New Angel Getting Nipped

[brian24]

I recently bought a 75 gallon tank and still have 3 of the fish that came with it and are pretty mature:

I have started adding new fish to the mix and most recently got a Black Lace Angel that is quite small and it appears to be getting its fins nipped. I'm not sure who is doing this or what is best to do about it. I have seen the Gold Gourami being territorial especially at feeding, but have not seen him actually nip any of the fish.

Here are the fish I currently have in my tank. The first three are the mature ones. The rest are new and still real little.

- 1 Angel, 3-4 inches
- 1 Gold Gourami, 3-4 inches
- 1 Lavender Gourami, about 3 inches
- 1 Red-Tailed Shark
- 1 Bristle Nose Pleco
- 2 Bosemani Rainbows
- 2 Paradise Gourami
- 1 Black Lace Angel

None of the others have been nipped that I can tell. Any advice?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[WILDER]

I would issolate the fish and once the fins get better I would rehome the fish, sorry.

 

[Tolak]

Probably the angel that has been in there, they establish territory, and will get aggressive at times towards newcomers. Second guess would be the gouramis.

You could try rearranging the tank to eliminate old territories. Fish will many times key territories off of objects, moving these objects eliminates the old territories.

Remove all the fish to a temporary holding setup, a bucket or 2 works fine. Rearrange the tank, and add the new angel. After around an hour add the remaining fish.

 

[cazs84]

I wouldn't ever recommend keeping gouramis and angels together, I am sure many have had success but I tried it and they were constantly chasing. I think they both want to be the top fish and seeing as they are both quite large species they might look similar to each other - angels are best kept with smaller species that can hold their own.

 

[brian24]

Ok. I took some advice from my LFS to stand across the room very still and just watch them for a little bit and the aggressor would probably show himself. It worked and it turns out to have been one of the Paradise Gourami that was just added. Maybe this was a territorial thing. The larger Angel actually seemed to be trying to protect the new Angel at times.

Anyway, I decided to remove the new Black Lace Angel and return him to the LFS. I am just more interested in the Gourami right now than the angels. He is now in the Hospital and they were kind enough to give me a generous "good guy" fish credit for getting him out of there before he was killed. So far no other fish has shown signs of fin nipping so I'm hoping they will all be happy now.

Thanks for your help!
Brian