O.k. O.k., Yes I'm a goldfish lover but I've been thinking about getting a tank of angels. They are the only tropical fish I would consider keeping since I'm mostly a goldfish purist. I'm a little nervous about the plunge. Maybe I should just get a bigger tank for my goldies. What to do? What to do?

You'll need a pretty big tank for angels. What were you thinking?

Angels are beautiful fish....and I highly recommend them....but they have their drawbacks too! The first is that they need a tall tank rather than a long one. A 20g tall will be good for one or two angels. If you are thinking about having more than two then let me tell you a little story.....
When I first got my 55g it was freshwater (I didn't have a clue about saltwater back then) and I wanted to have angels in there. I already had a mated pair in my 20g tall, and I thought I would just pick up 4 more angels of roughly the same size and add them to the 55g all at once (after cycling of course). So I did just that. What a mistake!!! All out war broke out as all 6 of the fish paired up within the hour and the three pairs decided that they each wanted over half the tank!!! The fighting went on and on and I tried everything to stop it. I rearranged the decor to break up the tank into 3 kinda seperate areas, I removed the most aggressive fish, but then it's mate was left alone, removed that one too and the remaining fish decided they couldn't stand each other....it was endless and devastating....finally I couldn't stand it anymore so I took the new fish I had bought back to the LFS. With my original mated pair in there along with other fish (tetras mostly), the only time there was a problem was when they laid eggs. Then the other fish were stuck at the other end of the tank but that was about it.
Even if you buy several angels at a young age and let them grow up together, there is a very good chance that they will start fighting as they pair off. (If the tank is big enough for each pair to have roughly 2 1/2 feet of space than it should be okay!)
Other than that, they are very interesting fish and it's fascinating when they have eggs! The fry are not that hard to raise either....lots of fun!

One more thing, it isn't possible to sex angels until they are actually getting ready to breed. Their breeding tubes are how you can tell, unless of course you actually see them laying the eggs! The breeding tube of the female is short and round while the male's is longer and more pointy.

Awesome post watermama. I am getting ready to set up a large tank and can't decide to go with the aggressive mix I had before or community or just Angel's. How many different breeds of angels are there? How big can they get in a large tank. Is 24" deep enough for angels? Also say I buy six to start and it turns out that only two are females and they pair up will they alienate the two odd males and start fighting?
You have got the wheels turning now about a Angel's. Thanks

Thanks for the imput. I was considering a tank of just angels but maybe I should reconsider. I don't think I could handle all the "in tank" fighting. Too much stress. I've asked around and everyone has basically told me the same thing you guys have. Drat! :angry: (in loud, annoying, whiny voice) "I really wanted a tank of JUST angels!" Don't worry about me. I'll just go sulk for a day and then go buy myself a 30 gal. tank with all the goodies to make myself feel better.

Thanks for that info, Watermama!! Angels are one thing I really dont know a whole lot about and I need to, because customers always seem to want them. Unfortunately we always sell the very tiny ones, about the size of a quarter, and people think they can jam them in a 10 gallon. They dont understand when I explain how aggressive angels can be (they are cichlids, after all!), and dont believe me about how big they get! Anyway I'll tell people your story if they dont believe me.

Hey Goldiegirl~ don't give up on the angels....if you had 2 in a 30g with a school of cardinal tetras that would look awesome!!! But even if you don't want the angels, I like your idea of how to feel better!


What alot of people do is buy six juveniles and let them pair up, then they remove any fish left out, because the life of the fish not paired will be rather dismal. If the tank is big enough, then no problem, but in something like a 55g, it will be a sad life.
There are so many varieties, I honestly don't know them all, but some of my favorites include the marble, koi, black lace, veiltail and the leopard.
24" is deep enough for angels, although they often don't get much longer than 6" horizontally, vertically, their fins can get 12" long or so, from the top of the dorsal to the bottom of the pectoral fins. Some, like the veiltails will have longer fins than other angels.


This isn't a very good picture but it's of Ricky under the leaves of a dwarf water lily....


Edit...I will have to resize this photo....

Let me try this again......

Oh my Gosh! That pic was incredible watermama! The angel was gorgeous and are those REAL waterlilies? I'm speechless. It's a fishlovers dream tank. I'll take all the words and advice you've given me to heart. I'm not in any rush and I want to make the right choice for the next tank I get. Thanks for all the info!

to be honest, i myself have never kept more than 2 angels in the same tank, so cant comment on that but watermamas story makes sense, but all tanks i have kept them in have been community tanks and they all are happy



when they where small....


and now

Your angels have grown into some real beauties Kev!!! Your blue guppy is gorgeous too!!!


Yes, that's a real dwarf lily. I bought it at the LFS (I've seen the same thing at nooppee too)...it comes as dried bulbs in a package and I think it was labeled hybrid dwarf lily. Of the six or so bulbs only two actually grew.....the plant in the pic actually flowered a couple of times, a nice white flower but then the plant died after about 2 years. I found out later that it might have needed to lay dormant for awhile.

Hey Kev, those were some awesome pics of your angels. Your tank looks huge! How big is it?

After that set of pics I am more excited about going fresh again.

Thanks

thats only a 25 gallon tall ill show you my other angels soon, they in the 40 gallon but are much younger, and are tank angels(marble) where as those 2 i just shown (especially the darker one) are the *wild* angels .

post lata

Kev