We already had 3 Angelfish and decided to buy another one. We bought a beautiful silver-blue Angelfish, healthy and strong. Everything was fine, it showed domination over other fish and became " the boss" of the fish tank. But then, after a whole month, he ate 17 neon fish in few nights. We feed him and all others regularly, there is just the right number of fish (now less than 15), we have natural plants, strong and good filter system, the tank has over 50 gallons (200 liters). After that, it started attacking bigger fish he cannot even eat. We had no similar problems with our other Angelfish. We don't want to get rid of him but don't know what to do. Any help? :/
Angelfish is eating all smaller fish
- Thread starter Kaidarya100
- Start date
Fish have different personalities. Some are strongly predatory, as you're discovering. There isn't a lot you can do to change that behavior--it will see smaller fish as food, and larger dish as competition. You can remove the fish, change the decor around, and then add the fish back. This will break up territories, and may help. Giving other fish lots of places to hide and be out of sight might be all that's needed to reduce the aggression, but the snacking on smaller fish isn't likely to change.
I agree with the above, I don't think there's anything you can do about the eating of the other fish tbh. The aggression, the only thing you can do is to move the decor around as suggested. If that doesn't work you're going to have to remove either the new angel or the old ones.
Thanks guys. I will then change the decor and hope that will change things. He is getting alot bigger than other Angelfish (perhaps of his diet last few weeks :/ ) and getting even more aggressive. I realized he is afraid of one Clown Loach I have because he breaks up all fights and chases that Angelfish away. Should I maybe buy two more of those, they like to live in groups anyway.
A 50 gallon tank is not large enough for one adult clown loach, much less multiples.
We'll see how it goes, maybe he settles down because other fish are bigger than neons, so he'll perhaps chill out after a while. None of the fish is missing or hurt. So far so good. Hope it will stay that way.
Once they taste flesh it's over. I had one that used to attack my arm, never hit the same spot twice, testing it for weaknesses. Used to do the same thing to the acrylic if I made eye contact with him for too long. What you have is a blood thirsty animal from the nature, all boxed up and asked politely not to kill, it's done. Sorry.
