Angel' In Community Tank

[cutie mcwhiskers]

Hi,

i was wondering if anyone could tell me if i would be able to have some angel fish in my community tank,
it's a jewel trigon 190 and currently contains

4 leopard danios
3 black neon tetras
4 neon tetras
3 glowlight tetras
1 male guppy
2 rummy nose tetras

all fish we've had for about 2 years so are adult size.

if i can have some, how many would you recommend?

any help would be much appreciated, cheers!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

you definately have room for one or two so that's good for a start, however before adding other fish i'd advis sorting your shoal numbers out, all the tetra's and danio's will be happiest in a group of 6, it's the old safety in numbers thing that applies to small fish, if you are putting a fish significantly larger than them (like an angel) then they need the numbers to not feel threatened.

angels (like all cichlids) can be tempremental, some will be absolutely fine in a community tank, others will terrorise the more peaceful inhabitants. If at all possible observe the angels in the lfs closely before you buy then, try and work out the temperment of the fish and hopefully you will get one who isn't too mean. However you should always have a back up plan in case things do go wrong.

neons in the wild are one of the natural food's of angels, it's very much disputed weather they can be kept together, i have done it and not had any problems, however i've heard of people's angels munching through a whole shoal of neons. If the neons are adult and the angel is small when you put them together there is less likely hood of the angel considering the neons as a potential food source, however again it's a risk so you need a back up plan.

when angels breed they are extremley territorial so personally i would just get 1 then you've no risk of them pairing up and terrorising the rest of the tank. there's no problem with keeping 1 alone.

so all in all, it's a bit risky but if you can make sure you have a home for the angel to go to if it doesn't work then go for it and good luck.

 

[cutie mcwhiskers]

thanks for the info miss wiggle.

origionally i did have 6+ of the tetras and danios but over the past year or so they've died off,
all water stats are ok, none of them showed any symptoms of anything and with it being spaced
over a year or so i've just put it down to their age. i do plan on getting more rummy nose and danios
soon though.

there's two big pieces of bog wood and some plants in there so there's plenty of hiding places for anyone
feeling threatened.

i was thinking of getting a baby one so hopefully it wont be interested in the neons! if there's trouble i can
always move the smaller fish to another tank.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmm dying off aged 2 is unlikely to be from old age i'm afraid, i've 5 yr old neons and 7 yrs isn't unheard of

however if your water stats are ok and you've not had any deaths in say the last 2 months or so then whatever it is that's killed them has probably gone.

anyway I would initially start getting your shoals back up to better numbers and if introducing those fish goes ok and with no more deaths then try for a baby angel.

IMO there's no harm in taking risks as long as you arm yourself with the facts initially, keep a close eye on the tank and have plan B ready to spring into action at any time!!

 

[cutie mcwhiskers]

my lfs told me that they only have an average life span of around 2-3 years, doh!
i've not had anymore deaths in about 2 or 3 months and i've been keeping a close eye on everyone.
i'll up the shoal numbers first then and see how it gos for now.

thanks again for your help

 

[Miss Wiggle]

they probably do if you include the statistics from the hundreds of people who cycle they're tank with them unknowing and don't care for the tank properly.

in a well looked after tank they should get on for 5 years without too much problem.

no problem

 

[Mystix212]

Add 2 angels or more for activty and not having to squint your eyes looking for 2" fish.

 

[LisaLQ]

I really wouldn't have 2 angels in a tank that size unless they were on their own. If they pair off and breed, they will attack anything in their space - and you'll end up with many more deaths on your hands. Dont care what anyone says - angels are one of the most vicious fish when they pair off - my parrots and rainbow cichlids dont go anywhere near as mental when they're breeding! I had 7 angels in my 6ft tank, that split into three pairs. We had to move one pair into another tank, rehome one pair, and just keep one pair per 6ft tank - because they are so volatile.

So please dont get two in a 190l tank. It'd be like saying - "Here you go angels, these little fish are target practise for you - take your pick!".

Incidentally, we have never lost a fish to the angels - and we have various tetras/platies/cories etc. The only fish I'd worry about in your tank is the guppy.

 

[Mystix212]

Lisa you make everything sound worse. Angels are cichlids, not thier agressiveness could be good or bad. But if you buy two, they're not always gonna be a breeding pair!!!!! Calm down and relise if they grow up with smaller fish they'll learn to live with them. Thus having a reduced risk of eating them.

I think you just got a bad pair of angels.

 

[LisaLQ]

Erm did you even read my post? I had three bad pairs of angels. All angels when they pair off are bad - I'm going on my own experience and that of others - they can be real buggers.

I'm not the only one chicken, believe me. And if you'd read my message you'd see I'd had more than just "one bad pair". I've kept many cichlids - rainbows, oscar, vieja, parrots, angels - and out of them all - the arsiest ones were my angels.

And dont put words in my mouth either - I never said they'd be bad with small fish - for god's sake I've kept them in a community tank with neons and hundreds of other tetras/small fish, I didn't once say they couldn't be in a community. Just not in pairs - because they will attack your other fish (and any other non-pair angels).