# I did it! I sold all my Mbuna so I can get some Angelfish :)



## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I've always been into aquariums since I can remember. But for the past couple of years I've been keeping and breeding African Cichlids (Mbuna). I loved them at first but then I quickly learned that I never saw my fish except on rare occasions, lol. They stay hid ALL THE TIME in my rocks :? Yes, I know mbuna are rock dwelling, but sheesh!!! It became very aggravating, lol. I have some awesome Texas Holey Rock in my 55 gallon tank, but staring at rocks all day just isn't enough to keep me entertained anymore :wink: Sooooooo, today I sold all my Africans to a man who owns a 125 gallon tank. I am now wanting to go back to where my heart really belongs and start over again with Angelfish. I've always loved Angelfish. I've kept them in the past and I love how slow and peaceful they are compared to the psycho fast moving mbuna I just sold. The only fish I didn't sell out of my 55 gallon is my albino bristlenose pleco. I am curious if he will be ok to keep with some Angels? He's a cool little fella and never bothered my other fish so I'm hoping he's an ok tankmate as a cleaner fish. I'm so ready for this change! Angelfish are so beautiful.

-Susan


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## Bamboo (Jan 12, 2011)

CONTGRATS ! Angels are one of my favorites , if you get the chance , go for the wild ones . Next to the altums , wild Peruvian scalares are just awesome . You're pleco will be more than happy in a softer , acidic tank . Post pictures when you get your little guys . :fish:


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

G'day *CutieSusieQ*,

Nice, welcomeb back to the light. :lol:

What have you got in mind for substrate and aquascape?


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

I would consider some Wild Peruvian Scalare Angels. Try Scott at The fish Warehouse in Hickory NC. His store and selection is amazing.

http://local.yahoo.com/info-67663484-th ... se-hickory

GL....Bill


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

MonteSS said:


> I would consider some Wild Peruvian Scalare Angels. Try Scott at The fish Warehouse in Hickory NC.


Thanks so much for the reference. I will definitely check him out.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Bamboo said:


> CONTGRATS ! You're pleco will be more than happy in a softer , acidic tank . Post pictures when you get your little guys . :fish:


Very cool. Thanks


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

DeadFishFloating said:


> What have you got in mind for substrate and aquascape?


I am going to keep my same substrate as I had with my Africans which is crushed sea shells. It's the same size as the aqaurium gravel sold in bags at most pet stores. I had 3 large Texas Holey Rocks in my 55 gallon but I took two of them out last night after I sold them. I am leaving one in there for looks though. I like natural rocks better than the fake ornament stuff sold in stores. Only thing I plan to add to my tank are some plants (fake ones of course). I might change my background too but right now I'm not sure about that yet. The crushed shells and Texas Holey Rock won't make my ph too high, so I'm not concerned with that. I already had trouble keeping my ph high enough for the African Cichlids. So I stopped trying for a high ph and just left it alone so it would remain stable. A stable constant ph is better than one that is always changing. My ph with the 3 Texas Holey Rocks stayed between a 7.4 and 7.6. Now that my tank has only one Texas Holey Rock it may drop a little more. Besides, most angels are bred domestically and not wild caught so they adapt nicely to most water conditions (within reason).


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

MonteSS said:


> I would consider some Wild Peruvian Scalare Angels. Try Scott at The fish Warehouse in Hickory NC. His store and selection is amazing.
> 
> http://local.yahoo.com/info-67663484-th ... se-hickory
> 
> GL....Bill


I just called him and he's closed on Mondays. Bummer, lol. Maybe tomorrow I can get in touch with him  Again, thanks for the info. I didn't want to go to the big franchise stores.


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## DeadFishFloating (Oct 9, 2007)

Personally, if it was me, I would change my substrate to an inert fine sand substrate. Many people use pool filter sand, as it's relatively cheap and clean. Crushed sea shells will still buffer the water to a higher PH. I'm not sure if the Texas holey rock has the same effect.

You could look to add some live, low light plants to your driftwood. I use anubis nana, java fern and java moss quite extensively. I tie these plants on to the driftwood using black cotton. After a couple of months, the plants have firmly rooted to the wood.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I have sand in my other tanks. I'm just not ready to get rid of my crushed shells in my 55 gallon. I spent way too much money and time looking for it to just get rid of it now. One day I may be ready to change over, but for now I'm just sticking with what I got  My ph was 7.4 yesterday when I checked it. I'm not sure but it may lower some more since I took two huge Texas Holey Rocks out. I know they do act as buffers also. That's one reason why I bought them when I was messing with African Cichlids.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I've been doing a lot of thinking today. I may switch the crushed shell substrate over to a natural reddish/brown river gravel. It's really small. Smaller than my crushed shells, but of course larger than sand. I have $400 worth of filters on my tank and I'm afraid of sand ruining the motors just to be honest :?


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## beachtan (Sep 25, 2008)

Have you seen Blue Platinum Angels? They're really pretty. Thats what I've been trying to find... Whats your favorite?


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

beachtan said:


> Have you seen Blue Platinum Angels? They're really pretty. Thats what I've been trying to find... Whats your favorite?


I really like the marbled ones with a lot of black on them. I haven't seen any Blue Platinum Angelsin person yet.


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## Bamboo (Jan 12, 2011)

The veiled marbles , veiled blacks , and a few koi strains out there are pretty HOT but there's something about those wild angels that keep me faithful . :lol:


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I posted this same response in another thread I started, but I wanted to post it here too so I could update you all as well.

Thanks for everyone's responses. Sometimes I really irritate myself, lol. This project was supposed to be easy but it has now became very complicated, lol. I always do this to myself!!

I sold all my African Cichlids last week b/c I got tired of how they always hide in my Texas Holey Rocks. My plan was to buy some Angelfish to replace them and be done with it! But noooooo! I have to care and start researching more about Angelfish and now I have completely changed my tank around. I took out all the crushed shells that I was using for substrate, I removed all the Texas Holey Rock, and I added black sand instead. I also have been hiking and searching for driftwood pieces to add to my tank. But I haven't had much luck in the driftwood area. I found some pieces but I think they are sort of ugly. And now IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m left wondering if I should attempt real plants or fake plants. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m sort of leaning toward fake b/c IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m feeling really overwhelmed right now and real plants would just add to my frustration. IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve never messed with real plants before. Sooooo, my tank still isn't ready yet. This was never supposed to take this long, but since I'm a perfectionist and care, it is! lol

Oh and btw, I still have no clue where I intend to buy my Angelfish. I stopped searching for them when I started rearranging my tank. Auugh!


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## nightowl1350 (Nov 26, 2005)

Your BN will be fine with angels. I kept my breeding angels with my young angels I was growing out.
If you get a breeding pair of angles the BN may try to eat the eggs, but if you don't plan to raise them it will work.


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## Supragsx (Jun 12, 2011)

I am no pro at Angelfish but my two favorit looking ones are the Albino Pearscale and the Black Lace Super Veil. I have never owned them before till about 4 weeks ago. I always thought they looked cool. So I got 4 of the Black Lace Super Veil and have them in with my breeding pair of Jacks in a 55 gal tank. The Jacks get along fine with them(at least the ones I have) and have spawned with the Angelfish in the tank twice now. I wanted the Pearl Scale as well just couldn't find any.

My ph is a little higher for the Jacks but I sit at 7.6-7.8 and the Angels do fine. I hope you find the ones your looking for and everything comes together for you. Your not the only one with the thinking it's a fast easy switch and then taking longer than planed. I just got a 110 gal and did SA in it I hade to spend about a week just to find the fish I wanted. I have re-arranged the tank like 4 times till I got it right. It will come together for you and when it's done you will love it.

Well good and keep us posted.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I FINALLY found an awesome piece of driftwood at the lake the other day. I have cleaned it, sterilized it, and soaked it in my tub for two days now. I just put it into my tank today. Of course I had to screw like 8 massively huge fishing weights to the bottom of it to hold it down inside my tank, lol. Luckily the weights can't be seen. I love love love the driftwood. I still need plants and fish though. But I'm getting there finally


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## Supragsx (Jun 12, 2011)

Nice I wish I could find driftwood pices I like. When I do it's like $100 each never free. lol
Can't wait to see ur tank done any pics you can put up? So we can see the work in process.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Supragsx said:


> Nice I wish I could find driftwood pices I like. When I do it's like $100 each never free. lol
> Can't wait to see ur tank done any pics you can put up? So we can see the work in process.


It's no where near done, but sure I'll post a pic. I still need a background since I decided to change that too, lol. It's pretty empty right now. I'm actually searching online now for plant ideas. I'm just gonna do fake plants for now b/c I don't feel like messing with live ones yet. I'm looking for fake ones that look real though. From what I've learned so far silk is better than plastic as far as "realistic looking" goes. I'm thinking about silk Amazon sword and silk java fern. I just don't know how many or what size to buy. I want different sizes. I'm going to do a solid black background I think (maybe blue, not sure yet).

Here's the work in progress ... The picture is a little dark but in the middle of the driftwood is a hole and my raphael catfish is half way hiding in it, lol.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Silk plants, plastic plants.... oi vay... :lol:

Save your money, buy a live Brazilian Sword to start, they aren't hard to keep. Then decided what to do from there. It isn't that hard, send a msg if you need help.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Fogelhund said:


> Silk plants, plastic plants.... oi vay... :lol:
> 
> Save your money, buy a live Brazilian Sword to start, they aren't hard to keep. Then decided what to do from there. It isn't that hard, send a msg if you need help.


I'll think about it, lol. .. I just added a pic to my above message, btw. That's the driftwood piece I found. I still have a ways to go before I'm ready to really show off my tank. I hope to have a background by tomorrow. I really hate seeing my wall through my tank!


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## Supragsx (Jun 12, 2011)

Looks good. There is some good looking plants with easy to keep alive. I paint the back of my tanks, easier to do when empty but u can buy a 2" roller and pan from Wal Mart and pick any color u want craft paint works good but not cheap. I found a cheap place to get plants here in AZ but the ship all over the world. Here's the site. http://www.azgardens.com


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

I think it looks very nice so far. I would ditch the fake plants and get some small growing grasses to plant in the foreground. It would be very similar to what you have now.

Then, I totally agree that a few amazon swords in the back, maybe all together in a back corner, would be nice. I like your tank so far. Very simple, but very nice.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I have a bristlenose pleco that will eat live plants!! In fact, I think he will eat anything. I used to have a sponge filter that I kept in my tank and he ate it!! He ate half the dang sponge before I realized he was chowing down on it, lol. That's also why I didn't want to buy any drfitwood. I wanted to find it on my own for free, because from what I've read, the pleco will eat the driftwood too. I also have a striped raphael catfish and I'm not sure if he'd eat the plants or not.


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## Supragsx (Jun 12, 2011)

I guess I got lucky with my fish and plants. I have a 110gal with SA cichlids and a 55gal with my breeding pair of Jack Dempsy and they don't touch the live plants so there is no fake plants in the tanks. I found a abandon vineyard here by my house and got some vines for driftwood. So I did find some free stuff. Nice thing is they are whole pieces of the vine like 4' long so it's nice and big. Can't wait to see ur tank done. I am going to do a angelfish tank now only a 20L for now till I find a good deal on a large tank.


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## mlancaster (Jul 24, 2009)

Hi *CutieSusieQ*,

Your tank is looking nice; glad to hear you are giving new world a try.

Regarding a background; of the different types I have tried I liked a black cloth background attached to the top of the tank with Velcro (with sticky backs). I find this background better for reducing glare when taking aquarium photos; less likely to get kinks/airbubbles/watermarks and my HOB filters tear holes in vinyl backgrounds (which they do not do to the cloth.

I personally use fake plants in all my tanks. Some of my favorite plants are these large leafed silk plants from the dollar store. I tie them to filter intake tubes, decorations, and/or driftwood. They are great for disbursing overhead light and hiding equipment.

Just some ideas. Keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks,
Matt


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

mlancaster said:


> Hi *CutieSusieQ*,
> 
> Your tank is looking nice; glad to hear you are giving new world a try.
> 
> ...


I think the cloth background is a genius idea. I have other smaller tanks that I have painted the backgrounds black. It looks good but the paint does peel if you're not careful. And since my 55 gallon is close to the wall and already full of water there's no way I could paint it now anyway without draining it and moving it. I've also done vinyl backgrounds before but eventually air bubbles will start to show through or water will get between the glass and vinyl and it's very difficult to clean without taking the whole background off. The cloth idea sounds wonderful and much easier to deal with. I have some awesome zebra striped cloth I could use too!! haha KIDDING!  Actually I do have some solid black cloth though. I used to use it as a backdrop for my eBay photos.

Thanks for the ideas and tips.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Supragsx said:


> I guess I got lucky with my fish and plants. I have a 110gal with SA cichlids and a 55gal with my breeding pair of Jack Dempsy and they don't touch the live plants so there is no fake plants in the tanks. I found a abandon vineyard here by my house and got some vines for driftwood. So I did find some free stuff. Nice thing is they are whole pieces of the vine like 4' long so it's nice and big. Can't wait to see ur tank done. I am going to do a angelfish tank now only a 20L for now till I find a good deal on a large tank.


I'm still loving the free driftwood piece in my tank and so is my pleco. He has ran the catfish out of the hiding hole and now he hangs out in the hole all day, lol. The catfish now stays under the branch/log.

That's cool you have easy access to the vines for your tanks. Your angels will be happy 

The driftwood has been in my tank now for several days. I guess I need to get my angels finally now, huh.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I did it!! I bought 4 angelfish today!! I didn't get the wild ones though. He only had one wild one and once I saw em all in person I liked the locally bred ones better. The veil fins had me hooked! So I bought two "blue veils" but they aren't really blue. They are silver with some pearly blue spots on them. They are fairly small right now. He said they were about 3 months old... I also bought one called a black zebra lace veil. He's awesome. He's not a solid black but he's close. He's black with darker black stripes on his body and his fins are black with blue dots on them. His gills have a slight bluish tint on them. He's my favorite! Then I got one that is sort of a marbled color, it's silver with black blothes. The last two I mentioned are slightly bigger than the other two. He said they were about 9 months old.. All 4 are considered "veils" b/c they have the long flowing fins instead of the "standard" shorter fins. I am wanting to get at least two more. I'd love to have a Kio one. He had some "pearlscale" angelfish but I wasn't impressed with the wrinkled wavy scales. He also had some "blushing" ones but they were too white and plain looking. So anyways, I finally bought me some angels and I'm already enjoying them way more than I ever enjoyed the Africans Cichlids I used to have. The angels don't run and hide everytime I walk by their tank.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

updated pics?


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Fogelhund said:


> updated pics?


It's still done!! But I'll post some soon.


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Good job on picking what sound like nice Angels.

.....Bill


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I went and bought 4 more angels today! I got two marbled/koi angelfish, a small black veil, and one that I call a leopard print that's really awesome looking in person (but I really don't know what its true name would be).

All my fish are small right now and I took these pics with my cellphone, so the quality isn't the greatest. The pics just don't do my fish justice. :? The two largest fish I have can be seen in the first pic and they aren't full grown yet. The 4 I bought today are probably about the size of a nickel (their body).

Btw, I also bought some live plants


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## MonteSS (Dec 8, 2008)

Very cool. Looks like a fun tank.

...Bill


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## Shea (Jul 9, 2011)

Oh wow, you made some really good choices. Lovely fish and tank!


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Shea said:


> Oh wow, you made some really good choices. Lovely fish and tank!


Well thank you. They are totally cool  They don't seem freaked out at all when I walk by the tank. I'm not used to that, lol. For the past two years I've dealth with my african cichlids running and hiding at the slightest movement. I'm very happy I decided to redo my tank with angels. :thumb:


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

MonteSS said:


> Very cool. Looks like a fun tank.
> 
> ...Bill


I'm loving it so far


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