Dilema With Angel Fish

[dylandeputronroberts]

Have got one angel fish not sure what type sorry he has black and white stripes. Now he nips and chases the other fish in community so had to quarantine him. He looks p*****. BUt he wont stop chasing and nipping. What to do as he is stunning to look at. Is it true their stripes give away how their emotions are or something.

65 litre tank

one common pleco
one catfish
2 balloon mollies
2 assorted mollies
one male guppie
one male siamese fighter
2 platties <<<, hes favourite to chase and annoy
2 rasboras
4 neon tetras
2 blue gouramis <<< he bugs the crap out these 2.

 

[LisaLQ]

You're best off rehoming him - as your tank is really very overstocked as it is and isn't big enough for an angel anyway. That common plec will reach 12-18" average, and needs to be in at least a 4ft x 18" x 18". Mollies need some salt in their water, which the plec and (possibly) the catfish wont be able to cope with. And even without the plec and the angel, there's way too many fish in there I'm afraid. Maybe the platies, rasboras and neons would be ok in that small a tank, but that would be the limit, so you either need to upgrade or rehome some of your fish.

 

[crazie.eddie]

Angels are cichlids and are territorial. It's just telling the other fish to stay away from it's area. I agree about the angel being moved.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Yes angel needs rehoming, Gourami and Bettas don't do well togather and the Pleco will get too big. I don't agree with LisaLQ as mollies don't have to live in a tank with a some amount of salt, it depends more on what the water chemistry was before you got them. I'm very suprised he didn't attack the betta as i've heard Angels are very mean to them, and will nip almost all of the guppies fins off. Also the male may have some agression towards any fish that is either bright, or makes quick movements (all of your fish fall under one of those catagories ecept the pleco, angel and maybe catfish) . I would recommend that you re-home the following:

Common pleco
Gourami
Angel
Male Betta

And maybe the mollies if someone can for sure say they obsolutly need the salt.

 

[Spike_ea_2k6]

mollies dont need salt, i used to keep them without any salt and they lived happy and a very long time

 

[ghent_3rd]

As far as I am aware, mollies will survive without salt in the water but will never reach their true potential as they are rearly known as a brackish fish.

check the livebearer forum and just ask the question to know for sure as I am no expert, I just do a lot of research!

 

[Gatorbait]

Putting a cichlid with community fish isn't good, as you've found out. The oproblem is, cichlids know the "threats" of other cichlids very easily but community fish are clueless to the subtle displays and why. So they will continue to go into the angels territory and the chasing will probably keep going on with the likliehood of it getting worse as the angel gets more agitated that they don't learn.

 

[bmcelfresh]

You did not say if it was male or female. My female is very docile unless it's breeding time. I have four very large angels and they are all in different tanks except for the breeding pair (the only two that get along). The others are in community tanks with other fish. Some are smaller and some are much bigger. Sounds like your fish is trying to establish it's territory. I have one male angel in with fish that are MUCH bigger than him and he stills tries to push them out of his space. No actual fighting, but you can tell. These fish are very territorial. You need to be careful with tankmates.

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

I keep my angels in a 24-25g high, with cories, so far to my knowledge one is female and the other is male. The female is more aggresive towards the cories when she looks like shes trying to clear a breeding site (or just eating alot of algae) but the male is more agressive to the female.

 

[aquaticadmirer]

Have got one angel fish not sure what type sorry he has black and white stripes. Now he nips and chases the other fish in community so had to quarantine him. He looks p*****. BUt he wont stop chasing and nipping. What to do as he is stunning to look at. Is it true their stripes give away how their emotions are or something.

I would agree with most everybody that you need to rehome some of your fish. Angels do get quite territorial. I have 3 in one tank and 2 are a breeding pair and stay together on one side of the tank, and the other one stays on the other side. I have pretty docile angels though, as far as angels go, as they are in a community tank that includes both long finned and colorful fish, and the most they ever do is peck at each other. For that matter, they really only peck at the other angels and seem to leave all the other fish alone, as long as they don't get too close. I would disagree with Gatorbait though...my fish have learned to stay out of the angels' territories, which mostly consist of the intake tubes to my filters.

And yes it's true that their stripes show their emotions. When they're scared or stressed or are what I like to call sleeping (when the lights are out in the tank they kind of go into a trance...) their stripes fade almost completely. When they're alert or angry their stripes get very dark.

 

[Gatorbait]

Have got one angel fish not sure what type sorry he has black and white stripes. Now he nips and chases the other fish in community so had to quarantine him. He looks p*****. BUt he wont stop chasing and nipping. What to do as he is stunning to look at. Is it true their stripes give away how their emotions are or something.

I would agree with most everybody that you need to rehome some of your fish. Angels do get quite territorial. I have 3 in one tank and 2 are a breeding pair and stay together on one side of the tank, and the other one stays on the other side. I have pretty docile angels though, as far as angels go, as they are in a community tank that includes both long finned and colorful fish, and the most they ever do is peck at each other. For that matter, they really only peck at the other angels and seem to leave all the other fish alone, as long as they don't get too close. I would disagree with Gatorbait though...my fish have learned to stay out of the angels' territories, which mostly consist of the intake tubes to my filters.

And yes it's true that their stripes show their emotions. When they're scared or stressed or are what I like to call sleeping (when the lights are out in the tank they kind of go into a trance...) their stripes fade almost completely. When they're alert or angry their stripes get very dark.

Not the same thing. That is most likely learned behaviour which is not the same thing as understanding warning signs of threat displays. And I was talking in general terms as there are not set in stone answers. In general, community fish don't understand the simple threats from cichlids. Yes, they can learn from being chased away many many times where another fishes territory is but they still may not understand the simple threats of warning beforehand that would preclude any nipping and chasing.

Also, if your angels have a certain area they have as territory and when chasing others don't stray away from that area, it will help the other fish know to stay away from that area. That doesn't mean that community fish understand threat displays as well as other cichlids, because they don't, that just means they know to stay away from a certain area.

Edited for smiley. It looked like I was mad or something without it.

 

[aquaticadmirer]

Have got one angel fish not sure what type sorry he has black and white stripes. Now he nips and chases the other fish in community so had to quarantine him. He looks p*****. BUt he wont stop chasing and nipping. What to do as he is stunning to look at. Is it true their stripes give away how their emotions are or something.

I would agree with most everybody that you need to rehome some of your fish. Angels do get quite territorial. I have 3 in one tank and 2 are a breeding pair and stay together on one side of the tank, and the other one stays on the other side. I have pretty docile angels though, as far as angels go, as they are in a community tank that includes both long finned and colorful fish, and the most they ever do is peck at each other. For that matter, they really only peck at the other angels and seem to leave all the other fish alone, as long as they don't get too close. I would disagree with Gatorbait though...my fish have learned to stay out of the angels' territories, which mostly consist of the intake tubes to my filters.

And yes it's true that their stripes show their emotions. When they're scared or stressed or are what I like to call sleeping (when the lights are out in the tank they kind of go into a trance...) their stripes fade almost completely. When they're alert or angry their stripes get very dark.

Not the same thing. That is most likely learned behaviour which is not the same thing as understanding warning signs of threat displays. And I was talking in general terms as there are not set in stone answers. In general, community fish don't understand the simple threats from cichlids. Yes, they can learn from being chased away many many times where another fishes territory is but they still may not understand the simple threats of warning beforehand that would preclude any nipping and chasing.

Also, if your angels have a certain area they have as territory and when chasing others don't stray away from that area, it will help the other fish know to stay away from that area. That doesn't mean that community fish understand threat displays as well as other cichlids, because they don't, that just means they know to stay away from a certain area.

Edited for smiley. It looked like I was mad or something without it.

Ok yeah I can see where you're coming from now, and I would have to agree. While my fish know to leave the angels alone, they're kind of like dumb little kids that push their luck until the angels just get good and sick of it and chase them away. After being chased away enough, they've learned just to give it up and stay away.

 

[Tolak]

Cichlids have a certain body language much as other animals do. Most community fish won't understand this language, and won't see any aggression coming until it happens. It's much the same as understanding a dog's body language. We understand it to some extent being more intellegent. Dogs certainly understand it. A rabbit would't have a clue.

A common cichlid body language before aggression is a slight side to side tilt while staying in one place. It's almost guaranteed that they will lunge after this. Learning cichlid body language is the only way to work in a tank with more aggressive cichlids without getting bitten.