Angel fish fighting too much?

[Peachesk]

So I have had angel fish in our aquariums pretty much my whole life, but there have always been other fish in with them. This is the first time I have had only angels and a pleco..... So long story long,

We started this tank with 3 angels and 4 tetras my mom got us. One of the angels killed all the tetras within a few days, then he started picking off the other angels. So we had the one angel for about a month before we got anything else. We decided to get 2 angels from the same tank (thinking maybe they could defend each other if Goldie, our first angel, started attacking) and a pleco. First day Goldie seemed like a new fish all happy and swimming around the others. They all seemed to get along pretty well, the occasional chase down and soft nips. I kept an eye on fins just in case and the new ones were actually growing theirs back. So fast forward about a month later, Goldie and one of the others, the bigger of the 2, started teaming up and chasing the smallest one. They wouldn't hurt him but it seemed like bullying to me. But we just kept an eye on them and made sure they didn't take it too far. That was about 2 and half weeks ago now. NOW the smallest of them all thinks he's going to bully the one he came with, yesterday afternoon I noticed the bigger one was hidden behind a piece of drift wood and super close to the top of the tank, very unusual for him. So me and my bf are watching them and boom, here comes little guy from the other side and rams into the one trying to hide and hit him pretty hard. Then again BOOM! Hit #2 and the bigger one does a barrel roll and hits the tank. He recovered pretty quick and tried swimming away, so Im grabbing the net to try to keep them separated so no one gets hurt.

So the smaller one won't stop attacking the bigger ones, turned out he was going for Goldie too, and since I never imagined this would happen I didn't have another tank ready. I have a divider in the tank, it's a 55 gallon, and I'm keeping the small one away from them. He doesn't like it at all. I found an old tank and was cleaning it and getting it ready to test, and I noticed the bottom seams would leak, they do pretty bad. I don't have a way to get the right caulk I need until tomorrow or the next day and I don't have anything else I can use.

So I guess my questions are
1) is that normal behavior for angels to hit each other that hard and be so consistent with it? He has been trying to get loose all night and day and did once and hit one of them again it scared me.
And
2) how long do you think I can keep him in that tank separately? I only have him about a third of the tank because he's so small and they are a lot bigger.

In the pictures, the koi is the small mean one, obviously, but the 2 won't even come out of the corner now even though the koi can't get them. This is really concerning for me, I love them all and don't want to get rid of anyone I just don't know what to do right now. Sorry for the long post and TiA for any help or ideas y'all can give me





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[fishorama]

I going to say angels can be weird IME.

We were given 2 angels & some other fish from a co-worker that was moving. They were both females & took turns laying (infertile eggs of course). We got a small angel we hoped was male. He flirted & shook his head at them. They were fairly nice about shooing him away, no damage. But the females continued their egg laying & pretending to fertilize them, then ate them all.

Years later we were given 6 angels & 2 paired up. They took almost 3ft of a 4ft tank as their territory. Every other fish was crammed into a bit more than a foot of tank space. There was fighting at the edge of the territory but not too much damage. Some ramming to keep the other fish out of the pair's territory. The pair laid eggs & fry hatched. Cichlids often move the tiny fry around & these new parents did...until the fry were free swimming. Then to my shock, they carefully spit all the fry into the filter intake! I did not want to raise angel babies but it was still awful to watch!

Your Goldie seems to have pink/red big "tummy". I'm going to guess a female. But angels are very hard to sex. I've been surprised more than once! 3 angels is not a good amount to keep happily for long. 1 fish will be "odd man out" for any reason. too small, too wimpy or wrong gender. It's not just males that can be snotty to their tankmates. Like many cichlids, females can be fierce & at a smaller size. Males can be slow to "catch on" to breeding rituals. That just my experiences over a long time.

If I were you, I'd think about rehoming 1 angel. 3 is going to be trouble. Have a back up plan.

 

[Peachesk]

Well we have talked about getting a few more fish. This is my boyfriends first tank so he wanted to start slow. But we are definitely going to move the smaller one to another tank just have to get it set up. Do you think he will be okay in a smaller area for a couple days?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The smaller one should be fine short term in a smaller space on his own.

Basically, angels pair up. When they do they tend to be tolerant of others. two males will fight like heck in such situations. Most people will start with a group of 5 or six youngsters and grown them up together. When pair forms one must have a plan. If you have a really big tank that may be enough. The problem with a pair is they may be intolerant of other species in a tank as well as other angels.

So, ideally one needs to have the option of removing the pair to their own tank. But then you may ge spawning. Angels are prolific and brred like rabbits once they start. Because angels are difficult to sex until they get ready to ad actually spawn. Then it becomes a lot easier.

A couple of females often will get along O K, but two males should not be expected to. Never forget that angels are cichlids and they can be quite nasty when paired, when competing for females, or when guarding their eggs.

 

[fishorama]

A 20g tank would be ok for 1 a while. Just be sure the tank is cycled before moving it. Watch the behavior of the "other 2". If 1 is getting beaten up you may have to change things. Angels seem like delicate wimpy fish but they're not! They are cichlids & can be pugnacious. We may have trouble sexing them but they can tell. Watch them & be ready to do something if things get out of control. They can damage or even kill each other, don't let it get to that point!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Oops this sentence was wrong: "When they do they tend to be tolerant of others."

It should have said: When they do they tend to be intolerant of others."

Sorry.