Angel Fish Behavior

[Clbrtwewill]

I'm posting for someone else, who came to me because I'm basically the resident fish nerd and I couldn't answer her. She wanted fish so I had helped her set this up in mid-August.

So, she has a 29 gallon tall hex aquarium with three angel fish in it. It's cycled and I am not sure the water stats (not my aquarium). She has three grey angel fish - not sure the actual type of them - they each have a few stripes that come and go based upon their mood. Two of them are larger than the third, which is about 1/2 the size of the others. They were all purchased at the same time from the same store. The two larger ones are behaving the same as they were a few weeks ago, have a healthy appetite, and seem to interact with one another. The smaller (more stripey, too) one has taken to hiding in plants. She asked me about it last night because the small one doesn't seem to have much of an appetite.

When I went to see, I couldn't even spot the smaller one at first, and when I did it didn't move or anything. It's near the bottom hiding between a plant's leaves and didn't move, even when I tried to feed. I urged it out with a net, it swam for a minute, then went back to the same spot. There doesn't seem to be anything visibly wrong with the angel; just doesn't seem to be exhibiting the personality it did before.

I asked her this morning and she says it's still in the same place. I'm not sure if this justifies an emergency but some of you might have an idea as to what is occurring, and what she might be able to do about it?

 

[kribensis12]

If its the smallest one, its probably being bullied. Are its gills red and inflamed?

 

[JenCliBee]

getting water stats is always the first start but as krib says could well just be bullying



jen

 

[Tolak]

Start with a 10 gallon quar tank, put the angel that is out of sorts in it. Raise the temperature to a good 88F over a couple of days, try feeding fresh or frozen brine shrimp. If it still doesn't eat after a couple of days it could be an internal protizoan. This is common in angels, and as kribs stated, could be the result of stress caused by aggression. Time for the copy & paste;

Put the angel in a quar tank, I usually use a 10 gallon. Increase the temp over a day or so to 90-94F. Treat daily with 40 mg/gallon metronidazole, with 50% water changes daily. If the fish isn't eating, don't feed for the first 3 days. After 3 days, get some frozen brine shrimp. Take a portion about the size of a few match heads, and sprinkle on some metro. You have to eyeball this one, make the shrimp look kind of like a tiny powdered donut. Once it thaws, mix it in & feed. Sometimes they still don't eat for a few days, but once they start to mouth the food & spit it out, the meds seem to get in their system real good. Continue medicating the water & food for 7-10 days.

Metronidazole is sold as flagyl, het-a-mit, and a few other names I can't recall offhand, used to treat hexamita & hole in the head. They usually suggest 20mg/gallon, this often isn't enough. Metro deteriorates in 8 hours, so you could do twice daily water changes. I've done this on the weekends when I have time.

I've also added epsom salt while using metro, this helps with any constipation issues, cleans out the digestive tract. I start with 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons of water, increasing by 1 teaspoon daily for 2 more days to bring it up to 3 teaspoons per gallon. You will have to adjust how much you use when doing water changes. You may want to give this a try.



When you return the angel you will probably have to rearrange decorations in the tank to remove any old territories from the other two angels, and arrange them as sort of a natural divider. Remove the other two fish when you do this, and put the now recovered angel in for a couple of hours with only room light illuminating the tank. This will give the fish a chance to settle in before you add the other two.

 

[Phage]

Maybe the other two paired off and are bullying the 3rd. Happend to me. The pair killed the third one which was quite smaller than the other two.

 

[Tolak]

Maybe the other two paired off and are bullying the 3rd. Happend to me. The pair killed the third one which was quite smaller than the other two.

This is not uncommon, that is why the worst amount of angels to keep in a tank, unless it is 55 gallons or larger, is 3. I've had multiple pairs in a tank, with unpaired fish, generally during feeding time a truce of sorts is called. If the aggression is so bad that the fish will not even attempt to come out to eat you will see some pretty severe fin damage as well. Often the stress gets to them first, stress lowers a fish's immune response. Internal protizoans are common in many cichlids, and cause no real harm when kept in check by the natural healthy immune response of a healthy fish.

When stressed the response is similar to a person who works too many hours at a stessful job, without enough sleep or a proper diet. Or, a college kid who parties on the weekend, skimping on sleep, trading a healthy balanced diet for one of liquefied grains. What happens? You come down with the latest cold bug, or perhaps the flu, whatever is making the rounds. Normally your healthy immune system would fight this off, compromise your immune system, and an opportunistic bug gets you.

No different with a fish, except in the case of the fish the opportunistic bug is an internal protizoan.