[excuzzzeme]

Angelfish are anything but angelic! As has been stated, they are cichlids and are temperamental. That being said, you will need to decide if it is worth the headaches in keeping her in a mixed community.

I had several angels and 1 was so mean it killed the others 1 by 1 until I finally realized what was killing them off. I ended up having to rehome it to be able to maintain the rest of my stock. I tried multiple combinations to stop the aggression and nothing worked for any prolonged length of time. The end result was that it needed to go elsewhere or I was going to result to more drastic action. I found a home for it and yes, they knew it was a mean fish.

 

[mozart]

Well she seems to need at least 30G to herself. She looks at and nuzzles her reflection so much I was thinking a buddy may settle her down, but I'm not going to let her kill off any young angels. Another thought that I have is that the tank feeding habits have been disrupted enough due to the holidays and travel that she may think that every time she sees me I may feed her, and she is typically more aggressive at feeding time. Because of the new fish I've been spending more time watching the tank. I've positioned myself in front of the tank most of the day today and the aggressive behavior has settled down for the past few hours. Everyone looks relaxed, except the loners, for now.

 

[mozart]

A little update. The tank was returned to it's previous location and after the lemon tetra died one by one, I started buying fish like mad. Technically the tank is overloaded. Visually it is wonderful. The angel has cooled her jets for the time being. She nips some fish from time to time and they move. There doesn't appear to be any hard feelings. They get out of her way if she decides to start swimming hard. The tiny otos and 3 young harleys (I added because I couldn't stand to watch the other one be all alone any longer) get in her face and I just wait for them to die, but she ignores them. The crowd seems to have sedated her. Egg-laying tiime is coming soon which I'm dreading. Not sure how the crowd is going to handle that! I'm sure this is a temporary impasse, but I'll take it for now!

 

[Charlie Greiner]

What the crowding has done is eliminate her ability to secure a territory for herself (in her case the entire tank). If you want to keep her, you may need to keep the overstock you now have. Be sure to do the maintenance things and keep a spare heater around during the winter in case one fails.

Charlie