Angel aggression

[ChunkyMonkey]

Well, I decided to give my Eclipse(10 gallon) to a friend of mine. When he picks it up, I'll be placing Capone(seen below) in my 55.

I was moving to a new place this weekend and had to put Capone with an old tank mate(I believe it's a Gold Veil Angel). Things were fine for the first half our. No other fish in the 55, they were all put back in their 100gal at the new apartment. My wife stopped by the old place where the 55 was still waiting to be moved. Babyface was bumping into Capone and nipping at him again. What's the deal with these guys? I was going to convert this 55 to a SW setup, but was then thinking of making it a planted tank for them. This pic inspired me:

Is this just a matter of these two not getting along, a rule of a minimum number required(like red tail black sharks), not mixing types of Angels, etc?

Any help/insight would be greatly appreciated. :wall:

 

[Coler]

nice fish pic

It seems a bit unusual in that that's a big old tank for just 2 Angels. But they are cichlids and will work to establish/re-establish dominance over each other just as much as they can.

have you got plenty of cover in the tank, especially tall cover to break up visual line of sight ? in a tank that big with 2 angels, if one is being subjected to serious aggression it should easily be able to find space away from the bully.

As regards numbers, you could add 2 or 3 more, and this should spread out a hyper-dominant fish, depending on what else you want in the tank long term. What you then need to watch out for is pair forming as a mated pair will really up the ante on conspecifics as regards aggresssion.

 

[ChunkyMonkey]

Thank you Coler....I really think this would be an Angel only tank. Nothing much along the lines of plants due to my lack of lighting with these pos stock lights. Only thing that has been successful in such a setup were sword plants. But I've seen quite a few decent lighting options out there. I figured that adding a couple more would lessen the load to say, but wasn't sure about the thought of mixing different types of angels.

 

[Star_Rider]

some angels are just plain mean..(makes you wonder how they got the name 'angel')

especially if there is a super dominant male..I have one that beat the heck out of all the angels save 1..they are not a pair..he just does not beat one up.

the others are now in seperate tanks..1 male is bonded with a domestic female.adding more may help spread aggression but it also increases the chance of pair bonding.

keep an eye on them and give them a chance to establish a pecking order.