# I adopted some Angels and need help!



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

A coworker of mine passed away a few months ago leaving behind a tank of beautiful large angels. He had no family so another co worker took them in because he had experience keeping passive community tanks. He found himself unable to care for them and now I have them. We had to move them on the fly with very little time to prepare and setup. The tank was absolutely filthy... infact, I am still cleaning it. Its a 55g stocked with 5 large angels, one groumi, one medium to large common pleco, and a "needle nose gar". I plan on re homing the gar next week. So far the fish have gone from a nasty tank with deteriorating driftwood, to a 5 gallon bucket, to a 10 gallon temporary tank for 24 hours and finally back in their original tank with the hideous blue and orange gravel replaced with sand and some nice, smooth river rock. Supprisingly they dont show much signs of stress... with exception of the gar. However I have yet to get them to eat good. They have picked and poked at premium flakes, cichlid pellets, and frozen brine shrimp. What can I do to get them to eat and also make them as comfortable as possible as this tank kicks into a mini... if not full on cycle? These poor guys have been through enough with more to come. What can I do to better their chances of survival? I know regular water changes and all of that good stuff... but for now they just need to eat.


----------



## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

Don't let the tank go through a cycle. You could kill the angels. Get yourself some local biomedia. Find a local fish forum for your city or state, and post asking for used biomedia. Lots of it. Go to your local fish retailer and offer money for used biomedia. Say you need a lot. Stuff your tank and filter full.


----------



## Wis-Waterboy (Jul 18, 2013)

Get a test kit and keep your eye on the water parameters. Angels are sensitive to ammonia and nitrites, if they go up you will need to do water changes to keep them down. 
About not eating. They are not used to their new surroundings yet. When they get comfortable they will eat like little pigs. What you are feeding may not be what they were used to, may take a couple of weeks but they will come around.


----------



## Pseudeotropheus BB (Jan 24, 2013)

Have you tested your water? What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? If not cycled I would grab a biological starter from your LFS such as Seachem Stability or Tetra SafeStart.


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

I do have used biomedia running. It is the same carbon pads that were in the tank before I moved it. I have also added a piece of media from my assorted african tank. The biggest change has been the water and the substrate which is why I am hoping for only a mini cycle. I can tend to that. It has been almost 5 days and they are still not wanting to eat. They will pick at flakes but they are not eating a healthy amount. IM going to take a water sample to my LFS later today and get levels... my testing kit got wet in a water change from my other tank.


----------



## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

Move over more media. Doesn't sound like you've moved enough to support this volume of fish. Also, stop dumping food in. Fish can go a long time without food and are better off producing the minimum possible amount of ammonia while the tank establishes vs eating.


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

No worries. I have only been offering very very small portions of food. I want to keep waste down to a minimum. So you say I souldnt worry about their eating right now and focus more on water quality? I suppose the old saying "When it gets hungry enough it will eat" will hold true. Ill give you all an update on water parameters once i get them here in an hour or so. I am running extra media on my 30g. I will take one of the pads out and add it to my 55.


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

Nitrates and nitrites are at a good level. Ammonia was high. I will be doing bi weekly water changes of about 25% for at least the next month. Ph is about 7. Would it be better to get it down closer to 6?


----------



## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

Don't worry about the pH. 7 is fine. You already have ammonia. That's not good. Do water changes every single day to keep the ammonia below 0.25PPM. Get some Tetra Safestart and dose it as if you had a new tank, also, get more cycled filter media!


----------



## ChuckinMA (Aug 24, 2013)

I'm sure your co-worker would have appreciated that you are giving these fish the care they deserve. Once the water settles down, the Angels will eat. They generally aren't very picky--nothing like Discus or some other fish. Until the tank fully cycles, I'd keep a very close eye on the ammonia/nitrite levels since Angels do need good parameters. I'd suspect that the appetite issue could be related to the ammonia level. BTW, I keep my Angels at about pH 7.5 in a community tank and they do quite well, even laying eggs on a regular basis.


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

Awesome. I will let you all know when the ammonia gets down to a safe level and keep you updated on the tank. Thanks for your help! Funny how life works out. I was starting to consider getting some angels just a week before I got a call asking me to take these. It was such a supprise and fast thing I didn't even have the time to do the research I needed to do. I am thinking about finding a new home for the pleco and I believe I have found a home for the gar. I just don't believe I can take care of the plecos need for bottom food and the gars need for live food. I am already having a hard enough time getting my blood parrot properly fed with his tankmates of assorted africans. It requires getting the africans full on pellets and then coaching them to one side of the tank while I drop in flakes for the parrot. In the mean time, I will be reading threads.


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

Also I was not kidding when I said this tank was nasty... it still is... it seems like no matter how many times I vac the substrate more nasty settles to the bottom.


----------



## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

Angels can be picky eaters. The last pair I had (male in my avatar) eventually got to a point where they would only take Omega One shrimp pellets. Pre-soaked, and cut into quarters. That's all they'd eat. They refused everything else. I don't know how it got to that point, I had them on NLS, but as they aged their tastes became more and more refined.



filthyralph said:


> It requires getting the africans full on pellets and then coaching them to one side of the tank while I drop in flakes for the parrot. In the mean time, I will be reading threads.


Why don't you try target feeding your parrot? Take some food in a syringe and squirt infront of him. It may work, the Africans may just be too quick and get on the food before him. Never know until you try.


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

I never thought of that. Ill give it a try. My system has been working decently though as soon as one african notices its all over. Those boys will eat just because something else is eating.


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

I am managing to keep ammonia down to a safe level and the angels are getting their appitite back. I believe the guy who was going to take the gar and pleco bailed on me. Unless something catostrophic happens everything with this tank will be golden. I am going to poke around the forum a bit so if you guys don't hear from me for a while... well trust me... as soon as I have an issue ill be posting lol.


----------



## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

Filthyralph- Merry Christmas, first of all, second of all, there is no such thing as a "safe level of ammonia". Any amount of ammonia is very dangerous for fish. What do you mean by a safe level? What is the reading you are getting? Have you tried to get your hands on more media? (Friends, forums, LFS, etc) and Tetra Safestart? Please get on that because angels are a lot more sensitive than you might think.


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Using a product like Seachem Prime daily with your water changes will help with your ammonia problem.

If you don't already, get yourself a test kit. The kind with liquid and test tubes. Do you know your current water readings?


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

by safe I mean significantly lower than it was. I understand that no ammonia should be present. Being that it was high it is going to take a little bit to get it all the way down. I have been doing 25% changes twice a week with Stress Coat as the only additive. I had some extra media with established bacteria of my own which I added. I prefer not to use additives unless absolutely nessicary. The only fish stores I have are petco, pet depot, and walmart. None of them will give me used media.


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

I caved and went and picked up a bottle of Nite-out 2. I was going to buy seachem but they did not have any. It contains Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter. The only other additives I have used is Stress Coat and Prime. I decided not to use Prime anymore due to the sulpher smell. Anyway, is nite-out good stuff? Also, I don't have specific water paremeters because I don't have a testing kit. My strips got wet and ruined. I will grab a test kit ASAP.


----------



## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

filthyralph said:


> I caved and went and picked up a bottle of Nite-out 2. I was going to buy seachem but they did not have any. It contains Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter. The only other additives I have used is Stress Coat and Prime. I decided not to use Prime anymore due to the sulpher smell. Anyway, is nite-out good stuff? Also, I don't have specific water paremeters because I don't have a testing kit. My strips got wet and ruined. I will grab a test kit ASAP.


 The sulphur smell in prime is normal. They put it there on purpose to make sure kids won't drink it. :fish:


----------



## filthyralph (Dec 16, 2013)

Current water parimiters Ph: 5.5 (needs to come up), Total alkalinity 120, nitrite 0, nitrate 0, and hardness 75. I do not have a current ammonia reading but I just did my second water change for the week today. I will do another wendsday.


----------



## Dexter. (Oct 23, 2012)

Go with a liquid test kit that has the bottles and test tubes. API kit is the pretty popular one, much better than strips.


----------

