Angelfish Questions

[guppy2002]

my friend just gave me a 29 gallon with a light, filter, and air pump and im excited to set it up. what im thinking for stocking is a couple of angelfish and some schooling fish. heres my questions (because i am completely new to angels)
 
how many angels should i get? 1? 2? more?
 
can different types of angels be mixed?
 
what are the best schooling tankmates for angel?
 
what is the bets food for them?
 
thanks in advance for your help  

 

[Byron]

Angelfish are by nature shoaling fish, which means that they live in small groups.  They establish an hierarchy within the group.  They need space to do this, as sometimes the dominant male can be quite demanding and without a sufficient group and space, other fish will be picked on and often refuse to eat and may even be killed outright.  A group should be no less than five, but this requires at minimum a 4-foot 55g tank.
 
If one has a breeding pair, they can work in a 29g on their own.  But aside from this, I think you should forget angelfish.  A single one is sometimes done, but I am not in favour of forcing fish into such an un-natural setting just to suit ourselves.  To your other related questions, you can mix the various varieties (these have been derived from the same original species, Pterophyllum scalare, and thus all behave much the same).  Tankmates need to be selected carefully; small linear fish tend to be seen as food by the angelfish, and some of the small fish can nip fins.  Food is much the same as for other tropicals; good quality prepared flake and pellet, and live or frozen daphnia, brine shrimp and bloodworms.
 
There are plenty of options for a 29g (I have one of these in my fish room).  Giving us your tap water parameters (GH and pH) will help us to suggest suitable fish.
 
Byron.

 

[CichliNoob]

Angelfish don't need much room they are ambush predators waiting for food to drop in. So I would put 2 or 3 in. My 30 has 4 doing perfectly fine

 

[sawickib]

Id have to agree with byron on this one, my 2 angels in my 180 gallon roam the tank all day. Id hate to see 4 full grown angels in a 30 gallon. I supposed a single angelfish or breeding pair of angels is ok for a 30 gallon, but i prefer to see any angels in a 55+ gallon tank. 

 

[Byron]

Angelfish don't need much room they are ambush predators waiting for food to drop in. So I would put 2 or 3 in. My 30 has 4 doing perfectly fine

I was going to let this pass as I have previously commented on the issue, but no.  Angelfish should attain six inches in body length, with a vertical fin span of 8 to 10 inches.  There is simply no way that three or more can be at their best health in an aquarium that is roughly 30 inches in length and no more than 16 inches in height.  In my view this is cruel to the fish.  At the juvenile size temporarily, fine; but the fish need more space to develop properly.
 
Here is a video of an angelfish aquarium that shows how this fish should be housed, in order to allow it to exhibit natural behaviours as nature intended, and with which the fish will be in the best health.  There are 11 wild P. scalare from the Rio Cuiuni in this aquarium.  You can easily see the interactions between fish, as it should be.
 
https/www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gXVgWLbZ-g
 
Byron.

 

[Alasse]

I would put a known pair in a 30gal tank no worries at all, and have done before
 
My old breeding pair in a 30gal tank

 
The male from the above pair was kept alone for many many years after his female passed away. He just was not compatible with any angel, he would kill them. So single angels can also be done no worries.