180 litre tank + angelfish + what else?!?

Question

Brand new aquarist here....
I've had my 180 litre tank running for nearly 2 wks now. It has 6 real tall grass like plants, 2 big rocks with hidey holes and a big plastic plant & I feel about ready to go and choose the fish now!

I really, really have my heart set on Angelfish...I know all about them and their temperament etc. etc. but my mind is set...so how does the following sound?

4 Angelfish
3 Clown loaches
1 plec
2 Sailfin mollies
2 parrot fish
2 elephant fish
8 cardinal tetras (I was told as long as they're in a shoal and the Angels are babies when I get them they should be fine!)

Obviously I won't introduce them all at the same time but I want a nice community tank with a bit of colour and interest!

Any suggestions will be much appreciated thanks!

Answer 1

Your tank is too new for angels. start out with smaller fishes until your tank has cycled completely. some tanks take a long time. be patient. Angels are "finicky" and cannot acclimate to bad water conditions (not that you have them..they like tanks that are settled ) kinda like building a house .. you don't move in until the walls and floor are finished. Angels like "old tanks" not "fresh" ones. You can start building your "home" the mollies and loaches should be ok to add now. I would add a few more mollies than just the two. Wait a week or two then add some more. Leave the angels for last and remodel when you add new fish. this way they are distracted and won't noticed the new fish as much/ kinda evens the playing field so to speak

Answer 2

2 weeks is not a long time so whatever you do DON'T put that lot in a new tank straight away, put a few in and give the tank time to settle down before adding more. If you load the tank too much straight away you might well have costly problems. The tank could do with a few more plants as well, Amazon Swords or something like that-real not plastic-to help the tank settle down.

Angelfish can be a bit temperamental and aggressive particularly towards each other so it's better to put a few in the tank as you have indicated. They can also grow quite large and if a pair forms they will become very territorial.

The Cardinals will be fine with them if they remain small but they can grow quite quickly and eight Cardinals won't make much of a shoal-I've got 20 or 30 in my tank at the moment and they only occasionally shoal.

I presume the Parrot Fish you mention are Parrot Cichlids? If so they are not true cichlids but a cross between two other species and they grow large. Do you know where you can get some? I've never seen them on sale.

The Elephant Fish can also grow large and when I've kept them with larger fishes (Cichlids as it happened) they got bullied and eventually killed. One of them actually had its scales eaten from its body while it was still alive.

The Plecostomus won't thrive unless there is algae or something similar in the tank and it won't have developed much in 2 weeks so you might have to add some algae wafers to the tank.

Your tank is a reasonable size but it's not large so I would think you'll get away with putting that lot in your tank if you add them slowly and they don't grow too big. They often grow to fill the space available and only reach full size if they've got the room. But if any of them start to grow the tank is likely to become overcrowded quite quickly. To give you some idea of the problem, some years ago I bought a Plec about 3 inches long. I had to get a fish shop to take it off my hands a month or so ago. It was 14 inches long and 3 inches across the front of its body.

Have you got a good filter? because you're going to need it and not just one of those air lift ones, you will need a decent power filter.

If it were my tank I wouldn't really start by putting any of those species in, I'd start with a few small but active fish like cheap Guppies. Angelfish can get very nervous when they're moved and might not like an empty tank.

From your list I think I'd start with the Clown loaches first, give them a week or so to settle down and then perhaps try the sailfins. Leave them for a week or so and then try the Angels.

And slowly take it from there bear in mind that some fish naturally inhabit very soft acid water (Cardinals for instance) others like harder, more alkaline water and others, like the mollies, often inhabit brackish water..

Good luck. Fish keeping can be an absorbing hobby but it can also be absolutely infuriating-and expensive-at times when fish start dying. I had a complete shoal of Cardinals (about 50 of them) die overnight once without any other fish-including the very similar Neon Tetras-being affected.

Answer 3

As has been mentioned Parrot are a little aggresive so i would leave them out, elephant fish should really be kept in a species tank, they also get fairly pugnacious but generally with there own type. I'd have said sailfin mollies would be out of place, mollies tend to do better with lashings of salt which would not go down so well with your Angels and tetra's.
By tall grass i assume you mean Vallisneria, that planted around the edges so it spreads across the surface would give you a pretty nice setting for keeping Angels. Rather than a plastic plant I would try keeping a large Amazon sword plant as the central focus.

AJ

Answer 4

I don't know anything about Elephant fish or how big they get, but I would worry that the adult sailfin mollies and the parrot fish would definately eat the cardinal tetras.

Answer 5

i would leave out the parrots as well as the elephant's It will take some work to keep baby angels alive anyway, you don't need aggressive fish to start, I'd get the angels a year or so, and introduce two or more parrot babies at the same time, they will commune together and not attack the angels.

Answer 6

Hi, I really love angels too, especially large black velvet ones. But angels and parrots will grow really big and might mistake your cardinals for food. I would try congo tetras, they dont have the blue or red of cardinals but show some really beautiful colour when they flicker under the lighting.

Answer 7

If everything seems to fall in place then I would get only one species of fish at a time. As of now, get the four small angelfish and then get a pleco. Your next fish would then be 3 Clown Loaches and 2 Sailfin Mollies. you decide.

Sounds perfectly cool to me.

Answer 8

Parrots can be pretty aggressive to other fish and they get pretty big id leave them out as well as the elephant.

Your angels will probably still eat your cardinals when they get big, fish dont make friends

Answer 9

Most of your fish are OK I am uncertain of the parrot fish...but take heed.....the elephant fish eats a awful lot of tubifex worms which has to be thoroughly washed,also the trunk fishes produce a electricity current which helps them to navigate in the dark.

Answer 10

ask here http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=20
seriously i dont think two weeks is enough time for you tank to cycle properly what type of heater do you have as you will need to heat to about 27 degrees also have you checked you ph levels amonia nitrates and so such as thats an exspensive list of fish to kill check out the forum and ask some questions i personally have

4 clown loach 15cm
6 clown loach 5cm
5 guppys
20 neon tetras

and they all get on fine neons look amazing. plus i have about 20 plants and 5 rocks all on gravel