Lonely for angel?

bazil323

bazil323

AC Members
May 1, 2008
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Wisconsin
Okay, having dealt with serious aggression from breeding kribs in my 75g community, I have downsized to just a few females and some fry that I'm waiting until they grow enough to sell or get eaten, besides what I've got for other fish.

I've wanted to get an angel for a long time, but I really, really, really do not want to invite any more breeding issues into my tanks. I just cannot handle it nor can my other fish. IMHO, breeders are not for community tanks (unless they're guppies or something that don't get protect their young and fry become snacks). I learned this the hard way after losing 10 of my diamond tetras out of 19. Yes, I'm down to only 9 diamonds. Anyway, I was thinking of just getting one as I thought they don't need to be in pairs or groups. However, now I'm reading that they get lonely without company.

Do I have to get more than one for them to be happy or will it be fine alone? I haven't gotten one yet, because I want to straighten out this issue and let the tank settle a bit first. If I have to get more than 1, then I think I am going to skip the angel for now. I just don't have the room to set up another tank for a breeding pair, and it would defeat the purpose of adding it to my community, which is what I wanted.

Anyway, my current stocking is as follows:
2 honey gouramis
2 L387 plecos
4 olive nerite snails and 1 C. corona
A few guppies (willing to let them be angel food)
9 diamond tetras (thinking about getting a few more to bulk up the school again)
1 gold ram
4 female kribs (and a few fry that will be leaving before I get the angel, if I get it)

It's fairly well planted, though by no means heavily planted. I've got anubias on driftwood, caves for the kribs and plecs, Java moss, flame moss, bacopa monnieri, some pennywort, water sprite (some planted some floating), water lettuce, salvinia minima, and duckweed. Almost the whole surface of the tank is covered by the floaters.

I've got a Marineland C360 as well as a Tetra Whisper HOB for backup.
 
I've read alot that angels will be happy with only one, or should be in groups of four or more to control aggression. My two angels interact alot. I feel like just one would get bored and lonely, or it might keep itself entertained with harrasing the other fish. They are not yet sexually mature, and I am unsure if they are a pair. They might fight when they get older. For now, I feel like they are happier with the two than would be just one. However, most people say that just one will be fine. I think it also depends on that fish's 'personality'.
 
When angels are young (up to about the size of a quarter) they like to school with outer like-size angels. As they become bigger they then become loners or pair off.
 
I keep mine solo and s/he seems content to drift along the plants and look awesome, doesn't seem to bother with the other fish unless it's feeding time.
 
I see no problem with keeping just one...
 
Ok, then I will try to get one of the larger ones at the LFS when I get one (hoping for next week if everything works out). They've usually got ones that are nickel to quarter sized, but sometimes they get ones that are more like silver dollar sized (the coin, not the fish, lol). I'll try to get one of the silver dollar sized ones or a bit larger if they have any since the smaller ones have more of a need for company.
 
PS, thanks for the confirmation on this! I figured that one would be fine, but this stuff about needing company had me freaked. I'll try to post pics once I get it. Not sure what color I want, but I'm thinking veil tail ones since they're so pretty. Then again, they are more likely to get fin nipped, but my fish don't seem to nip at all, except the kribs when breeding/protecting young but they more beat up rather than nip. Since the males will all be gone and the tank settled down before I look at angels, that should not be a problem.
 
Ok, so I did what I said I would not do. I stopped at the LFS last night because I ended up getting off work a little early. I had just wanted to remind myself of what sizes they carry and prices. I knew that they often have black, silver, zebra, koi, etc. in veils and regular angels. I just couldn't remember what the prices and sizes were. Well, I saw only 1 tank with angels (they usually have 2 tanks, 1 with smaller, and 1 with larger), and the largest of them was a little smaller than the size of a 50 cent piece. The smallest was a little smaller than a quarter. Sizes going by body size, of course, not including the fins. I figured that a koi coloring would be most pretty in my tank since I've got yellow/orange in the honey gouramis and German gold ram and more grey with the diamond tetras. The blacks I figured would get lost in the forest of plants and shadiness, especially since it's low light. They did have some wild colored ones and smoky ones, but they seemed to have some fin damage. One looked like it's dorsal fin was deformed somehow by the tip being smushed back slightly.

Anyhow, I got a koi which I think is a veil. It's fins were the longest of any of them. It is only about the size of a quarter, maybe a little bigger, but it was exploring the whole tank as soon as I got it home.

Currently, all the adult male kribs are out of the 75g, but I have some fry that are a couple months old to a few days old that I will have to think about. I'm hoping that the newest batch of fry will get eaten. Anyhow, I've the UltraLife's The Trap, which worked sooooooo much better for getting that wily male krib out. It was so much easier on me and the fish to get him compared to using nets. I had tried multiple times for hours trying to get him out, but all I did was stress the whole tank and make a big mess by taking my decor out and dripping water everywhere. I even used red nets that supposedly fish can't see. I think that they can since they all hid when I put the net in (even just easing it in). Anyway, some of them are ready to be sold, so I might take a trip to the LFS this weekend. I don't want to wait on these since one of them is a definite male. I so do not want the same drama with breeding again!
 
i would only keep one even if he does think he is a guppy
(lets say i didn't pick out the smartest angelfish)
they can get fairly agressive when in pairs
 
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