water params for angels

ariston

AC Members
Mar 22, 2005
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Tucson, Arizona
Hi, I'm fishlessly cycling and considering getting angelfish. pH is 7.2, kH is 6-7, and GH is 9. If those parameters hold steady, is that suitable for angelfish?

(Incidentally, I would get 4-6 juveniles, hoping for a bonded pair to keep to adulthood. The tank is 29g long. Shorter than ideal, but acceptable, I think, for one adult pair.)
 
You can acclimate the angels to those water parameters with no problem. However if you intend to breed them you will need more acidic water and pref. pretty soft water too. My angels bred like rabbits..about 4-5 times in a month...my ph though is 6.0 and i have very soft water and then i also fed live and frozen foods and did frequent partial water with slightly cooler water which put them in the mood per se lol :D
 
they should be fine but may outgrow the 29g - I have four in my tank and have had to upgrade to 100g (coming at the end of the month) as it's too small for them. How high is yopur tank? what type of angels? I have Altums and the reason i ask is they grow bigger than P. Scalarae.
My tank is 2 ft high and 3ft long and during feeding there is a constant battle and bumping going on!
I agree with CandCat that they will live fine if your perams stay stable but breeding would be a whole dif ball game.

My angels have grown over an inch high and long within the 6 weeks I have had them.
You should aim (so I've been told as am a newbie) for at least 10g per adult - so the pair might be ok, but they do like to school so preferably a bigger tnak with at least 4 angels IMO

Great fish though as soon as I shut my fornt door (I feed when I come home fomr work) my girlfriend tells me they rush up to the side of the tank expectantly.

They go mental for Frozen blood worm and regulary eat flake (even the Altums!)

Cheers
CHaz
 
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Thanks for the help! I'm not interested in breeding right now, although I might try it in the distant future. I'm definitely looking for captive-bred scalare... I've read that they're more tolerant of hard water than wild-caught, and I like some of the captive-bred color variations.

I only plan to keep two once they reach any significant size. My tank is 18" high, which is taller than what most breeders use for a pair, apparently. (The 20g talls are about 16" tall, I think.) And since I'll have around 12 gallons per fish (after subtracting substrate & decorations), I think the bio load should be all right.

On another note, I would have thought that, as adults, a bonded pair would actually do better than a school? Less competition & fighting that way.
 
You're right by saying a bonded pair will be fine together with just them in the tank. I had one pair and then 2 other females...well, the pair became extremely aggressive during breeding and ended up killing one of the other females. I no longer have the pair though...wanted a peaceful tank and I didn't really have any place to take the babies.
However if for some reason you end up with all males or all females then it will be okay to have a school of them...not in your size tank though...MAX number of angels I would put in there would be two...but nothing else...maybe some cories for the bottom.
Were you planning on adding any other fish other than the angels?
Keep in mind when breeders keep a pair in a 20gal or 29gal, they just have them in there, no other fish...so as to minimize stress levels and more importantly, they're just breeding the angels, the tank isn't really for show.
Good luck with everything! Keep us posted and let us know if you have any other questions! :dance2:
 
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