my angels are fighting

mcshell

mcshell

Large Fish
#1
Jul 23, 2003
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Vancouver BC Canada
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#1
I've got 3 angel fish, and recently they seem to be fighting!
The smallest one seems to be always trying to find a hiding spot, while the other two are like playing street fighter. They nip each other! I can even see a few scales missing from the smaller fish.
I talked to my lfs, and they say may be they were trying to fight for a mate. They said I should separate the "odd" one (i.e. the smallest one)
But wouldn't that leave the 2 fighting ones in the tank alone?
What do you guys/gals think? Is it okay to leave the angels as is? Shall I do what the lfs ask me to do? Or shall I separate the biggest one instead of the odd one?
 

Managuense

Managuense

Superstar Fish
#2
May 16, 2003
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Springfield, MO
#2
what size tank do you have them in?

if it is a large enough tank you may be able to limit the aggression by adding more tank decorations to break up their line-of-sight.

in a smaller tank with less available territory, you may keep an eye on the ones that are getting picked on to make sure that if it gets too bad you can remove them into a separate tank or possibly make a return if you LFS is nice enough.

how large are they?

if they are still relatively small it is unlikely that they are starting to pair off, but probably just showing typical cichlid bullying behavior related to territory, food, etc.

welcome to the eternal headache of owning cichlids. :)
 

mcshell

mcshell

Large Fish
#3
Jul 23, 2003
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Vancouver BC Canada
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#3
The tank 55gal, and I do have a lot of plants on each side of the tank.
The angels are ~ 2inch in diameter. I got them when they were ~1cm in diameter ... so it's a little difficult for me to give them away after seeing them grow to this size.

I watched them last night, and they seem better now. The biggest one was swimming around in the left side of the tank while the other two were on the right.

I'll keep an eye of them - if they fight again, I may set up a divider in my 10gal tank and put the fighter to jail...
 

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