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walmart fish are actually quite hardy as compared to alot of the other stores I went too. ^_^


I found one place with a name plate for Panda Corys, $2.50 but once they getthem they are gone! thats the way Pandas are around here


I should have some pics up eventually, camra troubles....

Inky

The fish I saw looks like the one next to Tetra Fan's name, only it has higher fins... What kind of fish is that (I wish I noticed that sooner...)

Inky

I am busily planning my 46 gal tank. I am set on at least one angel and a trio of clown loaches in it. Could anyone recomend a colorful tetra school that would be okay with these? I may add more then one angel, since they like to school.

I also saw a very colorful, very small tetra (Surpee or something like that, they had the body shape of a high-fin black tetra only they were quite colorful, almost like an african chilid ) Does anybody know what kind of fish Im talking about? Would a school of them be okay???


Thank you for the help,

Inkling

Inky

Tetra suggestions...Rummynose tetras. They are very colorful, school very nicely, and are great with Angels. I have a school in my 55g and an angel. I also have head and tailights, but they are not very colorful.
Was the ones you saw Serpaes? I wouldn't keep them with an angel because I have heard they are quite nippy and would most likely tear up your angels fins. They are a reddish color.
Cardinals are very pretty and may be ok with a smaller angel. They are a bit larger than neons and if kept with a small angel, would not get eaten.
Black neons are a little bigger than regular neons and would also be ok kept with a small angel.
I think Pristellas and Lemons would also be fine.
Another suggestion, besides tetras, would be Harlequin Rasboras. I am pretty sure they get big enough not to be eaten. They are also nicely colored.
You could have a school or 8 of each of the tetras mentioned or the Harlies in your 46g.
Angels don't really school. They are fine on their own. Males and females usually pair off when given the chance to. If they breed they can become aggressive. Also, two males together may be aggressive towards each other. I only have one angel in my 55g and she is fine alone. It was suggested to me before I got my angel to either get one or three. The reason to get 3 would be for 2 to pair off and then give the other one back to the LFS. I would only suggest one in a 46g though. Others may have more advice/suggestions, but that is my 2 cents. Good luck! I hope to be getting a 48 gallon soon...as soon as I can save up enough money to set it up! :%)
What other fish, besides the CLs, angel, and tetras were you thinking of? Any cories or algae eaters? I agree about the CL's getting too big, but I think that was addressed and debated in another thread.

*Kristin*

My suggestion would be black neons. They got along great with my angel and looked really good. They are bigger than neons or cardinals and would stand out more in a 46g without taking over the tank. Serpaes are definitely known fin nippers and not the best idea with an angel.
I'd also say only 1 angel would be best. If you get a pair they might kill off everything else in the tank while protecting their eggs and if you get 2 males they might kill each other instead.

ok, get one solo angel, make sure you get it from a "community tank" at the store. if its in a tank by itself or only in with other angels, there is a reason, its cause it was raised by itself, or its agressive. remember, angels prey in the wild IS neon tetras,lol. if they grow up with smaller fish they will not view them as food, more as little friends.

dont get more than one angel, two males if docile will most likely not kill eachother, but they will constantly bicker in most cases, expect fin nipping and some wounds.

if you manage to sex them and get a male female pair, expect them to kill the neons and anything else you have in the tank, they are territorial, and for one single angel full grown you need AT LEAST a 29 gallon tall, even my half grown koi angel looks too big for my 29, when he is full size there is no way he will be comfertable.

lemon tetras are fine, if you get a larger angelfish, make sure it isnt nippy or kept by itself, and be sure to buy full grown lemon tetras to further prevent it from viewing the tetras as food.

last but not least, please, unless you plan on a larger tank down the line, or know someone who will take them when they get bigger, dont get the clown loaches.

i would suggest a couple schools of corydoras, some black skirt,black neon, rummynose, or lemon tetras to fill in...you can fit a large school in the tank, also perhaps a bristlenose pleco or another SMALL pleco would add to your tank

I have heard that black skirts can be quite nippy also.

Going along with what Reun said about the angel. It doesn't have to be in a community tank to get it...just needs to have other fish in there. The angel I got was in a tank with about 20 other small angels and a few danios (what were they thinking) and she is fine in my tank. She has some shredded fins but they are growing back nicely. If it is in a community tank, than that is a plus because you know for sure it will be ok in your tank but thats not a requirement.

Definitely go with only one angel. Get it when its small so you will be sure you don't have a problem with tetras. Put the tetras in first also, so the angel will know it has to get along with them.

*Kristin*

Black Skirt/Widows are nippy, as nearly all the Tetra's are.


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Black Skirt/Widows are nippy, as nearly all the Tetra's are

Not that many are as nippy as they are made out to be. The most notorious nippers I would say are Black widows/skirt Tetras, Black Phantoms, Red-Eye Tetras, Serpae Tetras, Silvertip Tetras and perhaps Diamond Tetras. Others are only occasional nippers and shouldn't be a problem.

I recommend either Cardinals, Flame Tetras, Lemon Tetras, Rummynose Tetras, or maybe Glowlight Tetras. All of which should work with the Angelfish. The only ones I would consider worrying about would be the Glowlights as they are a bit on the small side.

You could easily have 10 of any one species of these Tetras in the tank.

Also,

Put the tetras in first also, so the angel will know it has to get along with them.

You don't necessarily have to add the Tetras first, you could add a very small Angelfish first and then add slightly larger tetras (juveniles) later on, or even introduce them at the same time if you want, as long as the Angel is small.

Last edited by Tetra Fan at 24-Dec-2005 15:02

I've never heard of tetras such as neons or cardinals being nippy. I've also kept black neons, congo tetras, and emperor tetras with plenty of long finned fish without them nipping at all. Definitely not all tetras are fin nippers. All the ones I've heard about have been listed in above posts with maybe the exception of the cochu's blue but right now my 3 are in with the congos, threadfin rainbows, and gourami without any nipped fins. Lots of chasing and hyper blue tetras zipping around but no fin loss.

I've also never seen angelfish in a store tank with anything but angels. Usually the stores get in 10-20 at a time and either keep them all together or divide them out by color into individual tanks. So long as the angel is small and isn't kept alone in the store it should have a good chance of getting along with most tetras.

First of all, here are some Tetras I would NOT put in with angel fishes ...

[1] Neons - once the angel grows a bit, the Neons are lunch.
[2] Serpaes - the angel's long fins will be shredded in minutes. Serpaes are vicious.
[3] Red Eye Tetras - again, nippy and bad tempered with long finned fishes.
[4] Buenos Aires Tetras - while they're big enough not to be eaten, again they rough and tumble Characins that don't belong with angels. They're better suited to be dither fish for badass Cichlids such as Convicts and Salvinis!
[5] Black Widows/Black Skirts (these things have LOTS of common names!) - again, likely to take bites out of the angel's fins.
[6] Penguin Tetras/Hockey Stick Tetras - big enough to avoid being lunch, but likely to be nippy with angels.

Tetras I'd consider suitable include:

[1] Lemons - while they're perky and lively, they're not reputed to be nippy, and will stay in a tight shoal once the angel puts on some size.
[2] Rummies - they're quick enough to avoid the angel if the angel gets any strange ideas about varying its diet, and are large enough when fully grown to be safe.
[3] Bleeding Hearts - at 3 inches, they'll be safe. not reputed to be nippy as far as I know.
[4] Ornate Tetras - almost as big as Bleeding Hearts, but coloured more like Rosy Tetras (with some important diagnostic differences). Again not reputed to be nippy.
[5] Rosy Tetras - grow to be the same size as Lemons, have a well-documented peaceful disposition, and are a personal favourite of mine.

I'd hesitate to put Cardinals in there unless you have the space to grow the Cardinals to a decent size. Small ones like the ones I acquired three weeks ago for my Panda Fun Palace™ will end up as lunch. I'd also be wary of sticking Glowlights in there for much the same reason.

Before picking a Tetra to go with your angel, however, ask yourself one important question. Do you have the space?

When I was a teenager, I had angels. Including a breeding pair. My male was awesome to behold - at LEAST 8 inches tall! Your 46 might seem big enough now, but watch this space, as they say ...

At that size, your angel will need some fairly robust companions. Which is why I'd go for Bleeding Hearts - they're big enough never to be in danger of being lunch.


Last edited by Calilasseia at 25-Dec-2005 08:54

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I haven't got any fish in it yet. Thanks for your help veryone and I am sorry for posting so much... the dvise is really helpful! I guess i will go with one small angel....

Inky

Which Red eye tetras are you all talking about? The Africans or the SA? As I have no experience with the SA, but I have never seen nor heard of the Africans ever being nippy. I would not recomend them though, as they would be much to active for that tank.

But you might look at the Congos. 3-4 of them would be nice in that tank.

_____________________________________________________________

There is always a bigger fish...

I keep my Angels and Discus and Gouramis with some 7 beunos aires tetra and 7 red eye tetra. None of them
are nippy with any fish but themselves. They are quite intimidated by the larger fish.


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I'd only put congos in a 4' tank with at least 8 of their own kind. They are quite skittish in small groups and sometimes the males will just spend all their time panicking and smashing into corners if their aren't enough other congo tetras. They've given me some trouble spawning them because of that. Everytime I move a trio to a tank where the eggs and fry won't get eaten they spaz out for weeks because there aren't enough other tetras. I'm trying to find a suitable dither fish that won't be too active for them but will make them feel safer. They also prefer long swimming length so the males can get up to top speed in the morning and evening while displaying for the females and aren't as panicky in larger especially longer tanks.

Yours propably stressed from you removing them from the group. I have spawned both pairs and reverse trios in 40gal breeders and 55gal and did not have a problem. However, they were always kept that way, as pairs and reverse trios.

I have kept them in a 55gal as a group of 5, with angels and they did very well. Neither fish bothered each other at all.

_____________________________________________________________

There is always a bigger fish...

The tetra I saw was close to a firemoth chilid, but was yellow and had high fins like a black skirt. Can anyone ID this fish? And would they be okay with an angel?

Inky

That has to be one humdinger of a description!

A Characin that looks like a Firemouth Cichlid? Apart from the yellow and the tall fins?

OK, let's get this nailed down. When you say 'like a Firemouth Cichlid', do you mean it has a red underside to the mouth? Or that it has a iridescent spangles on its body accompanied by black spots? A little more specificity here would help ID this fish - of course, a photo would be better, but not everyone here has digicams to play with, so I'll let that one slide for now unless you have a digicam, in which case go and shoot the fish!

Now, let's see, tall fins and yellow ... only fish I know that fits that description among the regular Characins is the Lemon Tetra, and I've NEVER seen a Lemon Tetra that looks REMOTELY like a Firemouth Cichlid!

Now it's a long shot, but the only other Characin I know of that is principally yellow is, wait for it, the Yellow Tetra, Hyphessobrycon bifasciatus, the best illustration of which is here at your very own FishProfiles, courtesy of this link:

Profile of Yellow Tetra

Again, a fish that looks nothing like a Firemouth Cichlid - which leads me once again to demand a picture of this fish so that I can see just how you alighted upon the resemblance, because this puzzles me enormously, and will probably puzzle quite a few other people here too including the veterans at the game!


Last edited by Calilasseia at 27-Dec-2005 12:05

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

The fish was brightly colored yellow, with some red and black spots. Almost like this http://badmanstropicalfish.com/cichlid-pictures/firemouth.jpg, almost like this http://home.earthlink.net/~cambi/images/highfinserpa.jpg, except yellow and with larger fins. Thats the closesed I could find when I googled (Those images arnt mine)


Hope that helps!

Inky

Small or large fish?

Only all of a sudden, i'm starting to think in terms of Redhook Metynnis ...

Something akin to this perchance?

There are some spotted species as well ...

Another possibility is a Red Pacu - this is a large disc shaped characoid with red on the underside of the throat, and some spotting on the body. But if the fish you've seen is a Red Pacu, I'd avoid it like the plague because it'll grow to be over two feet long when adult, and that makes it one of the smaller Pacus ...



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

The tanks I moved the congos to were heavily planted with plenty of decorations and they were in there for months with no change in behavior. As a group of 6 in my 55g they spawned constantly and now as a group of 8 in my 90g they also spawn all the time. I did have only 3 males left for nearly 6months due to that illness that mostly killed off my tetras and they never settled in the same even though they weren't moved from their tank until I got more of them. Instead of always being in the open they were always hiding in the plants. Especially around the sword plant which was also their favorite spawning area.

I don't think any schooling tetra should be in a group of less than 6 in the first place except for spawning purposes. They are completely different in behavior when in a group of at least 6-8 and from what I've seen in tetra behavior it is rather cruel to keep them in just a pair or trio for their lifespan.

The fish in Tetra Fan's avatar isn't a Tetra - it's the Butterfly Dwarf Cichlid or Venezuelan Ram, Papiliochromis ramirezi ...

Males of this species develop extra long extensions to the first dorsal rays giving them a kind of 'crest', almost cockatoo like (though not as splendid as that seen on the Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlid, Apistogramma cacatuoides).


Last edited by Calilasseia at 27-Dec-2005 19:53

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I've got 6 red/blue columbian tetras in with my Angels, all good so far... I love the colouring on those tetras - blueish bodies with reddish fins...and look really good under the lights.