Angel being aggressive to another

[CraigDalton]

Hi there,

I have a lido 200 tank and it's a community tank. I had one black marble angel in it and I decided I wanted to get another. I knew I'd have to get one of similar size and so I did, I got a while and orange one. When I was going to add the new angel in after acclimating it I then redone all the decor in the tank and messed it all around to mix the black marble up and not allow him to have an established territory so I could add the angel in and they'd both not have a territory and they'd have to earn it on level ground. It's been two days now and the new angel just hides in the corner under the filter of the tank and when it would ever go out the black one just chases and harrases it. Is there a way I could prevent this or will after a few more days will they have established the pecking order and that be that however they'll both swim about just avoiding one another instead of the new one just cowering away. If anything the new one may actually be a little bigger but not much in it so it's not because it's too small.

 

[UnknownFishies]

the old angelfish is the dominant one and it sees the new one as invading its territory. i suggest completely rearranging the tank to get rid of territories. if that doesn’t work, get rid of the new one.

 

[CraigDalton]

Yeah I have rearranged the tank completely today. I'll maybe wait and see of anything changes over the next few days

 

[Uberhoust]

How large are your Angels? My larger Angels do not do well with changes in tank mates and will harass any other Angels I put in the tank with them, unless those Angels form a pair, which can be equally as bad if you have a community tank. Changing the layout of the tank doesn't seem to help, or hasn't in my case, the fish seem to know their tanks from what they see outside the tank as much as what is inside the tank. In my limited experience once an Angel is about 3" or larger I have to be very careful about the other Angels that are in the tank with them.

As @UnknownFishies suggests you may have to re-home one of your Angels.

 

[CraigDalton]

Thanks for your help. I will keep a close eye and if there's no improvement I'll consider my next step

 

[Avel1896]

Hello,
Don't forget angelfish is a Cichlid. It more often than not squabble with it’s own kind. Usually good community fish but may eat small fish such as tetras.

 

[P J]

Hi Craig, It sometimes helps to add some dither fish say six platy, one male and five female they distract the older angel, and in a natural way the fry will distract the angels as well. The platy are too fast to be bothered by the angels, the new angel will eventually emerge. PJ

 

[seangee]

If you can I would take the new one back unless you have another tank. The most likely outcome is one dead angel.

 

[Guyb93]

I wouldn’t add any platy or hard water fish maybe some mid sized tetra would work but I doubt it , it may last a few days or for ever , if it don’t stop I’d either buy more anglefiah to spread aggression or remove one of the existing

 

[PlasticGalaxy]

Angelfish can be quite aggressive in general, but as @UnknownFishies said, the older one probably sees the newer one as invading its territory and as such will act out against it. The tank of XL sized ones in my LFS was endlessly filled with fighting, chasing and nipping, too. To be fair I think they're a total flop... Had them once and definitely won't be having them again.

 

[Avel1896]

Yhe older Anhelfish wants to keep his prerogatives ! Either the newcomer yields or he tries to dethrone the boss....