Angelfish compatibility?

[Bluishkodama]

I am thinking of starting a 29 gallon somewhat planted community, and Angelfish seem like a pretty nifty idea. I've read in some places that they do well in groups and that some people are successful in keeping one by itself. Is it also possible to keep them in male/female pairs like other cichlids? I was thinking to put some tetras or minnows, some corys or otos, maybe rams, and any other relatively small fish. Whatcha think?

And what kind of experience do you guys have with rams? They're so pretty!

 

[f8fan]

Hi bluishkodama,
I am intrigued by angelfish as well. Here is my experience in a community tank.
A couple years ago I bought two angels for my community tank. They inevitably develop a heirarchy and the small one was contantly nipped and shooed away by the larger one, especially at feeding time Eventually due to a bacteria problem, the larger one died and now I have the smaller one remaining, for almost a year. I dont think the poor thing even got a chance to "grow" while with the other angelfish, it was that harrassed. Now, he is beautiful and about the size of my palm. He doesnt bother anyone and he is peaceful and happy and healthy.
This was only my experience. I'm not sure how anyone elses will be. I have considered getting another angel fish and even posted it withing this forum but the feedback I got convinced me not to. He is perfectly happy being a "lone" angel. I have heard that is pretty near darn impossible to tell the sex of angels, your only hope is to see if they pair off or not. Obviosly, mine didnt
I guess the bottom line is they are ok as lone fish. Check out my link to see pics of it. He is a beauty, I love angels.
Good luck!

 

[Bluishkodama]

ah, thanks. Your pics are pretty awesome, heh.

 

[Lotus]

If you get a mated pair, it should be fine. However, when they lay eggs, they tend to get violent towards their tankmates. Rams, cories and otos would work well as tankmates, but smaller tetras tend to become lunch for the angels at some point.

Otherwise, a single angel usually does well.

 

[wayne]

They do well as singles, pairs or big groups. I had a group of 6 for a while and found that when 2 paired off they were wickedly hard on the others. You could likely start with a group of 6, but I would expect to end up with just a pair in there, and the other 4 stuck at the other end.
Also I found mine never ate my tetras , but I got them small and grew them out, plus my cardinal tetras were all pretty large (up to 2 inches).

I never had much luck with rams , but bred 9 different types of apisto, so go figure how hardy I thought they were. I got one spawn form my rams, and most lived less than 3 months

 

[Orion]

100% agree with whats been said.

My own personal accounts:
I kept one for over a year and a half with no other angles. I added two smaller ones and all was fine for several months. Eventualy as the two smaller ones matured, the larger one killed them one by one. If you are going to go for more than one, add them all at the same time, or find ones close to the same size, or bigger than any angel in your tank.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

In a 29, you wouldn't really want more than 1 or 2 angels, and a pair would become very territorial to any other fish when they mated. One angel will do fine by itself, or you can try to get a pair. If you don't get a pair, one fish will become dominant and terrorize the other.

If you get them small, and they are raised with small fish, they should grow up and not see the little fish as food. My angels are fine with little tetras and barbs.

 

[twoluvcats]

I have one in a 29 and he's doing great. I bought a pair, but he killed the other. I would only put 1 in a 29...he was only about the size of a quarter when I got him and he's already getting pretty big, and i think 2 would have been too much.