angelfish tankmates

[bbortko]

I'm ordering 4 wild peruvian scalare looking to get a pair to keep in my planted 36g bowfront, the two I pull is what has me thinking. I have a 72x30x25 with 2 sevs, 3 heckelli, a bellycrawler, 3 sd and a melanurus. Some bickering amongst heckellii but nobody bother them and they never bother anybody. The melanurus is over 10" and will occasionally bicker with the sevs and the bellycrawler but nothing serious. The bellycrawler is 10" and in 2 years never harassed anybody. I am also growing out a polleni. Any chance the 2 extra angels will be ignored like the heckellii?

 

[ryansmith83]

Wild angels tend to be more aggressive. I actually have medium-sized domestic angels in my 150 (72x18x30) with adult severums, an 8" A. heckelii, some blue acaras, and large Krobia guianensis. They are doing fine and all their fins are still intact. I don't know how they'd be with polleni or a bellycrawler, though, so you'd have to just try it and see.

One thing I will mention if you've never had wild angels before is that they can be brutal with one another in small groups or in small tanks. I had a group of 10 wild-caught Peruvians that quickly whittled themselves down to 2, and that was in a 150. They constantly bullied and attacked the smallest, weakest angel until it quit eating and died, then another would become the target. I had never experienced anything like that with domestic angels. Mixing them with tankmates might actually be a good idea in that instance -- maybe it will distract them from beating the crap out of each other.

 

[bbortko]

Thanks for the insight, I've never kept wilds before and was actually just looking for dilvers but when i saw these available I figured I'd give it a try. My bellycrawler was 9" when I added the heckelli and even though they occupy the same space I never had an issue I feel confident with that aspect. The polleni is 3" and the first one I've kept, hoping that since they are being grown out together and learn to tolerate one another.

I didn't realize wilds were so much more aggressive, hopefully a pair will behave in the 36.

 

[decoy50]

I underestimated the aggression of wilds too. I tried 5 in a 60gal and it failed in a hurry! I was w/o any larger tanks at the time and had to rehome them. I think it was the lack of width of the 60 than was the biggest problem. Wilds tend to stake out a chunk of territory & won't let any other angels enter it, defending it with their ventrals flared out wide to make themselves look bigger - not alot of territory in a 12in wide planted tank. Good move switching to wilds though, I'll never go back to domestics after keeping wilds.

I tried keeping as especially large angel in a 75 with a severum & it didn't work. Sev would have beaten him to death if I didn't remove him. Some fish just can't resist those long angel fins.