Non species bonding

My tanks seem to end up with a a single angel fish… in a couple try’s, I didn’t end up with a compatible pair, and they seem to outgrow most same sex friends… one such I have named “Mutt”, came from the pet store… it has grown rapidly, but is a long ways from a pure strain… the other fish in this story is a tiger silver dollar, that I salvaged from my Bichir tank, after the bichir ate a large pleco, I was worried that it might become fish food… the silver dollars are shoaling fish, and it got added to the angel’s tank alone… both are of similar size and shape, at around 6 inches… they have now become best buddies… I think the silver dollar initially tried to hang with the angel, and after a while the angel accepted him, now they both follow each other around… anyone else with strange pairings in their tanks??? As you can see, they are not the same color, so maybe size and shape are good enough???

I noticed this a little in my African Tetra “Arc” tank ( 3 of everything ) that several of the non same species shoaled together, but as they matured, they are still friendly towards each other, but usually are somewhat segregated by species… at 6 inches the Angel, and silver dollar are at least close to maturity…

I’ve seen that happen before lots of times . We can probably dream up reasons why but nobody will ever know really why . My idea is that some fish are smarter than others and have figured out that the world they’re in is not real so they naturally gravitate towards other such enlightened individuals . They philosophize to each other about their strange fate and laugh at the crowd that accepts it as real .

Had a male Pearl Gourami who became quite friendly with one of my male angelfish. He would rub up against the angelfish in an amorous fashion and the angelfish did not seem to mind at all. They hung out like this for over a year. I separated them when I established a gourami tank but in hindsight I think I would have left them together.

I have a "blue" Zebra Lace Angel in another tank, & this 1st pairing worked out so well, I have one spotted Silver Dollar left in the Bichir tank, with a couple huge common Dollars... the spotted is a little smaller, so before it becomes fish food, I'm thinking about adding it to the tank with this angel...

Nice looking tank.

Well, experiment #2… underway the 4” spotted Silver Dollar went into the blue Zebras tank tonight the only excitement was from all the Tetras, so far…

Watching their interaction at 1st light, and no aggression… there are still actually 2 angels in this tank, they were siblings, and grew up together, and at some point, decided they didn’t like each other anymore… there are no nipped fins, but the bigger blue, keeps the darker one in a corner, except at feeding time… I’m hoping the silver dollar will bond with one or both, and stop the intimidation between the angels… blue doesn’t seem to have any problems with the silver dollar being added to it’s tank, so far…
A little backstory on “Spot”… I had tried from a couple sellers to get a group of spotted dollars, but they kept sending me plain dollars… so the one I have, is also a pet store refugee ( like Mutt the angel in the other tank ), they had a bunch of common Dollars in a tank, and one time I noticed Spot… of course it had to go into a quarantine tank, coming from the pet store, but it thrived by itself in the quarantine tank, and here it is today, 3 times it’s purchased size… so, I had a thread before about dither fish… maybe these aren’t dither, but rather therapy fish…

Hi

My Cardinal Tetra & Rummy Nose Tetra shoal together and are very friendly

I have a variety of schools of tetras in the 2nd tank above, including Rummy nose’s, pristella’s, and raccoons… they all shoal together, except for my emperor tetras ( Palmeri ) that keep to themselves...I’m adding a dozen jumbo cardinals, and hopefully they blend in well together…

I have a back lit background, on in the morning, and the evening, and I know that Spot is just glass surfing the lit background, but it keeps going between "Blue" in the center of the tank, and the submissive angel in the corner, almost like it’s trying to encourage it to come out… they got introduced last night at feeding time, before Blue sent it back to the corner… worst case, I’ll have to remove the submissive angel, but looks like Spots got a new home, weather it bonds with anyone is yet to be seen…

Well, after a few days, “Spot” seems to have acclimated to the tank… I removed one plastic plant, and one hollow log cave, as with the monster Pothos vine still growing out of that tank, with it’s big root balls, there was less free swimming space… and Spot seems to like having the extra space… I think it was more independent, than “Tiger”, after going through quarantine by its self… not sure if that trait is stronger in the spot versus the stripe??? But it is showing interest in “Blue”, and they do hang together a little, but aren’t as inseparable as Tiger and “Mutt” are yet… we’ll see it that friendship develops…

Well, the jury is still out, if these guys will become buddies… they are within a foot of each other, about half the time, not inseparable like Mutt and Tiger, but kind of amazing that the Angel won’t tolerate another angel, yet the silver dollar being the same basic size and shape is tolerated without a problem, no aggression at all… Blue and Spot are the only larger fish in the tank, with everyone else being tetras or fish that sized… still a couple small cichlids ( rams and apisto’s ) , which don’t fight, but can’t tolerate each other, not in the same part of the tank at the same times… yet the angel, and dollar can be so close, they almost touch, without anything weird…

Don't forget the old advice about being chased by a grizzly. You don't have to be the fastest, just faster than the slowest guy. A lot of inter-species hanging out starts that way - if a predator appears and you are with another fish, it's only 50% it'll attack you. We want our fish to be friends, but they may just be hedging their bets on getting devoured.

I have a couple of Corydoras group fish that were left behind after everything sold, and that I brought home well aware I'd probably never see the species again to fill out a shoal. My cf incolicana runs with a brevirostris group, and two undescribed spotted ones hang with my punctatum group. They like the company of the ones closest in patterning, and that says camouflage/herd motives. I mean personality-wise, they are all easy going, but they do tend to follow the grizzly bear idea. If it were a matter of getting along, I'd have a mixed herd of incolicana, brevirostris, undescribed, punctatum and melini running together in my 125 gallon. Instead, I have three little groups most of the time.

So, slowly “Blue” and “Spot” are spending more time next to each other… this is a bigger tank than “Mutt” and Tiger” are in, but I would guess that 60% of the time they are within 1 foot of each other, so, more time together, than apart… angels and dollars look good together… especially if you have an angel that won’t tolerate another angel, and in 2 tries I’ve had results I’m happy with…