# Angelfish tank-mates



## Sostratos (Feb 12, 2014)

I have a 55g tank that I recently reworked. It's currently heavily planted and decorated with rocks and driftwood, and it holds a single angelfish. I'd like to house a pair of apistogramma in this tank, along with some other South American dwarf species. What are some good examples of cichlids that can peacefully coexist with an angelfish? I've seen several species that interest me, such as laetacara curviceps, krobia xenguensis, and keyholes. Would any of these be safe to keep with an angel and a couple of apistos? I've already got Bolivian rams in another aquarium, and German rams have too much of a reputation for being touchy, so I'm not really looking for either of those. Due to my location, rehoming troublesome fish would be next to impossible so I'll have to get it right the first time.


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## PepsiMax (Apr 4, 2014)

Following this as I'm also looking at Angel tankmates.


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## Cichlid Debby (Mar 21, 2014)

I also have a 55 with 2 angels. I added 3 Festivum and they get along quite nicely. There is also a Keyhole and a Guianacara sp. All was harmony until I added a curvicep.
Had to return him. 
This is just my experience, maybe someone else has had better luck.
I have never had Apistos so I can't say how they might work. But think they would.

To Pepsimax: I have aquarium sand as substrate and they do just fine on it.

Best of luck to you both.


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## oTheBeardedFiish (Oct 29, 2013)

I think all of the fish you have listed, laetacara curviceps, krobia xinguensis, keyhole, apistogramma species, or bolivian rams, would work. Of course i wouldnt do all of them at once. In my 125g I have 6 angelfish, 3 festivum, 2 keyholes, a school of lemon tetras, a school of black neons, a school of cory cats, a school of hatchetfish, and i am planning on adding a group of dwarf cichlids, such as an apisto species or bolivian rams. If i were to shrink my 125 into a 55 i would cut my number of angelfish down to two, eliminate the festivum trio, keep the two keyholes cichlids, narrow it down to two groups of schooling fish with around 7-10 per school, and finally i would include a trio of dwarf cichlid. Just in case that was confusing-
55 gallon
-2 angelfish
-2 of a single species of dwarf acara (keyhole OR laetacara curviceps, etc...)
-trio of dwarf cichlid (apistogramma species (try to go 1m:2f) OR bolivian rams)
-7-10 of a tetra species, try to avoid the nippers such as serpae
-7-10 of another tetra species or maybe some hatchetfish or even some cory cats if you would like
Theoretically i believe this should work but there is always the chance that you run into problems with individual fish personalities.


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## Sostratos (Feb 12, 2014)

Thanks so much for these replies! Your posts have been very helpful. I would love to add another angelfish to my tank, but I hesitate to do anything that could end up harming my current angelfish. He's definitely my favorite out of all my tanks.


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## naegling23 (Jan 4, 2008)

thebeardedfish gives some pretty good stocking advice. Angels are pretty adaptable, so you can keep them in water ranging from soft, acidic, and warm (blue rams) to more neutral (bolivians). They also tend to occupy the upper strata of the tank, so you can keep dwarfs that hang out in the bottom without too much trouble. As per the number of angels...they are actually pretty peaceful fish, their reputation comes when they pair off and start breeding. I think you could add a second angel without a problem, but if you are worried, something like a festum would occupy the same niche as the angel....although, I am more of a proponent of keeping more of the same species than mixing them as you tend to get more interesting interactions.


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## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

Red head Geos would work. Maybe keep a pair with the angel. This guy has 3 angels and a pair of red head geos in a 55 and all seems well.


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## PepsiMax (Apr 4, 2014)

What do you think of this :

75 gallon

-2 angelfish
-trio of bolivian rams
-7-10 of a tetra species, try to avoid the nippers such as serpae
-7-10 of another tetra species 
- bushy-nose pleco (1 ? 2 ? How many ? Are these schooling fish?)
- 6 panda corydoras


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## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

If you cut the trio of bolivians down to a pair, it'd work. The "third wheel" bolivian would always be chased and nipped once the other two paired up. 
Bushynose plecos are not schooling fish. You could happily keep a male and female in a 75 community.
I would add more than 6 corys to a 75. I'd go with at least 10 and probably more. They are happier in large groups. You need a soft, ideally sand substrate for corys.

As far as the angels and bolivians, I'd buy 4 or 5 of each, wait for a pair to form, and sell or trade the remaining fish. Buy them as babies and raise them up yourself. Cheap and effective way to get a pair. You actually make money because adult angelfish are worth more. The same is not generally true of Bolivians (at least where I live. They seem to be the same price at any size...)

Personally though, in a larger tank like a 75, I think a pair of red head geos would make more of a "statement" than a pair of bolivian rams. That's just my opinion though.


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## PepsiMax (Apr 4, 2014)

I might have to rethink the cory's then - I have a gravel bottom, darn. I really enjoy watching them too.

What is another bottom-level fish that would go well with the Angels, tetras and rams ?


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I'm not sure what strata of the tank that they prefer, but I purchased 4 dubawi catfish recently that I really like. Sometimes they are high in the tank playing in the outflow of my canister filter and sometimes they are near the bottom. The dubawi catfish were in a tank of leftovers that were selling for $1 each. They are a great little fish that are active, inoffensive, and stay small. They remind me of iridescent sharks in that they are catfish that are not bottom dwellers. I would add a school of 6.


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## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

PepsiMax said:


> I might have to rethink the cory's then - I have a gravel bottom, darn. I really enjoy watching them too.
> 
> What is another bottom-level fish that would go well with the Angels, tetras and rams ?


You can still get corys with gravel. It has to be very smooth gravel though.

You could swap the corys for loaches if you want, but they also do best on soft bottoms. You could go with a small loach species like dwarf chain, kubotai, burmese, or yo yo. Loaches make an annoying clicking sound when they eat and sometimes when they forage for food at night so I wouldn't put them in a bedroom tank.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

I have 20 dwarf loaches in my 90 that includes a long angelfish. The loaches inadvertently nip the ventral fins of the angel when in a feeding frenzy, so I don't think that they would be a good fit.


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## mambee (Apr 13, 2003)

Correction - debauwi catfish or pareutropius debauwi.


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## PepsiMax (Apr 4, 2014)

pablo111 said:


> PepsiMax said:
> 
> 
> > I might have to rethink the cory's then - I have a gravel bottom, darn. I really enjoy watching them too.
> ...


Or you can re-scape the tank and add a good sized sandy area for the cories you hope to get one day


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## apmorgan93 (Jan 29, 2013)

Right now I've got WC gbrs and emperor tetras in with my 6 silver angels. I've gotten rams from petsmart/petco and and lfs on multiple occations and they all died within 48 hours. For some reason though I've had these wild caught ones for several weeks now without any issue. Picked them up at an auction for roughly $5 a piece. They seem to be a lot hardier than the **** I picked up from the big box shops. And with the emperors, they keep to themselves and dont bother with the angels fin extensions at all.


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## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

apmorgan93 said:


> Right now I've got WC gbrs and emperor tetras in with my 6 silver angels. I've gotten rams from petsmart/petco and and lfs on multiple occations and they all died within 48 hours. For some reason though I've had these wild caught ones for several weeks now without any issue. Picked them up at an auction for roughly $5 a piece. They seem to be a lot hardier than the #%$& I picked up from the big box shops. And with the emperors, they keep to themselves and dont bother with the angels fin extensions at all.


Actually, everyone I've ever heard from who went from captive bred GBR to wild caught said the wild caught fish were many times hardier. Inbreeding seems to just destroy these fish's immune system.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

It's not the inbreeding that weakens their immune systems. In order to raise as many as possible as quickly as possible, they are crowded together, and to prevent disease from taking hold in these conditions, they dose *heavily* with antibiotics. This leaves the fish with no resistance whatsoever to any kind of bacteria. It is also likely that it kills off internal bacteria needed for proper digestion.


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## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

Mr Chromedome said:


> It's not the inbreeding that weakens their immune systems. In order to raise as many as possible as quickly as possible, they are crowded together, and to prevent disease from taking hold in these conditions, they dose *heavily* with antibiotics. This leaves the fish with no resistance whatsoever to any kind of bacteria. It is also likely that it kills off internal bacteria needed for proper digestion.


Are these antibiotics used in other fish? Why are they used with GBRs?


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

They are used with Rams because they are very susceptible to disease when crowded. Antibiotics are also used with Gouramis, particularly the hybrid varieties of the Dwarf. You almost never see females of this species, and when you do, they are usually in terrible shape. Asian breeders have been doing this for some time, and most people don't even notice the difference because they don't remember the days when you could buy a pair of Dwarf Gouramis, take them home, and breed them within a short time.

The more fish you can shove into a tank to grow out, the more money you make. Never mind that they won't live long.


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## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

Mr Chromedome said:


> They are used with Rams because they are very susceptible to disease when crowded. Antibiotics are also used with Gouramis, particularly the hybrid varieties of the Dwarf. You almost never see females of this species, and when you do, they are usually in terrible shape. Asian breeders have been doing this for some time, and most people don't even notice the difference because they don't remember the days when you could buy a pair of Dwarf Gouramis, take them home, and breed them within a short time.
> 
> The more fish you can shove into a tank to grow out, the more money you make. Never mind that they won't live long.


THAT'S why dwarf gouramis always died on me when I first started out. So much sneaky evil stuff going on in the aquarium industry...


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