# Angelfish Tank Stocking



## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

Hi. I'm new here so I don't know if this is the right place to ask stocking questions. I have a 110 gallon tank that will have six Angelfish in it. They are being quarantined right now and are the size of dimes and nickels. I'm just curious about how some of you would stock the tank. I know I want to add a school of cory catfish too.


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## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

Short term, you're good. If they pair off, someone could get killed, but they don't call them angels for nothing... You should be great with a tank that big as they grow.
Look at full-sized angels, and stock with calm fish they can't eat. baby cardinals are out, but big ones will be okay. larger than that would be best. Avoid nervous fish that run around the tank - angels like things chill.


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## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

navigator black said:


> Short term, you're good. If they pair off, someone could get killed, but they don't call them angels for nothing... You should be great with a tank that big as they grow.
> Look at full-sized angels, and stock with calm fish they can't eat. baby cardinals are out, but big ones will be okay. larger than that would be best. Avoid nervous fish that run around the tank - angels like things chill.


Yeah, I've read up on the pairing. If that happens we'll either give the pair away or if I want to increase my work load  get a different tank for the pairs and breed them. I've read some about breeding Angels but just not sure if I want to go down that road quite yet. I also don't know how easy it is to get rid of juvenile Angels since I've never done the breeding and I don't want to end up with a bunch of Angels that I can't handle. 

What are your thoughts on Silver Hatchet Fish and Black Skirt Tetras being with Angels? Those are the two that I'm considering to add to my list right now.


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

Black skirts are notorius fin-nippers. I'd go with a colony of 12 or so Cardinal tets.. Perhaps some lemon tets for color contrast... A 6 pack of pygmy cory's.. one of the lazor colors.. umm.. a few of the small pleco's... 
Your concerned about angels breeding and being overwhelmed?.. I'm rearing about 200 fry.. I'll be able to off-load them at $2.00 each at 2 months.. Mine breed in a community tank, I pull the fry after 2 days of free-swimming.. Load them initially in a 10G.. then up to a 29... Grow-out for a couple of month in a 55.


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## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

williemcd said:


> Black skirts are notorius fin-nippers. I'd go with a colony of 12 or so Cardinal tets.. Perhaps some lemon tets for color contrast... A 6 pack of pygmy cory's.. one of the lazor colors.. umm.. a few of the small pleco's...
> Your concerned about angels breeding and being overwhelmed?.. I'm rearing about 200 fry.. I'll be able to off-load them at $2.00 each at 2 months.. Mine breed in a community tank, I pull the fry after 2 days of free-swimming.. Load them initially in a 10G.. then up to a 29... Grow-out for a couple of month in a 55.


I've seen the lemon tetras. They are pretty but I was curious if they are dyed that color. I've been meaning to research it. I want to stay away from that kind of stuff. 

Oh my gosh! 200 fry! Do you sell them online or are you selling them to your LFS? I'd for sure have to get some more tanks if I did that.  How many Angels pairs do you have?


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

I've got a breeding pair of F1 Silvers.. another F1 Silver tied up with a gold.. and a Platinum Blue Pearlscale paired with a different Gold. 
Currently raising 4 broods.. with about 60 sub-adults.. 50 or so juvies.. and about 100+ freeswimmers of a week or two.. Bill


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## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

williemcd said:


> I've got a breeding pair of F1 Silvers.. another F1 Silver tied up with a gold.. and a Platinum Blue Pearlscale paired with a different Gold.
> Currently raising 4 broods.. with about 60 sub-adults.. 50 or so juvies.. and about 100+ freeswimmers of a week or two.. Bill


Wow! That's amazing. Are your pairs in different tanks? Well, if my Angels decide to pair and we keep them I'll have a ton of questions for you. 

Also, if the Black Skirts are kept in a big group and the Angels are bigger than the Black Skirts...will they still nip at them?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you get Cardinal Tetras, I'd recommend at least 30 for a tank that size. I have 60 in my 125, that also has 4 Angels. When I just had 20, you barely knew they were in there. I'd also plant the tank if not already. Angels will do much better in a planted tank.


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

Nope.. the F1 pair and the F1/Gold pair share a 125 with about 10 other angels. some small tets.. a rainbow shark and a six pack of pygmy cory's... oh .. a few plecos too... Luckily they spawn at the opposite ends of the tank.. The Plat and Gold are sharing a 155 with about 20 other angels.. all three sets are great parents in that they guard the eggs/fry extremely well.. I've learned that I need to keep a light on 7 X 24 when they're parenting else the parents eat the fry / eggs rather than share them with any other tank mates. Bill


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## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> If you get Cardinal Tetras, I'd recommend at least 30 for a tank that size. I have 60 in my 125, that also has 4 Angels. When I just had 20, you barely knew they were in there. I'd also plant the tank if not already. Angels will do much better in a planted tank.


Wow! That is a lot. If I went with 30 Cardinal Tetras, would that leave any room to add more fish species though? Or would I be stocked? I want to have different fish in there with the Angels.


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## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

williemcd said:


> Nope.. the F1 pair and the F1/Gold pair share a 125 with about 10 other angels. some small tets.. a rainbow shark and a six pack of pygmy cory's... oh .. a few plecos too... Luckily they spawn at the opposite ends of the tank.. The Plat and Gold are sharing a 155 with about 20 other angels.. all three sets are great parents in that they guard the eggs/fry extremely well.. I've learned that I need to keep a light on 7 X 24 when they're parenting else the parents eat the fry / eggs rather than share them with any other tank mates. Bill


That's good to know that two pairs can stay in the same tank. Might just have to turn our guestroom into an Angelfish room if they pair.


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

If ya wanna get revenue out of it, it's suggested that ya pull the eggs out as soon as laid. Set up 10G or 5G or even a gallon pickle jar. Add a heater to keep it above 80, add some methane blue (anti-fungal), and an airstone close to the eggs to keep any suspended crud from settling on the eggs. Pick off with tweezers any unfertilized eggs. In about 3 days you'll have wigglers.. about 4-5 days later Free-swimmers... Then ya need to set up a brine shrimp hatchery operation.. A new batch every 12-18 hrs... It sounds like a lot of work, but after a few goes at it, it becomes a piece of cake. This is what I'm doing with my latest batch.. Bill


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

Now.. don't get any notion that I'm an expert by any means.. I'm mostly repeating that which I've been told. And what I've learned over the last 8 months of keeping Angels and trial and error.. LOTSA errors!. Bill


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## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

williemcd said:


> Now.. don't get any notion that I'm an expert by any means.. I'm mostly repeating that which I've been told. And what I've learned over the last 8 months of keeping Angels and trial and error.. LOTSA errors!. Bill


Well, you know more than me.  Thank you for all the information though.


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

Lau.. in 6 months you'll be giving all the advice.. Bill


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## FishFlow (Sep 13, 2011)

I enjoyed that Bill! Thanks! I aspire to have angel babies this summer.

I'm beginning to lean towards red nosed tetras as tank mate. Of which I can't recall their name right now.. Lol. (Rummy Nose!) they get to ~ 3", awesome shoals. 

They cory's work well.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Yeah, Rummy-nose....and they school. One of the few true schoolers in our aquariums today. I have 14 and they form a line and move about the tank. funny to watch.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

LaurenK said:


> Wow! That is a lot. If I went with 30 Cardinal Tetras, would that leave any room to add more fish species though? Or would I be stocked? I want to have different fish in there with the Angels.


You'll be fine with 30. My 125 is heavily planted (my definititon of it), has 4 Angels, 60 Cards, 14 Rummy nose, 15 Blood fins, 13 Cherry Barbs, 10 Emerald Green Cories, 9 Otos.


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## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> You'll be fine with 30. My 125 is heavily planted (my definititon of it), has 4 Angels, 60 Cards, 14 Rummy nose, 15 Blood fins, 13 Cherry Barbs, 10 Emerald Green Cories, 9 Otos.


I love the rummy noses and cherry barbs. I had a LFS employee tell me that if you heavily plant your tank it helps you be able to stock more fish. Is there any truth to this? I tried to research it but came up short.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

LaurenK said:


> I love the rummy noses and cherry barbs. I had a LFS employee tell me that if you heavily plant your tank it helps you be able to stock more fish. Is there any truth to this? I tried to research it but came up short.


In theory yes, you can get away with more. But you still need to do weekly maintenance.


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## LaurenK (Mar 18, 2012)

jrman83 said:


> In theory yes, you can get away with more. But you still need to do weekly maintenance.


Of course, I test my tanks everyday for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to be safe and do water changes weekly or more often if needed. So do you think I could get away with this stocking when the tank is heavily planted:

6 Angelfish
6 Albino Cories
10 Cardinals
10 Cherry Barbs
10 Rummynose tetras
5 Silver Hatchet fish
6 Lemon tetras

I'm horrible at the stocking part probably because it scares me the most.


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