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Ok, reading over the forums, I've read a lot of people saying angels are semi-aggresive. NO!! First off, let me define what I cosider with the agression levels:

Peaceful. These fish will not actively chase other fish, and at most, will give another fish a short chase. Angels would be on the higher end of this, but no farther.

Semi-Aggresive. These fish will not actively chase fish, but will give a good chase to other fish. These may nip fins, attack other fish, but overall, will not directly kill the fish (the fish may die from excessive stress). Many Barbs, Sharks, Paradise, some gouramis.

Aggresive. These fish will actively chase other fish and sometimes kill them. Many cichlids, Piranhas, Buck-Tooth Tetras, etc.

Now this only includes normal, non-breeding behavior. Putting Tiger Barbs in small numbers into a tank will raise their aggresion, or breeding cichlids changes their aggression also.

Also, this ignores the fact that big fish eat little fish. AKA, a guppy will eat fry.

Now obviously, only three levels is not specific enough, however angels would fall into Peaceful in this catigory.

All true, with exceptions, of non-breeding angelfish.

Breeding Angels are a different matter. I had a pair kill a Ram and I had a female Angel kill a male. Granted this is two instances in five years of breeding Angels but Angelfish sometimes kill other fish.

Mike

I agree. Angelfish are quite peaceful fish, with few exceptions. Of course, they do get somewhat territorial when breeding, but the same goes for all cichlids. I've kept angelfish before with a betta, barbs, and cories, and they have never been involved in any altercations. Angelfish are great community fish in almost every case. Usually, they get picked on, not the other way around.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

I agree with this as a generality. However angels are cichlids and have a wide range of behaviors. I currently have THE most peaceful angels that won't even go after my tetras. However, I have had an angel that I'm sure would have killed off everything in the tank had I not taken it back to the lfs. After 5 minutes in the tank he was borderline psychotic with anything that got within 6 inches of him. This wasn't breeding behavior either, as I have yet to get a pair.

Last edited by mattyboombatty at 15-Dec-2004 09:51

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I think breeding angels are very different from angels that are non-breeding. I had a breeding pair in my tank with another pair of angels and they had nipped the other angels' fins to shreds.

I am yet to see some peaceful behaviour out of these two. They now have earned a separate tank.

As far as cichlids I'd call them peaceful. I kept a single angel for a long time. For the most part it didn't bother the other fish, just once in a while would do some chasing to remind the others he was the boss.

When he died I bought two angels for that tank, one was maybe a 1/3 the size of the other. I've never had problems between them or between them and the other fish.

I have an angel in another tank who has always been peaceful. After I'd had it a while I purchased another, again much smaller. It occasionally chases the smaller angel, but again never to the point where I'd label it 'agressive' or feel I had to separate them.

As with most other fish though a lot is going to depend on the individual personality of the fish.


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you dont know how many times i have seen angles NOT recommended because they are "very agressive" and will "chase fish to death"

My dad has had angles for 10 years, and we even bread them, and this never happened to any of them.

I am going to change my opinion here. Today afternoon, my juvenile angels killed my juvenile betta in less than half an hour.

The angels were stalking him from the moment they saw him and the murder was more of a combined effort by the pair.

]]

I think that is because the betta and angels both have long fins. Fin envy seems to be a common cause of fighting and death between fish such as angels, gouramis, bettas, long-finned danios, etc. That is my opinion, anyways.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

so can i put an angel in my neon tetra tank? 35g

No. Peaceful or not, Neons are the natural prey of angels in the wild. Even if you buy tiny angels to go with your big Neons, eventually the angels'll grow up and eat them.

-Molly
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You probably can, if you add a small angel. Usually, if they can't immediately eat the neons, they do not view their small tetra tankmates as food once they have grown. How big are your neon tetras right now? If they are large enough, you shouldn't have any problems.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Neons and angels is risky business IMO.

Agreed. It may seem to work out for a while, but 99 times out of 100 eventually neons are going to start disappearing. Can you raise a tiger with rabbits if the rabbits are big and the tiger starts out as a kitten? Sure, but the first time you go on vacation and he gets peckish ...

-Molly
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I must be one of those 1 out of 100 as my angels have never aten my neons never even showd intrest in my neons
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