Firstly, I have more than one established, healthy and mature FW tanks. All get weekly water changes and maint., so I'm not really a "newb" at the FW aquarium thing anymore, but as with anything else, there is always more to learn.
I did research angelfish care prior to trying them and although my Ph is high (8.4), it's the same as the LFS where I regularly purchase my fish. I'm told their angels are domestically bred and not wildcaught; and they seem to do fine at the LFS. In spite of the matching Ph, I do still acclimate them slowly, as I do with all my new fish, always.
One of the first three that I bought is still looking and acting healthy, but the other two died within three days. I then went back and purchased three new ones, one of which died on day two. Now, a few days later, this morning two are not acting as healthy as I'd like...ie they are sort of just hovering near the heater and not exploring, picking at the plants and decorations, etc like they were before and I'm afraid they too will soon die.
The tank is a 29 gallon long with 2 small otos, 3 small honey gourami and 1 platy (perm. residents), plus 2 small "golden" algae eaters, which will be moved back to my 125 gal tank in a couple of days (they were temp. additions, to attend to some extra algae that had gotten away from my 2 otos a bit.) The angels are small juvies...about 1.5"-ish inches each.
Tank has plenty of plant (artificial) cover and hiding places to make them feel safe. There has been no observed aggression, either between the angels or from the other inhabitants. Ammonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, Nitrates = 10. Temp 78. Tank is in a quiet, low-traffic area and I do keep a small amount of aquarium salt in the water, as I do with all of my tanks.
Any opinions as to why I seem to be having trouble with them? Could it be that the very active (and highly amusing) algae eaters are stressing them out? Or, could it be they are just not truly healthy specimens in the 1st place? I've read that a small amount of salt should not bother them, but could that be false?
Any helpful answers and/or suggestions from some angel-keeping veterans would be greatly appreciated, as I do really want to keep a few of these beautiful fish, but not at the risk of unintentionally "killing" any more of them, if that's what's going on.
I did research angelfish care prior to trying them and although my Ph is high (8.4), it's the same as the LFS where I regularly purchase my fish. I'm told their angels are domestically bred and not wildcaught; and they seem to do fine at the LFS. In spite of the matching Ph, I do still acclimate them slowly, as I do with all my new fish, always.
One of the first three that I bought is still looking and acting healthy, but the other two died within three days. I then went back and purchased three new ones, one of which died on day two. Now, a few days later, this morning two are not acting as healthy as I'd like...ie they are sort of just hovering near the heater and not exploring, picking at the plants and decorations, etc like they were before and I'm afraid they too will soon die.
The tank is a 29 gallon long with 2 small otos, 3 small honey gourami and 1 platy (perm. residents), plus 2 small "golden" algae eaters, which will be moved back to my 125 gal tank in a couple of days (they were temp. additions, to attend to some extra algae that had gotten away from my 2 otos a bit.) The angels are small juvies...about 1.5"-ish inches each.
Tank has plenty of plant (artificial) cover and hiding places to make them feel safe. There has been no observed aggression, either between the angels or from the other inhabitants. Ammonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, Nitrates = 10. Temp 78. Tank is in a quiet, low-traffic area and I do keep a small amount of aquarium salt in the water, as I do with all of my tanks.
Any opinions as to why I seem to be having trouble with them? Could it be that the very active (and highly amusing) algae eaters are stressing them out? Or, could it be they are just not truly healthy specimens in the 1st place? I've read that a small amount of salt should not bother them, but could that be false?
Any helpful answers and/or suggestions from some angel-keeping veterans would be greatly appreciated, as I do really want to keep a few of these beautiful fish, but not at the risk of unintentionally "killing" any more of them, if that's what's going on.
