# SOS! HELP! angelfish attacks another angefish



## broujos

i have an algae eater, a lepopard pleco , a black ghost knife fish and i just added another angelish... the old angelfish is attacking the new!!! what is happening? i thought that angelfises are peacfull !!  i hiope it wont kill it!!! help me.. what should i do!!!!??? thanks


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## ladayen

Well.. it could be anumber of things. It could just be telling the new guy whos boss.. this will stop in a couple of days if this is the case. It could be attempting to mate.. likely it will wind up killing it if this is the case as the new "female" would be too stressed. You tank is too small and your old one doesn't want company. 

How big is your tank? nm just looked at aquarium log.. 50g. The knife fish is too big for that tank. It is basically leaving no room for any new fish.

What is your algae eater? Or do you mean the leoperd pleco(how big do these guys get?) is your algae eater?


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## Lynxinater

Angel fish are cichlids... They are not peaceful, they are just less aggressive than other ones. They love to pick at each other.


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## Byron

But the bottom line is, the new (subordinate) angelfish will most likely be dead fairly soon.

If you read our profile of this fish--click the name, Scalare Angelfish--it mentions that they should be established in a small group at the same time, and new fish should not be subsequently added, for the very reason you have mentioned.


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## broujos

thanks guys! the bgk is pretty fine!! my algae eater is yellow (gold), and my leopard pleco is about to be given to a friend.. because there is no enough space here for him!! i have put the new angelfish in a net, because i thought that the old one will get used to it before it kills it!! thanks.. !! if i add another angelfish the old one will attack both?


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## Byron

broujos said:


> thanks guys! the bgk is pretty fine!! my algae eater is yellow (gold), and my leopard pleco is about to be given to a friend.. because there is no enough space here for him!! i have put the new angelfish in a net, because i thought that the old one will get used to it before it kills it!! thanks.. !! if i add another angelfish the old one will attack both?


This is unpredictable. Like humans, each fish is a bit different in temperament. All we know is what is likely. A male angelfish, like most cichlids, regards the aquarium as "his" space. If a group of say 5 angels are introduced together, they _usually_ establish a pecking order, with the dominant male and the subordinates. Sometimes the "dominant" will tolerate the others, occassionally he will not, as a couple of other members here have noticed. 

When a single angelfish is placed in an aquarium, and it is a male, he usually establishes the aquarium as his territory. If other angelfish are subsequently introduced, he may or may not tolerate them. Females are usually tolerated, but again not always. Males also may or may not be, usually not, because the dominant sees the other as intruders into his own space.

Sometimes the aggression is just bullying, like pushing and shoving; sometimes it is very physical. The subordinate fish may be killed outright, or it may be frightened and highly stressed. The latter usually leads to death sooner or later.

In the wild the fish are able to simply leave the area of the dominant fish. That opportunity is not available in any aquarium unless it is huge, as the closed system means the fish are all sending out chemical signals and recognize each other.


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## ScarlettAngel

Not sure if it's possible for you but I had a similar problem and I took the bully out of his territory and put him in my other tank for a couple of days, then rearranged the decor put him back in and it sorted the aggression out. But of course this is only possible if you have a second suitable tank!!!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## broujos

byron thanks for infromation really much!!!

scarletangel.. i did something like this... and now they just pecking each other... i think that the problem has gone... ) thanks!!


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