# Angelfish tankmates



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Hello! I'm thinking of getting an angelfish for my 55 gallon community tank. I used to have some small fish in my community like neon tetras an zebra danios, so I figured they could have been eaten by an angel fish.
But now I have slightly larger fish and I'm wondering if they would be ok with angelfish.
Current fish in my 55 gallon community:
15 Serpae tetras- the type that are larger than the regular serpae tetra
6 mickey mouse platy
1 dwarf gourami (most recent addition)
4 leopard cories
2 otos
3 amano shrimp

I know I need more cories and otos. I recently had a disease go through my tank and kill about 3/4 of my fish, so I'm in the process of restocking.

Anyway, would an angelfish be ok with those fish? Are they all big enough that they won't get eaten, 
Would it get along with the dwarf gourami? 
Should I get more than one? If so, is 55 gallons large enough?
Also, I'm wanting to get a school of purple passion danio (my pet store hasn't carried them in a while). I'd probably get 15 or so. Would the angel fish be ok with them? They are much larger than zebra danio.

Experience and advice is appreciated!


----------



## FrightyDog (Apr 16, 2013)

OrangeAugust said:


> Anyway, would an angelfish be ok with those fish?
> *These fish are all fine except the Shrimp could be a possible meal for the "Angels". The otos should be fine, but I would take caution and watch your otos to make sure no funny business is happening.*
> Are they all big enough that they won't get eaten?
> *What size angelfish do you plan on getting? How big are your current fish? If you get a baby you should be fine. Again, the shrimp and otos are your biggest concerns. Get a school of cories so they shoal and have plenty of hiding spaces your angelfish can't get into, otherwise I see your shrimp as dinner*
> ...


Those are my opinions. I work at a fish store and am telling you my experience. Some may agree or disagree, just take my advice with a grain of salt.


----------



## Tolak (Nov 13, 2012)

The shrimp will most likely become an angel snack. Keep a pair of needle nose pliers handy for the otos, they may manage to eat them, they may get stuck. The rest should be all good with it, as mentioned, bump up the numbers with the corys.

The worst number of angels you can keep in a tank is 3, you have a 75% chance of having a pair, 87.5% chance of one of them being a male, which can mean aggression issues. With a pair the odd fish out will have a rough time. Standard stocking for angels is 10 gallons per adult, 5 gallons per potential breeder. I don't work in a shop, I breed angels & sell to shops, have for many years. Below is a standard stocking chart for angels, another thing that has been around for many years;

Newly free swimming fry 40 fry per gallon 
Two week old fry 20 fry per gallon 
Month old fry 10 fry per gallon 
Pea size bodies 3 fish per gallon 
Dime size bodies 2 fish per gallon 
Nickel size bodies 1 fish per gallon 
Quarter size bodies 1 fish per 2 gallons 
Silver Dollar size bodies 1 fish per 3 gallons 
Potential breeders 1 fish per 5 gallons 
Show Specimens 1 fish per 10 gallons 
One breeding pair 20 gallon high tank

You could easily get 6-8 in there, wait for a pair, and return the rest to the shop, often making a bit of profit off the now larger angels. You may get a pair, and they may be pretty laid back, claiming only a foot of tank space at one end for territory, and only when spawning.

Angels are cichlids, some pairs are fairly docile, some are obnoxious. Some individual fish are stupidly brutal, sometimes a group with a couple pairs in a 55 will get by just fine. Biggest thing when dealing with any cichlids is having a backup plan, at the very least a divider, perhaps a spare tank ready to roll, and a shop that understands cichlid behavior & returning fish.


----------



## Flint (Oct 22, 2013)

Tolak said:


> The shrimp will most likely become an angel snack. Keep a pair of needle nose pliers handy for the otos, they may manage to eat them, they may get stuck. The rest should be all good with it, as mentioned, bump up the numbers with the corys.
> 
> The worst number of angels you can keep in a tank is 3, you have a 75% chance of having a pair, 87.5% chance of one of them being a male, which can mean aggression issues. With a pair the odd fish out will have a rough time. Standard stocking for angels is 10 gallons per adult, 5 gallons per potential breeder. I don't work in a shop, I breed angels & sell to shops, have for many years. Below is a standard stocking chart for angels, another thing that has been around for many years;
> 
> ...


I don't personally agree with that chart. That says an angel can be kept in a 10 gallon which isn't true.


----------



## Tolak (Nov 13, 2012)

It all depends on size, keep in mind it's a stocking chart. I've kept 200 angels in a 10 gallon, many have, mind you they are a couple weeks old. If you want to quar 10 dime body size angels in a 10 you'll have no problem, and you won't until they approach quarter body size. If you want to quar a single adult in a 10 no problem, though you'd better be looking at a larger tank for that fish in the very near future. The problem with an adult in a 10 gallon had more to do with water depth than tank capacity. A 15h or 20h would be better served for an adult, though I have quared incoming pairs in a 15h just because of it's location in my fishroom. The last pair I had in there spawned, which I wasn't anticipating but hey, sometimes fish do what they want to do.

At 5 gallons per potential breeder I backed off on the 10-11 number for the OP due to the existing stocking, as well as leaving a bit of margin for error, as they seem to be new to working with angels. With experience as well as the proper backup measures in place you can often double that stocking rate. 

If you go back in time breeding pairs were often kept & bred in 10 gallons, tanks had metal frames, and heaters had corks in the top. UGF was all the rage, and air pumps with belts & flywheels were high tech. Science advances, knowledge increases, tanks get mass produces for cheaper then they once were. 

Anything approaching adult really shouldn't be kept in anything smaller than a 20h by your casual fishkeeper, a 29 is a better bet if you want to do the usual substrate plants & deco's, along with some tankmates. I keep pairs in bare 29's, just because that water depth is an important thing, 55's are used for pairing as you can increase the numbers which does spread aggression when pairs form, very much like African cichlid keepers would do.


----------



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Ok, thanks everyone.
Are there different types of angel fish that grow to different adult sizes? I thought they all grew to be the same size as adults.


----------



## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

There are 3 species though one is rarely seen and the other is rare compared to the rare one, IIRC.


----------



## Austin (Feb 1, 2010)

I think they mean typical pet store scalare. In which case, no, it's one species and all have the same max size. Altums are even larger. The other one is practically never seen. However, I have heard (may not be true) that veil angelfish tend to stay smaller (body-wise, and hence mouth) as well as super veil. You may want to get that kind so they'll be more likely to get along with your shrimp and otos. Plus all the extra finnage slows them down a bit; the shrimp will have an easier time running to hide.


----------

