Maybe try feeding twice a day???

[Magnum Man]

I’m having problems with my pet store angel “Mutt”…. He’s been growing like crazy, body as big as a softball, without the fins, pectoral fins are 6 inches long… normally he’s a perfect angel… and doesn’t bother anyone… but, at feeding time he chases everyone into the corners and tries to hoard all the food, of course he can’t, as there are too many Cory’s to control… and I feed heavy enough, that everyone gets plenty to eat, yet he spends more time chasing, than actually eating… he doesn’t seem to bother the apisto’s, or smaller fish but is becoming hard on the Acaras, and Cupid's… it doesn’t really like to eat off the bottom, and most foods I use are slowly sinking… so I have some smaller floating pellets coming, and am going to buy some flake food to try, as he doesn’t seem to be as abusive, when I break up some floating tubeflex cubes… if that doesn’t seem to help, I may try feeding them twice a day… and if that doesn’t work, it may need a new home… it’s the biggest angel I’ve ever seen… I know some get pretty big, I’ve just never been around one bigger…

Thoughts on a fish, that is abusive, to the tank mates, only at feeding times???

 

[TwoTankAmin]

He or she who controls the food controls the tank.

My biggest clown loach is the same. It thinks any food in the tank is hers (maybe his). It eats flakes as soon as they hit the water. It eats sinking foods before they hit the substrate. And anything on the bottom as well. It has never met a food it did not like. I am surprised it doesn't oink.

 

[GaryE]

As @TwoTankAmin says, it's dominance behaviour. It isn't hunger.

Not all Cichlids are as pecking order motivated as angels, and if you remove him to his own tank, there's no guarantee the problem would just shift along. My cupido when I had them didn't get like that. So that might solve the issue.

As Cichlids age and mature, they tend to blow up the communities we put them in. Of all of them, it's been angels that have shown the biggest changes with maturity.

It hasn't been the fish I saw in stores on online that have pushed me to get more tanks. Generally, it's the ones I already had that fed the multiple tank set up. For relatively expensive fish to buy, angels sure can cost you a small fortune.

 

[fishorama]

Is Mutt an only angel? That can impact tank dynamics. Is "he" the biggest cichlid in the tank? Angels look too pretty to be aggressive, but they are cichlids & can be. Acaras are moderately wimpy for cichlids IME, but I never kept them with angels. Cupids are smaller than acaras I think. I haven't kept them, but maybe their name says more than "angels", lol. Maybe faster sinking pellets so Mutt doesn't hog all the food? The fish really only need a couple bites at a feeding. What size are the acaras & cupids? Biggest can be bossiest.

Side note: I don't feed tubifex in any form. I especially dislike freeze dried. My fish seemed to have disease & digestive issues with them a long, long time ago.

 

[Magnum Man]

I picked up a good quality flake food today, a mix of krill flakes, and of spirolina flakes, and fed that 1st and 90% less of feeding time fighting tonight… I’m at least optimistic…

 

[Mazain]

I picked up a good quality flake food today, a mix of krill flakes, and of spirolina flakes, and fed that 1st and 90% less of feeding time fighting tonight… I’m at least optimistic…

You could try using a feeding cone, that helps with my discus and defusing any aggression and giving the others a chance when the bully is tired.

 

[Magnum Man]

I’ve not started feeding twice a day, but have noticed that if the food will stay in suspension longer, the angel is less aggressive at feeding time, the only exception so far, has been with the shrimp cocktails, and maybe that’s just “so good” it doesn’t want to share.. the flake food, and freeze dried tubeflex seemed to help, and I have some floating Cichlid micro pellets coming… hopefully the floating foods will continue to help…