Angelfish behaving strangely

[Tess196]

Hi everyone
I've had my two angels for about 9 months and very recently moved them into a 230L tank.
Since moving them they've displayed some odd behaviour. They seem to be calm most of the time but will randomly dart around very fast, bumping into each other/walls of the tank. They hang out near the surface and seem to get air like how betta fish do.. And when I was changing the water one of them was completely upside down in the bottom corner between two rocks. Thought he was stuck but when I moved the rock he just dashed around again hitting himself against the rocks :/
They are still eating, and their colours/stripes haven't faded like how they do when they're stressed.
The ph is good, temp is 28. I don't have any other testing kits atm.
Honestly I'm a bit worried that because their previous tank wasn't that good condition that this has done some lasting harm on them. Is this possible?
Also they just bred a few days ago (I moved fry to seperate tank) so perhaps this could be a factor?
Thanks!

 

[Tifftastic]

very recently moved them into a 230L tank

When you moved the fish into the new tank was it cycled? When fish gasp at the surface and exhibit odd behaviors the first thing I recommend is taking a sample and setting it aside and then completing a 20% water change. After the water change is done, test the sample you took for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
I would highly recommend testing for these things.

Its been a little while, but how are the fish doing now?

 

[SnakeIce]

This may not help solve your current issues with them, but may help with understanding it. Back in the 90s there was a disease that swept angelfish breeders that killed a large majority of the angelfish in the aquarium industry. In the aftermath breeders raced to breed as many angelfish as they could possibly could without regard to the quality of the fish they were producing. The end effect of all that is a lot of angelfish have a "puppy mill" mix of issues. They can be stupid, overly aggressive and frighten easily... in short the worst ones are neurotic examples of angelfish.

You do need to check to make sure water quality is not an issue, and with time they could settle in if the issue is unfamiliar territory. Considering the unknowns about the quality of angelfish there could be several contributing issues.

It might help them for you to spend some time sitting quietly near the tank. That allows them to get used to you in this new environment and perhaps settle down about the perceived threat of work being done in the aquarium. At the moment they do not know that you are not going to scoop them up again and so the method you used to move them is a fresh experience and needs to be tempered with current non threatening experiences with you.

I do know that even my angelfish would spook and dash off at random directions if was before or right after the light came on and I did to much near the tank. It was otherwise very calm and always begging if I was there by the tank.

 

[rufioman]

Angelfish sound like they are very, very distressed with your new tank's water conditions and/or decor. My beloved 7 year old angel was boss hog day one after I moved her into the 90/100g community I keep in our sitting room.

 

[Rbishop]

What detailed filtration do you have? You need some recent test results from a good liquid test kit.

 

[Turbosaurus]

IF they aren't washed out- colors fine, and eating fine (I'll take your word for it- although it is extremely rare), then you have something in their environment that regularly scares the crap out them while they are still sleeping.

Are their lights on timers that haven't been adjusted for changes in daylight (ie- do they go from dead dark room to immediate bright light and some guy fiddling around with their water?) who are their new tank mates? Does their spot get winter drafts that will lower the water temperature (which will reduce their level on conciuosness/arousal)?

Phisiologic affects of chronic decline will not present with symptoms of acute (brief/short term) hyper arousal (fight or flight) responses.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Tess, we haven't heard back from you since your original post.. What is your water change schedule and amount changed? What other fish in the tank? Like Heath said, any angels I've had were boss of the tank within a day and come flying up to the glass to greet their feeder. I would guess that this is more of water quality or fish illness caused concern, but w/out more info.. it's tough to help.