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I have a 60 litre tank and i had 5 angels in it I bought a couple of guppies and 3 other small fish that I cant remember their names. Everything was fine until I introduced these then within a week all the new fish died with no aparrent signs of disease then 2 angels died also with no signs, now my other angels seem to be swimming funny, they keep going over on their sides. They still feed fine, which I do every other day as per the pet shops advice. I have tested my water and everything is good apart from maybe the nitrate being a little high at about 40ml/g. anyone any ideas?

Assuming the tank was cycled you probably introduced a protozoan parasite with the guppies. 40 mg is not that high for nitrate and shouldnt threaten the life of the angels, but you should strive wherever possible to keep it a little less than that. Angels are very susceptible to such gastrointestinal and neiurological parasites. Cures include flagyl (metronidazole) or in america jungle labs antiparasite formula is available.

ps unless the angels are merely babies you will require at least a 30- 40 gallon for humane care of adults.

It could also be the addition of all the fish, and the impact on the bio-filter that had developed large amouns or concentrations of ammonia. That would kill most non-hardy fish, and couldve damaged its gills.....

Thats what i think! Where did you get the water tested at? Did you test for ammonia?

If so, then you probably have what LHG diagnosed! Quarantining, i am told, is a good way to prevent fish loss. How long was the tank cycled for?

I am assuming its the addition of all the fish that killed them. I am just assuming, and that shouldnt be too inaccurate, unless im totally wrong....

Other people's responses should decide what happened.....Good luck!

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Hi there,
just so you know your tank is only about 1/3 of the size minimum required to keep 5 angelfish.
Your tank is about 15 gallons, and 5 angels at maturity will need 50 gallons.
Angelfish grow to be up to 8 inches from snout to base of tail and finnage wise up to 14-18 inches tall.
They need a tank minimum 24 inches long by 18 inches tall by 12 inches wide for a single fish or breeding pair.
Your tank unfortunately is much too small for these fish.

Have you tested Ammonia and nitrItes levels as well?
how long has the tank been set up?


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yes angels can get that big. but i know of someone who has a 20g tall and has 2 angels in it and their bodies are still no larger than a quarter and they are well taken care of.

but its possible that they was sick before you got them, or maybe how they were introduced to the tank may have had a shock to them and slowly took them out.

how did you introduce them? did you just scoup them from the bag from the shop into the tank? or did you float them to let the temps adjust and also add some of your water and possibly some stress coat?

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

TBH angels that big are pretty rare , most scalare's stay at around 6-8 inches in height for many years.Mine are in a huge tank but have been around that size with no change for around 6 years, I have 6 of them all sourced from different places, and the water quality is as good as youll get , and the food is plentiful. Ive seen some of the really huge ones, and they certainly have the wow factor, but most peoples dont get anywhere near that maximum size. Most of those are probably wild caught as adults.

All of the Angels I have kept have grown to be that large.

Wild caught specimens are significantly larger than that, a fellow in my aquarium club has Scalares nearly 10 inches in body and 18 inches tall, and Leopoldi and Altums much larger than that.


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Thank you all for your advice. My angels must only be babies as the biggest is an inch long. And I only have 3 now.

I bought a test kit and tested the water myself, the amonia and nitrite is 0, but I have also had it tested at my aquatic dealer and his reading were the same as mine.

My tank has been set up for about 4 months, so I had assumed it had gone though it cycle, is this correct?

When I introduce new fish I do it slowly over about an hour and a half by floating the bag then slowly introducing some of my tank water and I turn the lights out and always add stresszyme.

The tank is only fully cycled when you have the fish in for at least 3 weeks, or have added ammonia or a cycling bacteria product.

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Actually, the tank is only cycled
when you Test the water for ammonia, nitrItes, and nitrAtes and get 0 readings for ammonia and nitrItes and plus readings for nitrAtes.
You cant really guess a tank is cycled by the time its been setup.
My 25g tank took nearly 90 days to cycle. Sometimes it can take a very very long time.

Also, regardless of how big people thing angels get,
15 gallon is way too small. If you dont increase your tank size before these fish reach a certain size they will start to become stunted.
Signs of angels becoming stunted usually include a bending of the bottom pectoral fins (the long flowy ones). If your angels have bent pectorals, the tank they are in is too small.
Stunting causing the fishes body to stop growing while the organs continue to grow. Eventually this can result in diseases, espescially cancers, and kidney/renal failure, and even death.
This is why angels kept in a 20g tank are "still small", they are being stunted.



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Oh, yeah, SVS is right. I just took it as a rule of thumb if it has been done 3 weeks, it is cycled. Maybe its like the 1" per gallon rule?

The height of the angels, will a hex be good? Hexes are tall(ususally). Just not as wide.......

Try getting a hex tank, this might help.

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Hi sam76
I am raiseing angel fish right now but I couldn't have done it with out frank's help on here and others as well. Angel's need there own room they are teratoryal and wont do good in a small tank I started out with a 55 gal and 8 angel's as they grew i new i had to get another tank. Well I am up to 12 tank's now and most of my baby's have grow up and are paired off now haveing there own baby's. But they have there own space 2 pair to a tank there is 2 pair in the 55 with a divider inbetween them. 2 pair in the 40 again with a divider and 1 pair in the 30 gal the rest that aren't yet paired off are in a 53 gal my swordtail and tetras are in a nother 30 gal by them selves. I have a 15 gal grow out tank and 7 2 and half hatching tanks and my hubbys new salt water tank it is a 12 gal aqua pond then we have a 10 gal sick tank. it wont take long for the angels to grow that is why you need a good size tank for them

edith

Sam,

You asked a question on why your fish died. Long Haired Git gave you a very good answer. The one answer that makes sense and that is common when you introduce new fish. When you added the fish you introduced a problem that you may have been able to prevent if you had quarantined the new fish and treated them for parasites.

Although all of us know that is the proper procedure, few of us follow it because:
- we're lazy,
- we don't have a quarantine tank
- we just feel lucky

By the way, the presence of nitrAtes at 40 ppm is a pretty good indicator that your tank is cycled. The fact that your ammonia and your nitrItes are 0 indicates that your bio-filter is just fine. So, you didn't stress the holding capability of your filter and indicators point back to a critter being introduced with your new fish.

Yes, your tank is small for adult angelfish but I'm sure that you will get a bigger glass box as the fish grow. I also know that you will keep the current tank as a quarantine set-up!



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