How big do Angelfish tank mates have to be?

[Colin_T]

About an inch long, a bit over if you include the tail

 

[Byron]

Healthy Bleeding Heart Tetras (species Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma just to be clear, there are two others in the "Bleeding Heart" fold, H. socolofi and H. pyrrhonotus ) should attain 2 inches plus (5-6 cm) according to SF. Mine certainly did. They are in terms of size a good choice with angelfish, but some have reported fin nipping so this comes with a reservation. The number in the shoal will influence this of course, as will the tank size, and the number and temperament of the angelfish.

 

[Fishguy13]

Do flame tetra work?

 

[Colin_T]

no they are too small

 

[Byron]

Do flame tetra work?

That should be OK, a group of 8-9.

 

[Fishguy13]

So is that a yes or a no?? Also just an other question do hockey stick tetrs work? Sorry for all the questions

 

[Colin_T]

Hockey Stick tetras are long and slender and should not be kept with big angelfish.

 

[Fishguy13]

Ok thanks.. Sorry you are probably sick of all my stupid questions

 

[Fishguy13]

Just to clarify flame tetra only work in bigger groups??

 

[Byron]

If the angelfish are small to start with, and the shoaling tetras are in with them from the start, I would consider disk-shaped tetras to be reasonably safe, but not linear species.

Flame Tetra I view as relatively disk-shaped, but they are small and would not be my choice. I would consider the Rosy Tetra, Bentosi Tetra, Ornate Tetra, maybe Bleeding Heart Tetra...these species are very much alike in their purplish/red colour, disk-shape, they are peaceful (the BH the one caution).

The other thing is the tank size...a decent group of angelfish means five or six, preferably more, and if the tank is only a 55g to 90g the angelfish will grow to fill the tank. Substrate fish like cories would be the best addition. A large shoal of one of the foregoing "Rosy" species. None of this is guaranteed, when dealing with angelfish. I have never seen angelfish at their best except in very large tanks by themselves (with cories, OK).

The thing we must keep reminding ourselves of, is that any fish in an aquarium is an artificial setting. In the habitat fish are able to keep away from other fish due to the vast expanse of the habitat.

 

[Colin_T]

I don't think flame tetras should be kept with big angelfish at all, but Byron said they should be ok. The choice is yours but I wouldn't risk it due to the small size of flame tetras.

 

[Fishguy13]

Ok thanks

 

[Byron]

I don't think flame tetras should be kept with big angelfish at all, but Byron said they should be ok. The choice is yours but I wouldn't risk it due to the small size of flame tetras.

I did qualify it subsequently as these would not be my choice either. Sometimes I let down my guard because I get tired of always saying "no."

Reading back through this thread, the tank size is not mentioned. A group of angelfish take up a lot of space...and they are not going to be very tolerant of other fish in "their" space.