Nasty Angelfish!

colleen0309

AC Members
Jul 21, 2010
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Freedom, NY
I've had an aquarium of some kind running since I was 5 years old. I had a tropical fish shop in my garage for a few years.So I have had literally hundreds of Angelfish over the years. I have always heard that angels can be nasty, but I've never seen it... until now. I've had 2 silver angels in my 46 gallon bow front aquarium for 5 years now. I had a small school of neons and emperor tetras with them for awhile, but the bigger angel kept killing everything new I put in there. It's been 3 years since I tried to put anything new in their tank. My nasty angel has the body size of a good sized coffee mug and the other one is just alittle smaller. They seemed to get alog pretty well. I came home from work on Monday to find the big angel driving the smaller one into the gravel repeatedly. I tried rearranging the tank... didn't work. I had to resort to removing the nasty angel and rehoming him to my 10 gallon Q tank. I know it's not big enough but that's all I have at the moment. Does anyone know why these two tank mates have decided to kill each other all of a sudden? Could I possibly have 2 males that want to breed?:help: I'd like to keep them together, but I don't think that's an option anymore.
 
With cichlids (yes, angelfish are cichlids as I'm sure you're aware of) it is very probable that one is dominate and the other sub. The dom will treat the sub as a female or a threatening rival. It has nothing to do with size but it usually is. One may be trying to drive the other into submission.
 
Is it possible the other fish is ill? This could just be nature playing out where the ill and weak are preyed upon.
 
the larger one could just be getting older and grumpier.

i hear you on the nasty angel..... i have one that dominates my 11 inch oscar! lol.
 
What's the usual lifespan of angels in captivity? I thought they reached the age for breeding behavior at 10-12 months or so. Five seems more than a little bit late in life to suddenly get an interest in such things....

Then again, the picture of an angelfish with a bad toupee, open-neck Hawaiian shirt, gold chains and a big cigar, driving a red convertible with a young blonde female companion, comes irresistably to mind. Do fish get male menopause? :)

then reality intrudes. Fish Alzheimers seems a more likely suspect. I suppose if you had a full grown adult you knew was female you could try them out as an actual breeding pair. If that doesn't work it sounds like his days of living with his own species may behind him.
 
Is it possible the other fish is ill? This could just be nature playing out where the ill and weak are preyed upon.
I don't think my angel is ill. He doesn't appear to be. He is eating well and swimming fine. Except for a fin that got alittle shredded from their scuffle, he looks and acts beautiful. He is much happier since I removed the bullie.
 
What's the usual lifespan of angels in captivity? I thought they reached the age for breeding behavior at 10-12 months or so. Five seems more than a little bit late in life to suddenly get an interest in such things....

Then again, the picture of an angelfish with a bad toupee, open-neck Hawaiian shirt, gold chains and a big cigar, driving a red convertible with a young blonde female companion, comes irresistably to mind. Do fish get male menopause? :)

then reality intrudes. Fish Alzheimers seems a more likely suspect. I suppose if you had a full grown adult you knew was female you could try them out as an actual breeding pair. If that doesn't work it sounds like his days of living with his own species may behind him.
Isn't it enough to have a husband going thru a mid life crisis?!! Now my angelfish? I hate keeping him alone but I don't think I have much choice anymore( The fish, not the husband). I'd like to try getting him a girlfriend(once again, the fish, not the husband) but my lfs only has dime size babies. I'm afraid he'd make lunch out of those.
On the up side, I can now get more fish for the 46 gallon tank, and it gives me the excuse to set up another tank for the nasty fish since a 10 gallon is too small him.
Thanks for the advice. I wish this place was around when I set up my first tank on my own.
 
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