dont get me wrong, I have not given up goldfish, I am just diversizing into tropicals as well. also I hear angel fish love tall tanks, they swim vertically. I want to buy all of the colors that angel fish come in, so far I know there is black, white with gold tones and zebra. black, white and "in between" to say. How big body length do those guys get? ignore the long fins, just the body? 4 inches? 6?


http://home.cogeco.ca/~cspicer/Angel%20Fis...stuff%20011.jpg

www.dec.ctu.edu.vn/cdrom/cd6/projects/nus_tropical_fish/zebrlace.jpg

Angels can get to be about 6 inches long/tall, though 4-5 is more common in captivity. They prefer softer water, especially to breed, but can be kept in much harder water now that they are almost entirely captive bred. They need at least 10 gallons per fish (like fancy goldies), and should not be kept in anything smaller than 30 gallons (at a bare min).

They are cichlids, and can be mean but it's very individual. They can be harrassed easily by fin nipping fish (stay away from barbs and certain tetras for instance), particularly the veil and super veil versions.

One of the coolest colors imo is the Koi angels.

my angels will be with others of same type only. so its 6 inches including tail? thats not much over 4 inches without tail then. so hows 1 gallon per inch sound? ill get 9 of those in my 30g high. 9x4=36 so ill be slightly overstocked if 4 inches each but they are much less messy than goldies. what is a koi angel LOL

look on aquabid.com and click on angel fish - they show alot of different kinds~

Angelfish get larger than 4 inches. Also there is no way you could keep 9 angels in a 30gallon. At most you could fit 2 maybe 3 but thats pushing it.

They are cichlids, you would have agression issues eventually, particularly once they began pairing off. Each pair will want to claim a part of the bottom, so even though tall tanks work for them swimming wise, you need bottom space, you cannot overstock them.

They are not particularly clean fish either, being cichlids. And where did I say 6 inches including fins? I mean they can get that big in the body. I also specifically said 10 gallons each min. I would not put more than 2 in a 30g.

I definitely second Ceridwen. Angels get large, pushy and territorial! I was told to always have an odd number, such as only one or as many as 5. In my personal opinion a 30 tall is too small for angels. And they can reach almost a foot tall with their fins. You always have to include fins, not just body, when measuring a fish.

Again, I would really suggest doing a lot of research before you get any fish. Angels are particularly delicate and not a great starter fish. You definitely would not want to try and cycle a tank with them.

I saw you mentioning gouramies before two. I would not put both angels and gouramies in a 30 gallon. Thats pretty small and both fish are extremely territorial.

wow I learn new things each day. so angels have a 10 gallon rule just like goldies? are angels as messy and large as goldies? If goldies get larger than angels, dont they need more like 20 gallons? Maybe I can go for only females? wow 10+ inches if you include fins for angels, this makes 30 gallons sound too small after all! what about a 50 high? high tanks=more room for their vertical fins, right? are there any cube tanks larger than 30g? what shape tank is best for gouramis? I know angels like high tanks as they are high fish and swim vertical. I could get an iron stand and put a 55-65 gallon on top and a 40 long on the bottom, the dwarf gouramis get the 40 long, the regular ones the 55+

the 30 tall would be great for some dwarf gouramis, but the angels.... as jen said they get very territorial, and impossible to sex until they spawn.

best way to have angel is to get 7 of them in a 50 gallon tank, wait a few months and hopefully you will get some pairs. pick your 2 biggest. nicest pairs and sell the rest back to the petstore, so now you have 2 pairs of angels (better with 1) and get some form of dither fish like danios or neons pending on how small the angels are when you get them !

Kev

I did pretty much the same as Kevin, except it was 5 angels in a 30. And only keep one pair. They will kill each other, literally.

i agree with ceridwen- my angelfish is super territorial, but i dont have any other angels with her- just 2 lonely black neon tetras Lol. she never bothers them but she's terrorized every other fish ive put in with her. in about a year shes grown from about 2" to about 8-9" including fins, and i just saw some 10-11" angels at the petstore today, so i would definitely look into a decently large tank for multiple angels. my angel doesnt really swim upwards though, she circles the tank all day Lol she reminds me of a guard dog

I saw tons of angel fish at petstores and they got along fine. Biggest angel I saw was maybe 6-7 inches high including fins. nnnnnn has a chart saying angels grow 7.5 inches but most of that is just fins though. I also hear if you keep a large group of any chichlids they become tame. I have asked around and it seems like 5 gallons each is fine. Thus ill keep 9 in a 50g, 15 in a 75g. they will be in 3's cause one black, one white and one striped. Theres this 75g tall cube that I may want, but it could be like $250-300. I may take a 50 high if its alot cheaper at a petstore. I could also take a hex tank but I dont really like its shape

Yes big groups can work. But in your 30g, like in the original post, only a single or a mated pair, or possibly two females would have worked.

You still may get a dominant male that beats everybody else into ragged submission, the only difference with a big group is that everybody gets beaten pretty equally, hence it spreads the aggression.. remember they are individual fish, cichlids at that, and may surprise you.

how do they get along at petstores and how do people keep a whole bunch of them in giant tanks, like 50+ gallons

At pet stores they are juveniles and not even close to sexual maturity, which is when fights erupt.

See my last post for an explanation on big groups in large tank, it has to do with spreading the aggression. Kind of like buying 3 female guppies for every male.

lyndzi is right, you should stick with what we recomended, get about 7, wait for a pair, pick the nicest pair and get rid of the rest, then you can add some other amazon fish like silver dollars. or anything else u like that wont get eaten !