New Angel Fish

[FoundMoney]

A week ago Sunday I bought 2 angel fish for my 30 gallon tank 36 x 12 x 18. One is double dark black, the other koi. They both are beautiful fish. I figured I was safe since 18 is the minumum height required. I don't have too many other fish either.

When I first got them home the seemed to aclimate qickly. The next day they were both eating well. However, over the course of the next few days, the koi started getting very aggressive. I found 3 of my rummy nose dead and the double dark is being bullied all the time, so much so that he has to hide in a corner behind some plants under a piece of drift wood. He is still eating and looks fairly healthy although he seems to have a few missing scales, not doubt where he is getting whacked by the koi. I don't know for sure that the koi killed the rummy nose but I had them for quite some time and there are no other fish deaths.

Will the other angel fish ever come around and start defending itself or if I leave them both in the tank will the aggressive one always be dominant and, I imagine, eventually shorten the life of the other? Not sure what to do if they can't get along. My LFS doesn't take back fish after a week.

 

[Tolak]

Take out the aggressive fish, keep it in a temporary setup, a bucket with an air stone in a warmer area will do fine for a few hours. Rearrange the tank decorations, try to make a sort of natural divider with the taller decorations. Let the passive angel settle in, after a few hours add the aggressive angel.

A longer term separation is worth a try if the short term one doesn't work. This requires either a 50% water change daily on the bucket, with a small heater if you don't have a warm enough area, or a small tank. Try again after a few days.

Blacks always show any scrape or mark much more easily than other types, you can net them & give them a couple of scuffs. It looks bad, but is not as bad as it looks, the same scrapes would not even be noticed on other strains.

 

[FoundMoney]

In essence give the bad boy a time out! OK I'll try to set something up.

 

[Tolak]

Angels are cichlids, and can be quite territorial. They key their territories off of objects in the tank. Rearranging the tank destroys old territories, giving the aggressive fish time away lets the passive fish settle in a bit, and perhaps (hopefully) create its own territory in a portion of the tank. The natural divider created by the decorations is a sort of border, they will often choose an area and use the taller decorations to define that area.