Do singular angelfish get lonely?

[in the pines]

I agree ^^.
I have seen many tanks with a single angel where the angel looks quite healthy and active and stress-free. Of course in the wild, they do tend to group with others of their species, but they are not a schooling fish of the type that will waste away and not thrive if they are kept alone. They can certainly thrive without another angel present, and I can guarantee you that they are neither 'lonely' nor 'depressed' LOL. I have a friend who had a single angel doing well in her 55G tank, and decided to add another as a 'friend' because her angel was 'lonely'. Well, the original angel decided it didn't like her choice of 'friend' and picked on the poor new guy until she had to get rid of him. The angel's back by himself, and seems not to miss his old tankmate one bit.

ok ok so i'm glad that my choice of word "lonely" is serving up much hilarity for everyone.

that being said, i think this post is actually the most helpful. i want an angel to thrive, i want all of my fish to thrive and be under as optimal conditions as possible. and i do believe that fish have emotional lives, even if others think this is hilarious. it used to be hilarious that monkeys, gorillas, dogs, dolphins, pigs etc had emotional lives. i truly believe that if someone wants to argue the side of "it's not the same as us" is negating emotional lives of other species. i won't assume that refusing to eat and dying at the foot of your dead child as many species have been known to do is not grieving and i won't discount the need for all animals be they "food" or "pets" to be given the benefit of the doubt that they need a positive emotional experience.

 

[Star_Rider]

Ultimately you cannot determine if an Angel is lonely. Many are simply better alone.
the problem you will face when working with angels is conspecific aggression(aggression within the species) angels in the wild will school..but schooling is attributed as safety in numbers.
also a large school allows a larger genetic pool.. and dominant fish will have a greater chance of finding a suitable mate.

I keep wild and domestic Angels.. what I have noticed is domestics will pair up ore quickly and spawn sooner than wilds.
wilds especially dominant males are much more aggressive than domestics.
when a dominant male does not find a suitable female.. he is better off alone...the other fish in the tank will be much happier.especially other male angels.

I would not call this behavior an emotion but a natural response to nature culling or natural selection at it's prime.
in these cases I wish I have a 300 g tank with 20-30 wild angels.

 

[piggy67]

nicely said......

 

[piggy67]

In the wild angelsfish school. It may be to be secure in finding a nate or as a defensive behavior. But we need to remember that the wild does not have glass/acrylic walls and is at least a wee bit larger than our home aquaria. So, to elicit natural behavior we need massively larger aquaria.

From that logic it would seem rather obvious that aquaria fish behavior is not natural in most cases. Nevertheless, freshwater fish are quite adaptable. They tolerate differing water conditions, neglect, and us. Given all this there is one natural instinct that still survives, the will to reproduce. This is a social behavior even when they exclude all tankmates.

Since our fish are, for the most part, many generations from the wild and have never seen a National Geographic special, they will behave in ways that are appropriate for their world. Loneliness is a human emotion and we risk error in trying to tie our emotions to animals. So, while a lone angel may look for a companion we cannot call it lonely or depressed. It is just acting appropriately to its world. This could vary with wild caught specimens but the word to use would be stress.

I know I tend to ramble, but you get my point.

Charlie

nicely said.....

 

[chefjamesscott]

i inherited an angel when i bought a 30g that had an oscar , an angel an a pleco in it

so i put the angel in my african fry grow out tank he seems to be doing great but there is also a lot of other baby fish in there the way he acts its like he is king of the tank an likes it that way when i put in my pair of angels that i just bought inthe tank with him he went nasty and began to snipe at the male of the mated pair so i very quickly removed them an set them up in my gar tank where they live with my gar an my 2 raphael cats here is a pic of them take note at how the black one is missing part of its front fin thanks to the lone angel

i dont really have a clear shot of my single one but in my thoughts he seems to be doing ok an when i introduced others of his species he got really uptight so i for one will leave him alone there

i do think that biology studies show that fish can be influenced to be different that their species would normaly be dependant upon how they are raised from fry though i dont know the term for this one of the profs an i were talkin about it so i would get a juvi angel an give it awhirl

and the tank has water spots cause i just finished redoing it from a bare decor to this and will keep updating the inside to make the fish have a better home my first snap at plants too

 

[Littlefish396]

I had 2 young angelfish and they got along fine. After being together for 5 months they started fighting all the time. I did try adding a 3rd angel, but the original 2 still fight and ignore the new member. I've separated the two originals , but the one in the new tank has stopped eating. He's still swimming around but don't know how long that will last without eating...Any ideas? Help

 

[Star_Rider]

to deal with your issue and angel. you may consider starting a new thread..