We have a palm size angel fish that is very mean to our other fish. We have added a smaller angel fish and the big one is killing the smaller one. The small one is hiding down under some of the plants in the tank and wont come out. His fins and body are starting to look torn up? What should we do?
2006-09-05 04:56:26 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
Unless you add all the angelfish at the same time you run the risk of the original fish having claimed the tank as his own. They are cichlids and as such, are territorial. The level of the fish in the tank is not its' rank. That is a ridiculous statement.
Cichlids attain rank by being agressive to the other fish in the tank. Usually, unless the other species are similar to the dominant one, he will leave them alone because he does not see them as a threat to taking any females that happen to come into his area away from him. When they are similar in color or striping, he will sometimes attack them too.
The smaller angel will eventually stop eating and die because of the constant harrassment by the larger one. Soon you will find it up in one of the corners of the tank, face in and that is where it will die. It will turn very dark just before it dies.
You should try to take the smaller one back to the fish store and see if you can get store credit for it. Or, you could take the big mean one to the store and see if you could trade him for two smaller ones. You don't want to have only two in the tank, one will always be the dominant one and the other will always eventually die unless they are a compatible male and female. Very seldom will a store refund the money after a certain length of time.
2006-09-05 05:20:37 · answer #1 · answered by 8 In the corner 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When I got into fish I did a lot of study on the types of fish that I could have. I read that you cant have two angel fish in the same tank, especially if one is much larger than the other. If they are the same coloring and shape they definiately wont get along. I think the bigger angelfish will continue to bully the smaller one until the smaller angel fish becomes stressed out and dies or gets infected with some desease because of the stress of continually being harrassed andbullied by the bigge angel fish.. What KIND of angelfish is the bigger one anyway?
2006-09-05 12:50:38 · answer #2 · answered by Patricia H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can't. Angelfish aren't community type fishes. You could get a bigger tank that is tall for more angelfish. The angelfish have a hierarchy based on the level they are in the aquarium. So if an aggressive angelfish sees a fish above it it will attack it to gain rank. Eventually a tank full of angelfish will only have those that know their places / levels in the tank. The others will have died.
The levels are typically created by the fin length. For example if the angelfish is 4 inches from top fin to bottom fin, then he or she would need a little more than 4 inches of water level in the aquarium. That's why you would need a taller tank. If you had a 20 inch tall aquarium you could have 4-5 4 inch angelfish. Remember they grow though and might need more space.
Good luck, these fish are pretty brutal!
2006-09-05 12:06:05 · answer #3 · answered by The One Line Review Guy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to move him to another tank and give him vitamins and maybe some melafex.. Fish are like that. You should only put similar size fish in a tank. Once he grows a little you can put him back. You can buy fish that will grow to different sizes, but they all need to start about the same size. Then even if one grows twice as big, he will usually leave his OG's alone. Fish have a lot more personality than people give them credit for.
2006-09-05 12:09:33 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Angelfish are aggressive and will chomp on most particularly if the others are introduced after it has 'claimed' the entire tank. Try more species more compatible with the angelfish and rearrange the tank to confuse it some prior to introduction. You could also separate it until the other fish 'claim' the newly arranged aquarium or try a larger tank. Sounds like a big angelfish! Good luck.
2006-09-05 12:08:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds familiar! (First, isolate that larger angelfish!) My husband had a PERFECT tank of South American and African cichlids (yes, I know they're not supposed to be able to live in the same environment, but it worked!). Then he introduced an angelfish and the thing killed several other fish!
Do some research and find out which fish are NOT good prey for the angelfish...or just leave them out! They don't seem to attack the African cichlids, like Mbunas, or South American ones like Tiger Barbs, but then you've got the barbs attacking others!
I'll ask my husband what he did (it was a long time ago) and post back.
2006-09-05 12:04:56 · answer #6 · answered by Gwynneth Of Olwen 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only answer is to protect the smaller fish by placing him in another tank, or placing the large fish into an even larger tank, with other fish who are compatible by size and temperment. The fish store can help you with compatibility regarding size and temperment of various fish.
2006-09-05 12:05:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
just dont do it get another tank
2006-09-05 12:31:45 · answer #8 · answered by sunshine girl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋