My First Angelfish

[bettaluv]

Hi guys.

Today I bought an Angelfish, not sure what type it is though.

He's really pretty, and I know on Ally555's, five stripes means a zebra strain?

Mine only has three and has a tint of silver on his fins.

Here's a picture

And if anyone could, does anyone know the gender?

 

[Straydum]

its hard to sex them unless they're adults or when they are ready the mate. anyway nice angel it'd be quite a sight when large

 

[bettaluv]

..eh .. what?

The idiot at the petstore told me they don't get any bigger.

 

[shroob]

..eh .. what?

The idiot at the petstore told me they don't get any bigger.

Judging by the picture and the balloon molly(?) for scale yours is a juvenile. They will grow bigger to around 6" but will get alot taller, the tank will need to be 18" depth minimum with 24" being preferable.

As straydum said its not possible to sex angels until they breed, where you can see the breeding tubes.

 

[bettaluv]

When its big enough, can it live in a 20g?


The stock is

eight platy (maybe more when fry grow older)
two mollies
one balloon molly
one jumbo balloon molly
three black skirt tetras (if they nip the angel, i'm seriously going to feed them to my cat.)
one swordtail
three clown loaches
three corydora
five neon tetras

The gourami died this morning

 

[shroob]

When its big enough, can it live in a 20g?


The stock is

eight platy (maybe more when fry grow older)
two mollies
one balloon molly
one jumbo balloon molly
three black skirt tetras (if they nip the angel, i'm seriously going to feed them to my cat.)
one swordtail
three clown loaches
three corydora
five neon tetras

The gourami died this morning

Depending on the dimensions, I would say possible (if its UK gallons) however it would be borderline, without knowing the dimensions I can't say for sure.

Also I think your tank is probably overstocked, I would think about returning some fish like the clown loaches (may take long to grow but they get far too big for a 20 gallon), the neons may also be at risk of being a snack when your angel grows up. You might also have a problem with the molly/platy/sword tail hybridising (sword tails also get large, so you might want to think about rehoming that one as well).

Cory's also do better in groups of 6 or more, so if you do rehome some fish I would add 3 more to make them feel more secure.
Quite alot to think about I know, but it is in the long term interest of the fish.

 

[Straydum]

i wouldn't count on it that the tank height is 18" for a 20g. i think thats about the minimum tank height required for angels quite a collection of fishes you got in there. shroob's right about the stocking list. there has to be fishes going

 

[Tolak]

..eh .. what?

The idiot at the petstore told me they don't get any bigger.

If I were you I wouldn't set foot in that shop again.

You can get by with a 16" deep tank, if you have no substrate. You would have to get rid of about half the stock in your 20 gallon to make it work.

Though clown loachs do grow slowly, they will outgrow that tank. Larger angels will eat neons. I would rehome the tetras, loachs, and mollys, get a couple more corys, then consider adding the angel, as long as you have 16" of water depth.

 

[nosoup4you]

Mollies cannot hybridize with Platies or Swords. Platies and Swords will but nearly all pet shop Swordies have already been hybridized with Platies.

 

[bettaluv]

this is my fathers answer :

"the dimension is 24" by 12" by 18"

and, we have 50g worth of filtration, a full undergravel filter, we change the water every week, and the fish have a lot of room to swim in.

And overtime, we will have more tanks going for the other fish as they grow bigger."

 

[Straydum]

i think many people here, me inclusive would ask you to remove to the undergravel filter. does more bad than good really. you're much better off using other filtration methods

 

[bettaluv]

what does it do that's bad?

its two tubes with an air pump inside of it.

 

[nosoup4you]

It traps a lot of gunk underneath of it (that's how they work) which can eventually lead to water issues.

http/www.bestfish.com/ug.html

 

[Tolak]

The fish have plenty of room to swim in now, just as you had plenty of room to sleep in a crib when you were young.

They will grow bigger, the loachs can get to a foot long, tell dad to look forward to buying a tank in the 75+ gallon range if he wants to keep the loachs. Either that or you will end up with stunted fish that will never reach maximum size or age.

As the angel gets larger, the neons risk getting eaten in such a small environment. The skirts will go after the angel in a small environment. As the angel matures anything with flowing fins, that slightly resembles an angel, will get treated like an angel by a maturing territorial angel. Angels are cichlids, goodbye molly fins.

Under gravel filters are prone to a situation called channeling. A large portion of the substrate ends up with more water resistance than a few smaller portions, greatly reducing the filtration capabilities. The way around this is to do a complete teardown every 6 months. If you leave it for much longer the underneath of the ugf plates houses what amounts to a really nasty mud puddle of a mess.

Best bang for your buck is a 55, tell dad to look into getting one asap. This should get you by for a couple of years until the loachs need more space.

 

[bettaluv]

The fish have plenty of room to swim in now, just as you had plenty of room to sleep in a crib when you were young.

Yes but also like the fact that I slept in a crib when I was little, as I got bigger I got moved into a bed, but that was over the course of 6 months - one year, maybe even more.

Same with the fish. The loaches and the angel as they get bigger will get moved to the 55gal i'll ask my grandma for. The only thing inhabiting her tank right now are a billion guppies and a billion snails, and a bunch of algae.

I'll ask her if I can take it off her hands, right now I need to ask.. er.. beg my mom if we can get it.


I'll try.
And if I don't succeed i'll be pissed off and sad.
But for me, I like to live and learn.