F-1 Angel... I'm a bit nervous... it'll be my 1st F-1 fish...

[Magnum Man]

Sitting here drinking my caffeine, and watching tanks this morning… Angel fish seem to have strange dynamic… my 1st successful group, are 2 that I bought, about a year ago, were both Zebra Lace, came from the same seller, and I assume, were raised together, and may have been litter mates??? added to the tank at the same time… previous attempts, were attempted in hard alkaline water, and were failures…
This new group, ( different tank than the zebra lace ) I started with the smallest and have 3 of a mixed group, all different sizes and added at different times… the interaction between the pet store mutt, and the F-1, almost looks like early couple bonding, with F-1 playing the dominant character… this relationship is new for me. And I wasn’t trying to breed them, the pet store fish, probably has genes so washed out, that it wouldn’t know what to do anyway… it just looks big and dumb… but it makes for interesting watching

 

[Magnum Man]

F-1, and its new roommate

 

[Colin_T]

The gold angelfish looks like it's covered in excess mucous (creamy white film over it). If that isn't from the lighting, check the water quality, clean the tank and make sure the filter is clean.

 

[Magnum Man]

Well… F-1 died… water tested perfect, and a Ph of 6.8, hardness of 25… everyone else is looking good… this is a newly set up tank, so really no quarantine on added fish ( I did have a few I had bought ahead, that were in holding tanks ) but I had the fiasco with the Cupid cichlids, and had one die in the tank, that I should have stuck in a holding tank... so assuming it succumbed to something it had not been previously exposed to… no obvious signs, other that someone ate is eyes out, almost right away, after it died… it wasn’t in the tank longer than a couple hours dead… makes me wonder who is the eye ball eater??? Not something I’ve had issues with before… guessing it was the Bolivian mafia

Tank has cycled nicely, I did a water change last night, tested the water, prior to the water change, so it was just time, not "needed" I have 6 Chinese Evergreens, in hang on planters… I'm getting a lot of algae, with the newer tank, and double lights I typically run on the extra deep tanks, so a couple bushy nose pleco’s are next to go in the tank… eventually the evergreen will bush out & shade the tank... Mrs loves the school of baby albino Cory’s they look great on the black sand, and are growing noticeably in the week they have been here...

I have to go out of town for a couple days, and will be pulling out the borrowed sponge filter when I get back… which will allow a little my aqua scaping... the pair of tidal 75’s seem ready... and I found some more Cupids from a better dealer if they don’t sell out before next paycheck, I will be trying them again… a group of 4, is the goal there

Will try another F-1, or similar, in the future, after the tank and all the rest of the fish are cycled and proven in a month or so…

 

[GaryE]

Angelfish love each other's eyeballs when one dies. It's weird, but they have always done that if a fish hit the bottom for long enough.

 

[Colin_T]

If you get more F-1 altums, get a group and put them in their own tank that is clean and hasn't had anything else in it. Keep them on their own for at least 2 months and see how they go. If they die, at least you can say they were in a single species tank that was clean and then ask the supplier for a refund or replacement (depending on how long you had them for before they died).

 

[Oldspartan]

Well… F-1 died… water tested perfect, and a Ph of 6.8, hardness of 25… everyone else is looking good… this is a newly set up tank, so really no quarantine on added fish ( I did have a few I had bought ahead, that were in holding tanks ) but I had the fiasco with the Cupid cichlids, and had one die in the tank, so assuming it succumbed to something it had not been previously exposed to… no obvious signs, other that someone ate is eyes out, almost right away, after it died… it wasn’t in the tank longer than a couple hours dead… makes me wonder who is the eye ball eater??? Not something I’ve had issues with before… guessing it was the Bolivian’s

Tank has cycled nicely, did a water change last night, have 6 Chinese Evergreen, in hang on planters… getting a lot of algae with the newer tank, and double lights I typically run on the extra deep tanks, so a couple bushy nose pleco’s are next to go in the tank… Mrs love the school of baby albino Cory’s they look great on the black sand, and are growing noticeably in the week they have been here

I have to go out of town for a couple days, and will be pulling out the borrowed sponge filter when I get back… the pair of tidal 75’s seem ready and I found some more Cupids from a better dealer if they don’t sell out before next paycheck, I will be trying them again…

Will try another F-1 in the future, after the tank and all the rest of the fish are cycled and proven in a month or so…

Very sorry to read that!

 

[GaryE]

You could have the Cichlid Dance of Death going on. This is very unscientific, but I have always found single Cichlids added to tanks started a chain of death. Usually, one of the established fish dies, which you then replace, with the same result. You don't see how they die - that's done sneakily. If you add a group, you rarely see the same thing, but single Cichlids wandering into town replace living fish, not dead ones. So many times, with Apistogramma breeding set ups, I replaced male, female, male, female...

The moral for me is that I never buy lone Cichlids. I either buy a male female pair, or a group of six.

 

[Magnum Man]

curious if you guys can set me straight... so I have been looking at these for a while...

https://www.dansfish.com/product.detail/4519/Manacapuru-Redback-Angelfish-(Pterophyllum-scalare)

these fish are supplied by Aquarium Glaser, as Dan's lists on the info page... they don't say F-1, but list them as Manacapuru, which is a description of where they were from ??? I'm assuming these are Aquarium bred, rather than wild caught??? is there really any difference in husbandry, between these and an F-1 fish???

BTW... the larger Angel in the picture above looks good today... so my assumption about pet store water may have been right???

 

[Colin_T]

It doesn't say F-1 or wild caught on the website so you can assume they are captive bred and been in captivity for several generations. You would have to contact Aquarium Glaser in Germany to find out how many generations they have been in captivity. Fish that have been captive bred for 3 or more generations are generally much easier to keep than wild caught or F-1s.

Contact - Aquarium Glaser GmbH

Please note that we only sell to reliable importers

www.aquariumglaser.de

We got fish from them decades ago and they had some really nice stuff, so the angels should be nice if the importer looks after them.

Yes Manacapura is the area they come from.

-------------------

BTW... the larger Angel in the picture above looks good today... so my assumption about pet store water may have been right???

Not sure what this means, what were your assumptions?

 

[Magnum Man]

@Colin_T ...when you mentioned the mucus, I replied in another thread, that I suspect that the pet store just uses local tap water, which is rock hard, in this area, & alkaline...the 3 "large" angels they had in the tank, when I bought them, I was sure had not been there very long, & probably weren't raised in "rock hard" alkaline water... so I also noted the mucus, & was hoping it was the pet store water, as mine is only at 25 hardness, & my tank is currently at 6.8 Ph...

I was hoping it was a case, I could fix, just by bringing it home to something it was more likely closer to what it was raised in, or came from...

on the Manacapura's Dan's has sold out, & restocked several times, so I assume Glaser, has a large breeding program, or at least a reliable breeder that does

 

[Uberhoust]

Manacapura's

They are commonly sold here in Victoria BC, there must be a supplier for them that is breeding them.