angelfish eaten, adding new angels

W

waterpretty^O^

freshwater angels
Apr 24, 2010
12
0
0
Massachusettes
I've had my freshwater angels for a few months and one of them appears to be eating the other one's tail :cry: At the moment I don't have the room to buy another tank. Is there any way I can get her to stop before the other one has no tail?

Also, since they don't seem to be getting along, is it okay to give them new friends once they're separated, or will they be territorial? Help!
 
Are you sure about the genders of the angels involved? If you've had them "a few months" they may be getting to the age of displaying breeding behavior. Some of that can get a tad aggressive...although yours sounds like it's on the high end of the scale. "Nipping" of fins and tails is normal. Are you sure there is actual eatage going on or is the tail just a bit ragged as might be cause by nipping?

Oh, and how big is the tank? You can get away with growing out angels in smaller tanks until they get to half-dollar size and beyond, then they just gotta have more space. Most folks here suggest 30g for a single or breeding pair, bigger than that for an unmated pair or more than 2. If they're that size, and you absolutely, positively can't get them into a bigger tank, they may need to find new homes. alas.

best of luck.. :)
 
XanAvaloni said:
Oh, and how big is the tank? You can get away with growing out angels in smaller tanks until they get to half-dollar size and beyond, then they just gotta have more space. Most folks here suggest 30g for a single or breeding pair, bigger than that for an unmated pair or more than 2.
Click to expand...

Definitely give them space, I had a mated pair in a 29G, and that sometimes was too small for them both (especially when they were spending more time fighting each other than spawning). I now have them in a 55G and they have grown more, look better, and have more room to give each other space.
 
Yeah.. the "My Tank Setup" description says a "10 gallon tank" and if that's what these angelfish are in, that is most certainly the problem. As others have said, a 29G tall tank would be bare minimum size for one or a mated pair of angelfish. If you want more than one or a mated pair, then a MUCH larger tank would be needed and you should keep them with at least five as that seems to lessen the aggression between them... or spreads it out enough so one fish isn't the victim.

Mongabay has some of the best fish profiles and care sheets on the internet.
http://fish.mongabay.com/angelfish.htm scroll down half way to the P. scalare, which is the most common angelfish and read up more on them.

If you have a 10G tank, here is my own blog's "10 gallon tank stocking suggestions" article with LOTS of suggestions of what kind of fish and how many, that will do well long term in a 10G tank.
http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2007/03/haileys-10-gallon-tank-stocking-list.html
 
your fish are eating each other in a confined space.. adding more is DEFINITELY the solution! More fins to nip, means they'll last longer before obliterating each other!


wait... what?
 
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