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I have a 55 gallon tank. The residents are as follows:

8 silver-tip tetras, 1"-1.5"
1 serpae tetra (I'm either going to buy him some buddies or return him)1.5"
4 golden wonder killifish 2"
1 clown pleco (peckolitia somethingother..) 2"
1 albino dojo loach, 4 inches

In the future, it will be a well-planted tank. Right now, it is in its beginning stages with ludgwigia repens, anubias and a green stem plant I forget the name of (oops). The substrate is laterite and standard gravel mixed, and there are two pieces of driftwood. Strong lighting, standard filtration.

Water quality is good-- 20% water changes 2 days a week (tuesday, friday). Water is soft and acidic.

Would angelfish work in this tank? I'm looking for a centerpiece fish-- something largish but not so big it'll throw off my aquascape, something reflective and eye-catching.

I've never kept angels before, so if it seems dumb to ask, please exucse it How many could I keep? I don't think I'd want more than three. Or perhaps two, incase they paired off.

What do you think? Any other fish suggestions?

Thanks.

Two would be fine but if they are both males ohhhhh boy they will go at it

serpe tetras are fin nippers, and will tear angles apart

EDIT** After having angles for 10 years, the males have never fought at all.

Last edited by victimizati0n at 15-Jan-2005 17:31

I've never had a problem with my angels fighting (other than certain situations which you wont run into with new angels) and never heard conclusive evidence of males fighting with each other.

Also, serpaes do tend to be fin nippers, so I suggest you return your 1.

If you do get two angels, just hope they don't pair off. This is where you problems will come in at.

The angles should be fine if you keep a even # in that tank i would keep 1 or 2. Return the serpea dont bother buying any more and get some neons or cardnals as they looks great with a planted tank.


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Smantzer,

Angels would look great in that tank! My recommendation would be to place 5, 7 or 9 quarter sized, juvenile angels in the tank. They are a social fish in the wild and having more than three will reduce eventual aggression.

If you should have a mated pair out of the group, your tank will be large enough to afford the other fish space to defend or retreat to from the aggression of the pair.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

5 angelfish in a 55 gallon aquarium!! For one, 5 angels in a 55 is a lot! While they are social fish, 5 is just too many in my opinion, at least with other fish in the tank.

Also, if two decide to pair off and breed, you could have problems with them defending their eggs/fry. From what I've seen of angels, they'll just chase things away, and as long as the fish swim off, there is no problem. They tend to just attack anything that wont go away from the brood.

At the store where I work, we have a breeding pair in a 280 gallon aquarium, and they tend to keep a 1.5 foot radias of protection from other fish from the eggs, which is similar to my breeding angels. If angels decide to breed in a 55 gallon, that leaves little room for the other fish to hide. Putting 5 angels in a tank makes it a HIGH probobility for a breeding pair.

Thats just my opinion based on my observations and understandings of angelfish.

Also, in my opinion, 7 or 9 angels are just plain out of the question for a 55 gallon aquarium.

If this were my tank, I would return the serpae tetra and go with one angelfish as your centerpiece. A black veil or koi would look stunning.

As for the aggression of male angels, it depends on the individual males involved. Some males are more aggressive or more timid than others. I have had both situations. I've had males get along great and I've also had males fight nearly to death. In one case the two males were in a 75 USG heavily planted tank. And they beat each other very badly before I could get them separated. They had plenty of space but they just didn't like each other.

Trogdor,

I stand corrected. I was trying to be conservative based on the following stocking recommendation from SimplyAngelfish.com:

Nickel size bodies 1 angelfish per (U.S) gallon
Quarter size bodies 1 angelfish per 2 gallons
Silver dollar size bodies 1 angelfish per 3 gallons
Stock ready to be paired 1 angelfish per 5 gallons
Full grown breeding pair 20 gallon tall

Seems that the people on that forum feel that angelfish are a cichlid and that a good way to keep cichlid aggression to a minimum is to defuse it by providing lots of similar species targets. In addition to minimizing aggression, having a loose school of angels in a tank is spectacular with vertical wood and plants simulating their biotope.


Last edited by Bob Wesolowski at 16-Jan-2005 19:08

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Okay, then. The little serpae tetra will find a home at the LFS. Aggression isn't something I'm inexperienced with-- I'm a huge fan of African cichlids. So, I've been hearing lots of different suggestions on the amount of angels I should have... 1 pair? 2 pairs? More? Just one angel?

EDIT: Also, I think I understand what Bob was trying to get at. I know that having lots of one kind of fish tends to allow them to take their aggression out on each other, rather than the other species. While I would love to do that (have one angelfish of each variety...! ), my space just doesn't allow for it.

Last edited by smantzer at 17-Jan-2005 12:41