Angelfish And A School Of Rasbora's Together?

[Saver]

I am putting together a heavily planted tank. (About 60-75% of the substrate will be covered.) The tank is 46 gallons, 36x15x20 inches, though my substrate will be 2 inches deep making the tank only 18 inches tall.

I'm really not sure what I will stock the tank with. I'd like to have some nice schooling fish and 2 or so centerpiece fish of some sort.

I will have 2-3 Otto's, probably a few shrimp and I'd like a shoal of 7-10 Rasbora's.

Could I also put 3 Koi Angelfish in the tank a few months down the road after the Rasbora's get bigger? Would they fight the Rasbora's? Would my tank be stocked too much considering it'll be planted heavily? (I'm not interested in breeding the Angelfish.)

What other fish, instead of the Angelfish, would make a nice centerpiece to the tank?

I'm drawn to all the wrong fish! Bala sharks...too big, parrot fish...would distroy plants, discus...too big, oscars....too big.

 

[rdd1952]

I would think the angels would be fine with the rasboras. Angels will only eat fish they can get in their mouth and the angels would be too small when you get them to bother the rasboras. I started my 75 gallon with 10 black phantom tetras and 4 angels and they have been together for 2 years now although I lost one tetra about a month or so after I set up the tank. Don't know what happened to him. The angels are about 3" long no (were about the size of a quarter when I got them). The rasboras are basically the same size and body style as tetras. The ones that are more prone to being eaten are the more slim bodied tetras like neons.

With 3 angels you could run into some aggressions problems down the line though. Angels are almost impossible to sex when young so you don't know what you're getting. If it turns out that you end up with 2 males and a female, you may have to remove one of the males later on. I still don't know what I ended up with. None have paired off and they all seem to pick at each other from time to time but never enough to hurt each other.

And to another North Carolinian. There have been quite a few new NC members lately. What part of the state are you in?

 

[yvez9]

I keep two angels and a school of rasboras and tetras (about 15 in all)

the angels don't bother them at all. The only agression is between both angels and there isn't much violence, only a little nipping

there's no point in waiting for the rasboras to grow bigger before adding the angels unless you plan on purchasing larger angelfish. I put all these fish at the same time and the angels didn't even try to eat a smaller fish!

 

[Saver]

Thanks all. Would it be better to just get 2 Angels instead of 3?

rdd, I'm from Greensboro. You'd helped me a couple weeks ago when I was picking out my equipment. I've got everything now but the plants. They'll be delivered on Tuesday. I didn't find enough good looking plants locally.

It'll be interesting finding the balance between light, nutrients and CO2. I'll have 2wpg, no CO2, but will dose with Excel every day to add Carbon. I have Greg Watson's fertilizers, but i won't dose near as heavily as they suggest since I don't have CO2 and I have a lower light level too. We'll see. I'll share pictures here when I get started next week.