Help! Stocking a community tank

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pandalover1000

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Mar 12, 2012
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Hello everyone,
I have a 30 gallon tank that I would like to stock. I really want a community tank with an angelfish in it. I've heard that angelfish can and will eat small fish , like neeon tetras. But what about cardinal tetras? Will angelfish eat them too? Anyway, if I don't get cardinal tetras as tankmates for my angelfish, i was thinking of this:
  • 1 angelfish
  • 1 dwarf gourami
  • a school of larger tetras ( such as lemon tetras, diamond tetras or penguin tetras)
  • 4 panda cories
any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

P.S. are penguin tetras compatible with angel fish?
 
I would avoid mixing the Angel and the Gourami in a tank that size. Gouramis and Cichlids don't usually get along that well, and a 30 gallon doesn't provide them with enough room to stay out of each other's way. One day one or the other will get stroppy, and the other will not be happy. I'm betting the Angel will be the main aggressor.

As for tetras, Angels will eat Neons. They don't always if you raise them together and the angel is small when it's introduced, but I wouldn't risk it. Cardinals are usually fine. Some of the other tetras like Glowlights, Rummy Nosed, Lemon, and Black Neons are good with Angels too, but a lot of the larger bodied tetras like Serpae, Blackskirt(this includes Black Widow, White Skirt and those awful dyed tetras, as well as the new "Glo Tetras"), Red Eye, Diamond and Columbian tetras can be nippy, so I wouldn't mix them with angels and gouramis. I don't know much about Penguin Tetras. Sorry.

As a side note, I'd bump the cory school up to at least 6. They're social little guys, and they're so much more fun in groups.
 
I have cardinals in with my angels and they do fine. Angels do like the company of each other. You may want to consider another but I'm not sure how well they would do in a 30g tank. Angels need a lot of vertical space because of their dorsal and pectoral fins and I'm just not sure you would have that in a 30g. Think about their adult size, and not just their length but their height as well, and figure if they would actually have enough room to swim/play/move around in your tank. I think I would skip the gourami in with an angel or skip the angel and go with the gourami.

Definitely bump up the panda cory school. You cannot go wrong with those little guys. My favorite of the cory species and going by your name I think you need more of them :D
 
Thanks! Ya I'll get more panda cories for sure, probably 6. Since I really had my heart set on an angelfish, I'll skip the gourami. As for the tetras... Hmmm... I still really want to get the cardinals but I think there might be some risk... I think I'll go with either rummy nose or a black neon. Or maybe a penguin....
 
you can get neons if the angel you buy is small, and not an adult.........

my personal favs. are the new gold neon tetras:D
 
Go for the angel. If it's a 30 gallon with a lot of height, why not. I also agree to bump the panda cory school up to six or eight. I would try some nice, peaceful tetras. Bentosi tetras or pristella tetras would like nice :)
 
I keep Angelfish and I love em'. I would suggest keeping 2 of them. I personally think they do better with company of their own kind, rather than solo. Though, I did have one a long time by himself in a 55 gallon, he just wasn't the same.

I would not keep Angelfish with Neons or Cardinals or any other small Tetras of that shape. Right now, the Angel may be small, but it may make a snack of a small Tetra in time. In the wild, these type of fish are their prey items. Some people have kept them together just fine in a biotope type of tank, but not everyone has it work out. Its up to you. Being that its a smaller tank, it may not provide enough hiding spaces and the Tetras may stress easily and not flourish anyhow with the presence of the Angels.

One other thing I'd strongly suggest... Not sure where you buy your fish, but if you can avoid it, don't buy your Angels from a major chain like Petsmart. I find that they are generally weaker and not as hardy. I would try to find to buy them from your LFS, usually they get theirs from a breeder and I find that the Angels from my LFS are always of much stronger stock.

On top of it, if you can find these... I'd suggest some "Blue Angels." I was lucky to stumble across some at my LFS and I bought 6 juveniles; hoping to get a pair. They're starting to grow out very nicely now and color up unbelievably well. I think you could find them on one of the large aquaria websites if you can't find them locally. Sometimes they're called Philippine Blue Angels. I saw some here http://www.angelfishusa.net/ before.

You won't regret it. They're gorgeous. Either way, you'll be happy with Angels!

Also - avoid Tetras that are nippy like Serpaes. The Angels long fins are vulnerable with nippy fish. Just a heads up.

Good luck!
 
LMOUTHBASS said:
I keep Angelfish and I love em'. I would suggest keeping 2 of them. I personally think they do better with company of their own kind, rather than solo. Though, I did have one a long time by himself in a 55 gallon, he just wasn't the same.

I would not keep Angelfish with Neons or Cardinals or any other small Tetras of that shape. Right now, the Angel may be small, but it may make a snack of a small Tetra in time. In the wild, these type of fish are their prey items. Some people have kept them together just fine in a biotope type of tank, but not everyone has it work out. Its up to you. Being that its a smaller tank, it may not provide enough hiding spaces and the Tetras may stress easily and not flourish anyhow with the presence of the Angels.

One other thing I'd strongly suggest... Not sure where you buy your fish, but if you can avoid it, don't buy your Angels from a major chain like Petsmart. I find that they are generally weaker and not as hardy. I would try to find to buy them from your LFS, usually they get theirs from a breeder and I find that the Angels from my LFS are always of much stronger stock.

On top of it, if you can find these... I'd suggest some "Blue Angels." I was lucky to stumble across some at my LFS and I bought 6 juveniles; hoping to get a pair. They're starting to grow out very nicely now and color up unbelievably well. I think you could find them on one of the large aquaria websites if you can't find them locally. Sometimes they're called Philippine Blue Angels. I saw some here http://www.angelfishusa.net/ before.

You won't regret it. They're gorgeous. Either way, you'll be happy with Angels!

Also - avoid Tetras that are nippy like Serpaes. The Angels long fins are vulnerable with nippy fish. Just a heads up.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

With two would there not be aggression problems? Why was the single fish not the same? Sorry I an just about to buy a single one for my 63g community tank.


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I'd do the angel, for sure! It will be fine in a 30g for a few years. Everything else sounds good as well. I've always been partial to emperor and blue tetras :)
 
To3kn33 said:
With two would there not be aggression problems? Why was the single fish not the same? Sorry I an just about to buy a single one for my 63g community tank.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
Click to expand...

With two angels? I got lucky and inherited a bonded pair and they don't bother anything in the tank whatsoever. I think it's a worry if they aren't the same size and aren't added at the same time. One just kind of bobs around and has more of a chance at eating smaller fish.
 
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