# Angelfish + Bolivian Ram + Which type of tetra?



## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

I'm currently cycling my 55g tank and would love to have a school of tetra.. I wanted to do the rummynose tetras but I would have to drive an hour or more away to get them bc none of my lfs have them.

My setup I would like to do is:
2 angelfish
2-4 Bolivian Ram (if you know the perfect number let me know)
10-12 Tetras

and maybe 6 months or so try getting a pair of blue rams ( there just beautiful but I really would like my tank to be at its best before I try my attempt at them )

So what I guess I would like is for everyone here to either sway me into driving over an hour to get the rummynose (bc *** read so many times that they're the perfect schooling tetra) or if anyone knows of a better schooling tetra that could work better that are more common that I could find at say a petco or petsmart that would be great as well.


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

xTmDarren said:


> I'm currently cycling my 55g tank and would love to have a school of tetra..
> and maybe 6 months or so try getting a pair of blue rams ( there just beautiful but I really would like my tank to be at its best before I try my attempt at them )


Well, IMHO you should go for the rummys. Mine are great schoolers, and if you want your tank to be at its best, I'd think it worth the drive to get what you want :thumb:


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

I'd go with red or black phantom tetras, since they enjoy the cooler water that bolivians and angels like (76-78F). I'd get a seperate tank for the blue rams and add rummynose to that since both prefer warmer waters.


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## Dizzcat (Aug 26, 2008)

You could do a school of Cardinal tetras. They look like Neon's, but have a lot more red color and get bigger. If you go with them or Neon's, just get them before the Angels to make sure they grow big enough to not be Angel snacks. I had a group of each with 2 Angels. I love my Rummy Noses too. They will let you know if something is off in the tank. If something is they loose the red in their noses.

If you are hoping for Ram spawns, Angels are not a good idea to have in the same tank. They are really good fry hunters! They will even suck fry thru a tank divider or breeders net.


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

Dizzcat said:


> You could do a school of Cardinal tetras. They look like Neon's, but have a lot more red color and get bigger. If you go with them or Neon's, just get them before the Angels to make sure they grow big enough to not be Angel snacks. I had a group of each with 2 Angels. I love my Rummy Noses too. They will let you know if something is off in the tank. If something is they loose the red in their noses.


The part about the rummy nose having there noses change colors if something is going wrong is one of the big parts and reasons I like them. My temp, on my tank for the last week has been around 77-78..

I do like the black phantom tetras- I'll look into those and see if they have those locally- it seems like most of the local fish places only have the neons and cardinals, bleeding hearts, and some Rasboras. The rest seem to be just regular comm. fish like platies and such.

If everyone thinks that 77-78 temp would be ok- I might just end up making the drive and getting around 12 of them.

I do have a question about the bolivians though- Whats a good number to get? I thought about 4. But should i try to get 1 male and 3 females or 2 a peice? I dont want them to be to aggressive toward each other. Which if i get 4 it would probably keep me from getting the blue rams.

anyways I figured I would throw this picture up of my tank. hehe.. I haven't gotten my diftwood or plants or anything yet- and my gf decided that she wanted to make a circle of rocks for them to look at ( I have 4 neon tetra in just swimming around for the past 4 days. When I get the other fish they'll go back into my 10 gallon with the others ).


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

how small are everyones angels??? I wouldn't dare try rummynose with my angels.

id go with something high bodied like the Black Phantoms or Lemons or something.


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

gage said:


> how small are everyones angels??? I wouldn't dare try rummynose with my angels.


Hmmm. Not measuring fins or tail, I'd say the body of one is abt 1.75", the other 2.25". Fins and tail would double/triple that. I'd say maturing juvies. Rummys are supposed to grow to 1.75" Pic of them swimming together is on my "tanks"


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

TeteRouge your angelfish are actually the same kind im looking for. So i guess i now know what they look like with rummynose lol.. anyways what do u think of the Olive Nerites. I thought about those little guys but I wasn't sure. I know those don't spawn 5000 babies a day like other snails but do they do a good job? I know at some point they may lay eggs but everywhere i've read says that they will not hatch in freshwater..

anyways- I love the fish in your tank :thumb:


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

Thanks!  The rummys were a whim because I fell for their antics and behaviour. Whats not to love about a fish that looks like a cross between wc fields and a WWII fighter plane?  I got my Black Neons to "look good" with my Angels (pic of them together below) Both tetras were recommended as compatible w/angels .

Olive Nerites do a great job cleaning the tank and plants (except hair algae). They get a little lazy if you overfeed, and so far I've had no eggs hatch. Thought I did, but they were little hitchhikers that are becoming Angel food. They don't bother the Nerites-too large, and their shell covers even their heads.

Angels w/B Neons:


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

I agre with gage and others on the black phontom tetras. A full grown angel tends to cause tetras that are not high bodies to mysteriously disappear.


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

what about Pristella Tetra? They get around 2 inches and seem to have a thicker body, and from what *** read seem to be good schooling tetras as well in bigger groups..


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Pristella's (also called X-ray Tetras) are excellant and very underrated IMO. The colors on their fins really stand out against a dark background.


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## jonclark96 (Feb 9, 2009)

I currently have a school of diamond tetras in my 75G with angels and rams. There are big enough to ease any fear of being eaten, and fit in really well. They add a bit a flash to the tank.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

I have pristellas, black phantoms and rummynoses between two planted tanks, one of which have very large angels. I've not lost any rummynoses to the angels, and I really do favor them. But they can be delicate, so getting them from a reputable LFS and making sure they've been in their tanks for a while before you take them on an hour-long ride would be really important IMHO. Either of the other two tetra species go well and I've found pristellas particularly hearty.


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

Well today i'm going to take the big drive- I'm going to make sure I look seriously into there rummynoses and make sure they're healthy enough to make the trip. If not then Ill probably just get some pristellas instead at a more local fish store, so the trip wouldn't stress the fish out as much..


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

So? How did the fish(ing) expedtion go? opcorn:


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

They didn't have any rummynose, except for like 20 in an aquarium that they wouldn't sell me bc it was an employees tank  .. and they were wanting 4.99 a each for them when they get them in which I thought was a little pricey. I might just buy some off ebay or online- ebay has them for 50 bucks you get 20 rummynose. Which is more than I want but way cheaper.. Another place I went said they would order them for me but it would be around 7.99 each. :roll:


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

xTmDarren said:


> Another place I went said they would order them for me but it would be around 7.99 each. :roll:


  A tad high IMHO. I've so been there, having something sell out just when I'm ready for it. I think I paid 2.99 each for mine, but they are small. In all honesty, 4.99 isn't _too_ far out of line, they were asking 3.99 last week at the same LFS. Does the ebay price include shipping? Overnight/next day is really the only way to go, and it aint cheap :wink:


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

TeteRouge said:


> xTmDarren said:
> 
> 
> > Another place I went said they would order them for me but it would be around 7.99 each. :roll:
> ...


yeah that included shipping over night.. it is 20 dollars for 20 and like 31 for shipping which overall doesnt come out to- to bad of a price- I might just have to do that even though it in a few more than I wanted 8)


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## daffodils (Mar 10, 2008)

I have 3 angelfish, 1 bolivian ram, and 12 neon tetras (+ 1 dwarf powder blue gourami, and a bristle nose pleco) and they look great together! An added bonus is that they all get along in a 20 gallon high tank! The angelfish are still pretty small, but growing really fast.


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

well my rummynose tetra hunting hasn't went so well. So I decided being I had 6 tetra neons running around in my 55g I would go ahead and buy some angelfish.. and knowing my luck- unlike TeteRouge :x lol. I couldn't find any Koi Angels anywhere either, and after over a week of looking for Koi Angels. I ended up getting these little guys


















I really would have loved to of gotten some Koi Angel fish but for some reason over the past 2 weeks none of my LFS have had them- and when I seen these two I really liked them- I tried to get some decent shots but it was really hard- Right now they're trying to get use to the tank and every time I get close there stripes and orange on the head and top fins goes away. Which you can kind of see it in the pictures. Plus I really wanted two angels that matched each other, and these two you can barely tell apart.

anyways I hope you enjoy my two small pictures, and as you can see I added some live plants to my tank  with more to come and some diftwood.


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

Beautiful Angels! They look like half black veiltails? Sweet! :thumb: I like the look of the tank, too. =D> 
I'm afraid the neon's days may be numbered once your angels grow-neons are one of the smaller tetras. One of my first aquarium memories was Moms neons being eaten by her angel  Keep looking for rummys or cardinals, in time something will show up.


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

Great News!

I found some rummy nose tetras! A LFS actually like 5 mins from my house had 15 of them so I got them all, and they only happen to be $1.75 each!

anyways here's a couple pics. I put them in my 10 gallon tank for now with 2 platies and 2 guppies until I can get the cycle completed on my 55G.


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

Nice healthy looking rummys! :thumb: Have they colored up well? Love watching mine shoal up and swim in the current from the filter! Congrats on the find


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## xTmDarren (Apr 27, 2009)

TeteRouge said:


> Nice healthy looking rummys! :thumb: Have they colored up well? Love watching mine shoal up and swim in the current from the filter! Congrats on the find


Probably two days after I had gotten them home- one of them passed away. But truthfully I could tell one was sick before I even paid for them. So I figured it would be a fighting chance for the little guy. So I went ahead and got him. I also had another one pass away around two weeks after getting them. This time it was the smallest of the bunch. I was worried about him sense I had gotten him. One day when I had gotten home from work he was on the filter and half eatten it seemed.. maybe my two snails I picked up a few days before then snacked on him after he passed away. I figured I would try some Mystery snails to see if I like snails or not- I'm just not into my Rubbernose pleco I have in another tank, and to my surprise I actually love these little snail guys! Anyways to make a long story short I found a site I can get 10 Nerite Snails for under 20 bucks shipped.. So I plan on getting some of those soon.


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## Shaina (Jul 21, 2009)

Well if you change your mind about the rummynoses or decide to get a second school of a different fish, I have Rosy Tetras (_Hyphessobrycon rosaceus_) in with my adult Angel (who is very aggressive even for an Angel), and they do great. They are small but fairly high-bodies so not a great snacking shape, and with the "threat" of the the Angel they school. I think they are often overlooked but in a well-designed home tank they color up beautifully.


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## gage (Feb 7, 2007)

geez... I could just imagine what my 5" angels would do to a poor little rummynose LOL


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## TeteRouge (Feb 15, 2009)

xTmDarren said:


> Probably two days after I had gotten them home- one of them passed away..... I also had another one pass away around two weeks after getting them..... Anyways to make a long story short I found a site I can get 10 Nerite Snails for under 20 bucks shipped.. So I plan on getting some of those soon.


Sorry to hear about the 2 rummys, I lost my smallest a week after getting them as well. It happens. The rest are doing great, and getting along very nicely with my Angel pair. Guess it just depends on conditions and temperament and all that. They've been together for about 2 1/2 months. I don't know how you measure angels :lol: , but one's body is just under 3" tall, the others body is about 2" tall, add fins and its 6" and 5". .

You'll enjoy the nerites. Did you see these posts?

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=187664&highlight=
http://www.capitalcichlids.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3854

Have any new photos?


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