How do I keep new angels alive??

Question

Angels are one of my favorite fish ever. I would like to keep a school of 5 in my new 120 gallon. I asked a question about it last night because I had 2 small ones in the 120 and 3 in a quarentine 10 gallon tank. The 10 gallon had a reading of ~.15 ammonia when I tested it and everything else checked out perfect in both tanks. In the last 24 hours I have lost 2 in the 10 gallon and 1 in the 120 to the spinning disease I guess. The one in the 120 is still spinning and seems to be trying to get food.

Anyway: I can return the 2 dead ones upstairs still and when I replace them is there a way to help prevent this from happening to them all again. I do have a 3.5'' angel in a 29 gallon that will be going to the 120 when the others are larger and I'm worried if this could happen to that one during the transfer?

Is this usually caused by the stress of a move or by something else? Please help. I love angels and don't like that I have to go through 5 in order to get 1 to survive

I aslo make sure when I buy them that there are no dead ones in the tanks at the store and they all look healthy with tails open. Is there something else to look for that might show a hardier angel?

to add details here: the 2 in the 120, the 3 in the 10 and the one 1 the 29 were all bought at different stores. the 120s were bought 2 weeks ago, the 10s 2 days ago, the 29 a year ago.

Answer 1

Angel fish are a beautiful and graceful fish. They are a semi aggressive, seemingly hardy fish, but actually very sensitive. They are from the Amazon Basin, and tend to grow very rapidly, getting to about 7 inches long. It is best to buy them young (quarter sized) and add them to a tank with other species at the same time. Angels are a family oriented fish, they will pair off, and protect their family from intruders, and often will protect each other. Angels, like a tank with lots of hardy plants, usually around the edges, and a clear center for swimming. The overall temperatures for angels, can vary between 75 and 82 degrees "F" PH of 6.8 to 7.3 Hardness of 6 to 9 DH.

Here are some points recommended for you:

Tank Size:
The minimum size tank for a medium pair of Angelfish is 15 gallons, but should be 25 gallons or larger if you plan on breeding. As you can imagine, a fully grown pair of Angels with 200-300 fry to herd around would be pretty cramped in anything smaller. Another plus to having a larger tank is that there is a better feeling of security in a larger tank and the parents aren't as apt to eat their eggs or young.

Diet:
Angelfish can survive on flake food alone, but they will thrive and be much more apt to breed on a greatly varied diet. Live foods such as Adult Brine Shrimp, Black Worms, Mosquito larvae, finely chopped earthworms and Guppy fry are accepted with enthusiasm and should be included regularly. If live food is not available, frozen packages of Blood Worms (Midge Fly larvae), Brine Shrimp and others are available from your favorite pet supply store and are acceptable substitutions for the live food. There are many dried foods available that will suffice too. Raw beef heart, finely ground, mixed with unflavored gelatin and frozen immediately in small one serving size pieces is a good and economical addition to your Angelfish diet. Be absolutely sure there is no fat in the meat.

Live Plants:
Live plants should be included in all freshwater tanks. Water quality is monitored by live plants as they will look sickly before the fish die, they aid in keeping water clear, hinder growth of algae and add Oxygen to the water. Broadleaf aquatic plants are favorites of Angelfish. Amazon Sword Plants (Echinodorus) are in a genus that embraces more than fifty relatively hardy and adaptable species, most of which are native to the flood plains of South America. They prefer water that is neutral or slightly acid and not too hard making them perfect plants for your Angelfish tank. Vesicularia dubyana (Java Moss), Ceratopteris (Water Sprite) and Microsorium (Polypodium pteropus or Java Fern) are all compatible live aquatic plants.

Answer 2

It sounds like there may have been something wrong with them when you bought them. Did you get all 5 at once? If so, you should keep a close eye on the other fish in the 120 gallon tank to make sure the angels didn't introduce something that will cause problems for all of them. As mentioned in the previous post, angels are delicate and need good water conditions. It sounds like your Q-tank isn't cycled so you will have to do daily water changes to keep the ammonia (and nitrite if any develops) at 0).

You really shouldn't have to buy 5 to get 1 to survive. I bought 4 for my 75 gallon tank in March of 2005 and they are all still doing great (grown from about the size of a quarter to about 3" long, not counting the tail).

I have been lucky with my tanks and been disease free other than a few bouts of constipation so I'm not very knowledgeable on diseases. Visit the forum below and check the Emergency section. There are a lot of friendly knowledgeable people there that will gladly help you with the spinning disease thing. Good luck.

Answer 3

Angelfish are some of the most sensitive semi-aggressive fish i know of. Make sure to have the proper temp. for the little guys as well as PH. Another thing, how many inches of fish per galon do you have. The basic rule of thumb is an inch per gallon. And any time you want to add new fish, try to get one about the sam size as your other fish. If the new one is too small, he might get picked on and even eaten. Make sure when you add your new fish to always float them for a half hour and then open the bag and add some your your tank water to thier bag, and you do this little by little for an additional 15 min or so, and then you net them into your tank. Do not dump the bag out in your tank! During the transfer, the fish is freaking out in the bag and producing allot of ammonia. You dont want that in your tank. Plus i always recommend adding a little bit of cycle to your tank to help turn toxic ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate. And nitrate can be removed through weekly water changes. Remember, angels are very sensitive so only do about a 25% change. So you might have to do water changes more often than normal. And always try to keep all levels consistent, meaning PH, temperature, alkalinity, etc. And yes, always quarantine new fish for about 2 weeks to ensure you dont pass on diseases to your established tank. Hope this helped!

Answer 4

You need to find a new supply of angels. Ask around at small mom and pop stores and try to find locally bred angels if at all possible. Odds are very high that all of the local shops buy from the same retail outlets and that all of the fish come from the same breeders and from the same tanks. Usually you can find at least one small store somewhere in an area that is selling local bred angels and that way you can avoid this disease.

I saw your question last night and hated to hear of the trouble. This disease is the blight of angels and the bane of angel keepers everywhere. You are not alone in your frustration, trust me.

Things to look for in heathy angels: Look for nice full bodies, no unusually thin fish in the tank anywhere. No listless fish in the tank at all or walk away. Ask the store to feed them while you watch. If they don't attack the food in a normal hungry angel way then walk away. Above all, look for locallly bred fish. They are often smaller and younger than distributor fish, but worth it for the typically healthy history.

MM

Answer 5

Angel fishes are very hardy fishes and they donot die easily.However even if you have many filters / donot,you need
to give a chemical called malichite blue.It is an aniti bacterial medicine and also works as antivirus.Your local fish store should tell about the doses and you can buy it there.Donot over feed your fish.

Answer 6

can you get tank readings on all your tanks?
ANY ammonia reading other than 0 = toxic and would kill off new angels who are already stressed out enough from the move.

Answer 7

I dont know! lol i dont keep angle fish i keep other pets!