Angelfish Care

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

An aquaintance of mine is looking to stock his 90g with angels, but has been apprehensive because he knows that angels are sensitive and that many people have problems keeping angels alive and healthy. I personally do not order angelfish for the lfs I work at because they do not do well, most of them die, and I do not think its right to subject the fish to this.

I've told my friend everything I know about angelfish, which is limited since I have never personally kept angelfish. However, I overheard a conversation between my friend and another man. This stranger was talking about how his son owns a business in which he maintains the tanks of wealthy people such as senators and athletes and sometimes he has to wear scuba gear just to perform maintenance on these massive tanks ( I immediately became envious, but this is another matter). The stranger insisted that the things my friend had been told about angelfish were a lie (he was unwittingly talking about me).

The man insisted that angelfish should have a strong a current in their tank, because he has a tank and he has powerheads with a strong current. (here is that false logic americans are so fond of) He proceeded to tell my friend several things about his setup. I can not be sure that the stranger knew what he was talking about and I am thinking there is a strong possibility that the stranger knows very little about his setup and that it is successful because his son is the primary caretaker of the tank and has provided the most premium of equiptment and maintenance.

I have never kept my own personal tank of angelfish, but If I were to do so, this would be my setup for success. I would have a large tank, absolute min. 55g, and excellent filtration provided by a biowheel as well as a canister filter. The tank would be heavily planted with swords and there would also be several large peices of wood and some smaller peices. Hopefully the plants and would reduce any possible disturbance from current.

I have a couple questions

1) Would this be a good setup, what is your ideal angelfish setup, should anything be changed?

2) Why do idiots assume they know what they're talking about and pass their stupid ideas onto others?

 

[SamUK]

i could be wrong but ive never had any trouble with my angels and havent heard others saying there prone to disease or anything.


that setup sounds good too.

they like tall tanks so get one as tall as you can. think the minimum is 19inches.


they love big leaves to spawn on so swords are great 2.


not sure about the current tho. i jus have an internal filter running with a spray bar so mines not powerful and they seem fine!


its funny, they really do beg for food. my tanks near my bed and when i wake up and they see me move, they come dashing over to the front of the tank and wiggle about all over the place lol.

and yea i meant wiggle lol.

 

[big mick]

Angel fish are easy to keep, Ive had all of mine since they were tiny. Dont buy them TOO small but I think since your set up sounds great that you will suprise yourself at how easy and enjoyable these fish are to keep

 

[juliehainsworth]

My mum once bought a pair of angels that she kept in my old 4ft tank (years ago) at the time we just had undergravel filters and a few other fish inc Red tailed black shark, plec, platies, guppies, neons, glowlights and kissing gouramis! We had no special conditions for them but they also spawned a few times in our tank (always ate the eggs though) In the end we traded them in as they werent really compatable with our other fish! Other than that we had no problems with them we found them to be pretty hardy and didnt ever come down in whitespot when others did!

I'd say they are pretty hardy fish either that or my mum just purchased a pair of freaks lol

 

[annka5]

yep, I've never heard of them being particularly frageile.
However, a current would be a really bad idea - if you even just think about the shape of them it's pretty clear they aren't designed to enjoy one! In rivers in the wild they live in slow flowing areas, similar to where you'd find discus - not in the middle where there is a raging torrent.
They like to "stand" among plants like vallis, so I'd add some to the proposed set-up.
IMO people will have a set up that works and assume that every aspect of it is ideal. Whereas the angels in his probablly have an otherwise-ideal environment and can find calmer areas of the tank.

 

[Tolak]

Hey Boxcar, pm me if you want some healthy angels. I have some larger ones, close to dollar body size or better, I know some of the other breeders in the area have smaller ones. These are all bred & raised in city water, we all have no problem keeping them. There is also an auction by Midway Airport at the end of the month, I have to post details in buy & swap.

The gentleman you talked to may have been refering to marine angels. Freshwater angels do not like a lot of flow, but some is acceptable. The younger ones seem to tolerate it less than adults. I have a 55 with some adults that is way overfiltered, and does have considerable current to it. 2222, 2224, old ac 200, & an undergravel sort of powerhead with a prefilter that puts out around 200 gph. It totals out to around 600 gph of filtration.

My grow out tanks for smaller angels are 20's or 29's, with an ac mini & a sponge filter. Way less current. As you mentioned, doubling up on filtration is best for all tanks, as far as I am concerned.

I have a 65 set up as a show tank, 7 angels, a 2026 & ac 300 for filtration. They all started out smaller, younger angels seem to need fresher water, so they got weekly water changes of 50%. I let this tank go for 3 weeks a few times between water changes of 50% when they are adults, there is no problem. City water from a hose, Prime to dechlor.

Healthy stock, good filtration as you mentioned, a varied diet, and fresh water makes for big healthy angels.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

Awesome, thanks to everyone for the good advice, unfortunately this isn't for me, I wouldn't be able to even think about start an angel tank until later this year, its for my buddy, who fortunately is going to be using a 90g tank. Another reason I think people in my area have trouble with angels is because our water is extremely hard and has a ph of around 8.6. Thats why I am concerned about keeping the tank extra clean to reduce stress. Tolak on the other hand, I'm not sure about your water but I have tested water from chicago and it is significantly different. I've even talked to people who drove to the city to get water. When I move to the city later this year it will be a plus for any attempt at an angel setup, not so great for my mbunas who love my current water.

Does anyone think a biowheel and a canister filter would be unnesescary?

I also want to appoligize for being a jerk in the original post, I was still pissed about that guy insulting my tanks.

Tolak, you brought up some interesting points. The guy's son dealt mostly with marine setups so it is possibly that this man had marine angels. Your observation of younger angels needing fresh water more often is deffinitley valid. Since the lfs I work at is small we do not have room for older angels and have only dealt with very young angels, about 1-2 inches. While I do my best to maintain these tanks, the odds are stacked against me with the typical overcrowding of lfs tanks and the slowness of management in taking action to fix the problems I've pointed out. So my previous lack of success with angels at the store could be due partly to the sensitivity of the young fish and the less than perfect conditions.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Sounds to me like the bloke talking in the first post was actually talking about MARINE angels. They love current. Anyway, if the tank is huge enough to scuba in then a few powerheads aren't going to produce any significant current. Angelfish originate from slow moving waters.

WK

Edit:
Doh, Tolak beat me to it. Should have read the whole post!

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

Anyway, if the tank is huge enough to scuba in then a few powerheads aren't going to produce any significant current.

Lol, that was his son having to scuba in his clients' tanks. The tank that the guy had his angels in was 200 gallons US

 

[tetraqueen]

Just another thing I have heard and do not know if its true , Will they eat neons and guppies ?

 

[juliehainsworth]

In my experience they will try and eat anything they can get into they're mouths! Will def eat guppy fry even when they are at least half an inch long and half cm wide! Well my mums did anyway even though they didnt eat the whole fish just took the heads and left rest of the carcass! But thats my experience! Don't know about anyone else!

 

[SamUK]

mine dont seem to bother my neons and i have 16 of em.

also have a few other shoals of about 5 or 6 tetras and they dont even get looked at.



have to say tho, from reading on here i think im jus lucky.




oh and last nite for about half an hour it seemed they were in the mood to spawn.

everyone got chased then from my gouramis to my rainbow fish.

 

[big mick]

Mine used to be in with neons and guppies (they were a fair bit smaller then though) but they didnt go for them but like SamUK said there will always be people that have different experience but I would never advise anyone keep them with neons as they are natural prey.

Guppys would be a bit big though.

 

[tetraqueen]

Mine used to be in with neons and guppies (they were a fair bit smaller then though) but they didnt go for them but like SamUK said there will always be people that have different experience but I would never advise anyone keep them with neons as they are natural prey.

Guppys would be a bit big though.

My guppies are a third of the size of my neons.

Just thought of having them and giving my Bala sharks away.

 

[Waterloo Kid]

I have 3 cockatoo dwarf fry in my tank at the moment and the angels haven't even given them another look so far as I know. It's the keyholes that are the problem!

WK