URL : http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwangelfaqs.htm
Summary : FAQs on Freshwater Angelfishes

AQs on Freshwater Angelfishes 1

Related Articles: Freshwater Angels, Discus, Juraparoids, Neotropical Cichlids, African Cichlids, Dwarf South American Cichlids, Asian Cichlids, Cichlid Fishes in General, 

Related FAQs: Angels 2, Angelfish Identification, Angelfish Behavior, Angelfish Compatibility, Angelfish Selection, Angelfish Systems, Angelfish Feeding, Angelfish Disease, Angelfish Reproduction, Cichlids of the World, Cichlid Systems, Cichlid Identification, Cichlid Behavior, Cichlid Compatibility, Cichlid Selection, Cichlid Feeding, Cichlid Disease, Cichlid Reproduction,

FW, Angelfish woes/Less than pristine water conditions  9/23/05
My angelfish has been hiding in a log lying down.  Sometimes she is up in the corner above bubble bar.

She got stuck in the lava rock last night due to her being to larger for such a small hole.

I am not sure how long she was stuck because she was like that when I came home after 8 hours. I managed to
get her out but now she is lying down and another fish was nibbling on her fins.

She is a year old.  I have put her in a tank alone now but she still
lies down but will swim around when you pick up the bowl she is in.  We
tested the water the ammonia level is more than 1.0  but less than 2.5
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm . Also if your LFS has a product called “Bio-Spira” I would purchase some. This product contains live bacteria to help out in your cycling process.>
The pH is less than 6.2 the water was yellow.   The Nitrite is 0.05. What do I
Need to do to my water and what will help my angelfish?

  Please help I do not want to lose her or any of my other fish.

In Response to Angelfish Woes
Thanks for replying so quick.

  We are going to do the water changes.

  We had a
Couple months ago did a good cleaning on the tank and had some distress and we did several water changes and seemed fine after that.  The water test was good.

As far as the aggression with the fish that was the first time for that.  I
think it was just because she is ill.

I have read your site about the Bio-Spira and I will get some.  I have an hour drive to the nearest store but I will be doing whatever I need to save my fish.  

I have 17 fish.  Again thank you so much for helping me.  You are a great site for help and do not keep people waiting.

  I will recommend you to others I know when they need help or just
want to read up on things.


Bloated Angelfish  8/30/05
HELP!!!! My angel fish is so filled with gas, he looks like he's  
swallowed a ping-pong ball....what should I do? More antibiotics?

Bloated Angelfish  8/31/05
Thanks for quick response - he's sooooo sick.
By the way, another web site suggests: if one is either trained to  
handle fish or is a veterinarian, one could try putting a small pin  
hole into the bladder to allow the gas to escape....
as a last-ditch effort - he's probably about to die – should I try this?
Anne

Angelfish Going to Heaven  8/16/05
I love this web site! you guys are so helpful!
I'm so confused right now.
I've been doing freshwater aquariums now for about 5
yrs and have never come across what is happening with
my fish tank now.
I have a 125 gallon aquarium, right now i only have 2
blood parrots, 2 angel fish, 1 rainbow shark, and 1
Kribensis. My problem is with the angel fish. I use to
have 4 angel fish. 2 were about silver dollar size,
and I had them a while longer, and the other 2 were
about quarter size and newer. One of the bigger ones
became ill and was floating at the top, not eating. He
died. Then the other big one also came down with the
same symptoms, except we actually saw her cough up
blood and have blood come out of her gills. We knew
which were male and female because they had bred
shortly before. I had my water tested and everything,
and everything was perfect. We did a water change,
added copper safe, and treated with an antibiotic.
None of my other fish were acting strange. Now about a
month later, my smaller angel fish are about silver
dollar size, and one has started doing the exact same
thing as the other two did before they died. And I'm
sure my last one will do it too. They also bred
shortly before becoming ill. The only thing I can see
causing this is that they were a bad batch from the
store. All my other fish were bought from different
stores except for my angel fish, they were all bought
from one store, and they are the only ones with these
symptoms. I'm not sure what I should do. There is no
aggression going on in the tank. I have had blood
parrots and angel fish together for years and they get
along great. It has been about a month or so since my
first angel fish died.
Do you guys have any ideas? or any suggestions for
what i should do? like I said, my water is good, we
did a water change just a few days ago, and added the
dechlorinator, and we have copper safe in there, and
treated it just a few weeks ago with antibiotics.
Thank You So Much!!

FW Angelfish with Swimming Problems 7/19/05
Hi: I hope I didn't miss the answer on your website, but if I did,  
apologies ahead of time.
I have an angel fish - silver striped, freshwater - who has air  
bladder disease. At least I think that's what it is.
He's lying on his side, trying so hard to swim. He eats when he can  
upright himself. I have put him in a hospital tank, away from his  
obnoxious co-specimens - two other angel fish, same species, who were  
picking on him. (If he lives, I will not return him to the big tank.  
He can have the hospital tank and I'll find him new friends.)
Anyway, the main tank is 75 gallons with two filters (the 500 size.)  
I have about 15 fish in there, mostly small tropicals, half dozen  
neon tetras, some penguin tetras, and five plain vanilla tetras -  
pale in color. I also have a so-called Tri-Color shark and one pleco.  
I had a terrible case of free-floating algae - months and months of  
green water – and finally got rid of it about two weeks ago. A day or  
two later, just when I thought things were finally OK, my poor angel  
fish was bobbing around on his side. I am treating him with  
antibiotics (gram-positive Maracyn) and just began treating him with  
a gram-negative medication (Maracyn II.)
Is there anything else you can suggest I do? This fish is the only  
one I've ever owned that actually had a personality - he's trying  
really hard to survive - and I'd like to help him if I can. Anne S.


FW Angelfish Flaking Out 7/16/05
I have one breeding pair of angelfish in a 32G tank with 4 clown loaches and 1 black ghost knife fish. The angels used to spawn quite often but maybe because I failed every time to keep the fry alive so they seems to be gradually slowing down with the spawning now. However, the female would still become full of eggs with a very round belly fairly quickly after the last spawning but she is holding the eggs longer and longer each time and she produces less and less eggs each time too. Sometime she carries her eggs up to 1 month (maybe even longer). I understand that the pair is acting weird probably because It realize that the fry won't survive (due to my failure). But I'm worry if all this egg carrying will cause the female any harm.

Also, even though they are not actually spawning and there's no eggs or fry around, they still chase the other fishes around like crazy. I believe that this is because, in their mind, they are still preparing to spawn, right?

Therefore I'm planning to remove all the other fish to another tank already. But I'm wondering if there is any kind of fish I can put into the same tank with a breeding pair of angels? Since I have heard even with breeding pair of discus or Oscars, they can still have some tankmate. Is my tank not big enough to do that?

Finally, I noticed on the label of the New Life Spectrum flakes it says that although flakes can sustain small fish, it is not good enough for big fish due to low consumption and they suggest pellet food. However, my angels only eat flakes. I just cannot get my angels to eat pellet, and they used to love the frozen food before but now they barely want them too. All they want is flake. How can I make them start eating pellet(s want them to have more varieties)? I have this problem even with my marine tank.

Is there special ways to start fish eating pellet?

What caused the change of taste with my angels? Why did they suddenly stop taking the frozen food?

Will my angels be fine with just flakes?

For you information, The male angel is about 3.5inches long and the female is a bit smaller at about 3 inches. Thanks for being such a great help all the time!


Re: Egg-bound FW Angelfish 7/16/05
Hi again, You said that  "Egg bound females do have problems". So, what might happen to my angel and what can I do to stop it?

Thank you for your help!

Breeding Angelfish
The two angelfish in my 32G tank have been spawning for almost a year. Ever since it start to breed, it's been very nasty toward any other fish, making all the other fish to hide almost all the time (especially the Clown Loaches). My question is, is there any kind of fish I can keep in the same tank of a breeding pair of angels without having any conflict, since I cannot afford to get another separate breeding tank for the angel( I don't have the time to raise the fry anyways), and also, I really want to have them in my main display.

Angelfish Eat Eggs 7/4/05
Hi again, By the way, I actually did try to raise the fry in the first couple times but every time I failed to keep them alive for more than a few days.

Then, I started to do research on the internet to see how to properly raise them. But then I think it was after the third spawning the male started to eat all the eggs right after he fertilized them. And ever since that time he has been eating the eggs every time. What caused the change in the male's behavior?

They used to care take and protect the eggs so well in the first two or three spawning. Are there ways to fix this problem?

Too Hot for Angelfish?
I'm a new fishkeeper's mom - my son, the fishkeeper, is 8 so I'm the
responsible party.  He wants an Angelfish so we bought a 20 gal tank, cycled it, got 3
platys to establish the tank.  It's been about a 6 weeks now.  The problem is
our tank temperature is consistently 82 to 84 F during the day without the
heater on.  I placed the heater at 79 F as the minimum for overnight.  I would
like to stock the tank with another fish or two - but one that prefers the
really warm temperatures.  We'd purchased a Black skirted Tetra but she died
within a few days - I'm concerned that it was too warm for her.  I feel bad when
the little fella's die so please give me the names of several hardy fish that
prefer really warm temperatures.  (I know Angelfish are delicate - I'd like to
operate the tank around the needs of the Angelfish if possible.)  Thanks.  
Cathy for Malcolm

Angelfish Problems
I have a pair of Marble Angle fish. The last set of fry are about 3 months old. We removed them from the parents tank about three weeks ago from our 30 gallon tank. Recently, the female had not been eating, and 2 days ago she was laying upside down on the bottom of the tank. I thought for sure she was dying. The next day she seemed fine. Today we noticed her straight up in the bubbles, kind of acting like she wasn't getting enough air. Then after doing that she went back and laid on the bottom.  Is there anything I can do to help her??

Angels and Clowns
I have a 90 gallon show tank. It is decorated with wood, a single large piece of holey limestone, black gravel and floating plastic bamboo plants...sort of a sparse Zen look. It has clown loaches (2"-4")... they eat out of my hand...and Bushynose Plecos... the Plecos are actually breeding on a routine basis.
The pH is 7.2, temperature is 80 degrees, and ammonia and nitrite are zero. It has been up and running for 18 months. I use two Emperor 400s. I change 10% of the water daily and wash out the filer pads in the process.
I want to add a few angelfish. Are they compatible with the clown loaches? The loaches are pretty active sometimes. Also, would the angelfish help control the pleco population? My LFS gives me $2 each for them...several hundred dollars so far... but it is a hassle to take everything out of the tank to catch them and it disturbs the fish.
>> You should be able to add some angels, but please start with medium sized fish, the activity of the clown loaches at night may bother the small angels. They will, unfortunately, eat some of your baby Bristlenose Plecos. If you want to catch your Bristlenose babies without having to take the tank apart try putting some food (romaine lettuce, tied to an airstone) at night, with a net underneath it. The baby Plecos will enter the net from the top and swim down to eat the lettuce in the stream of bubbles. Use a flashlight to see when Plecos are in your net and lift! Good Luck, Oliver

FW Angelfish Info
Hello first I love the site just thought I would like to say that. And I would like to know more about the angelfish. How difficult are these fish? What do they eat? How big of a tank do they need? And can they exist with other fish? Thanks and please write back.
 

What Won't Go in This FW Tank
Just browsing through the site and it's very helpful but there are some things that I just cant find anywhere on the internet so I would appreciate it very much if you could help me here.

I have a pretty average 50 gallon tank and I'm building a community of smaller tropical fish, so far I have a school of neon tetras, 5 angelfish, a pleco and a male fighter (Betta) and they seem to be gettin on really well. Sometimes the biggest angelfish chases the Betta but only for an inch or 2 then gives up, but he also bullies the smallest angel too so he is probably just a bully. The Betta hasn't shown any signs of aggression to any fish since he has been in my tank, (2 months). So so far its going well, but I want to get some more types of fish to include, like some common fish like barbs, guppies, Knifefish, catfish, etc possibly some rare ones too, could you give me a small list of fish that DEFINITELY will not mix in my aquarium. Thank you very much please reply soon.
 

Angelfish with Acne
There are three pinhead size bumps about 2 MM apart just below the left eye of my fish, He's almost 10 inches from top of fin to bottom (Angel Fish) he doesn't seem to be acting weird but I'm sure they are not supposed to be there. They don't look like Ich more like tiny white teeth coming from the inside of his head if that give you a better image. Please Help John
 

Angelfish Aggression
Thank you, Chuck at WetWebMedia, for your quick response to my urgent question/problem. I have taken your advice to heart, and took the angelfish out of the goldfish tank. I agree that possible aggressive behavior on the part of the angel would eventually be a problem. I do think I saw a new nip or two out of the tail of my shubunkin. His tail is frayed a bit anyway and the other goldfish are CONSTANTLY playing. 
There is no way that I could leave any even POSSIBLE danger to my sweet goldfish. They are just so cute and happy and do seem to enjoy life so much. So, the more docile male angelfish is back in the tank with the fighting female, with a separator between them. They have spent most of the time just staring at each other. She is seen occasionally trying to bite through the separator. She really IS aggressive. 
He, seemingly emboldened by the separator, will approach her and try to nip her through the plastic, too. At first, though, he was pretty crept out to be back so close to her and retreated to his furthest corner. Then he realized he was protected. Poor guy. I have a 10-gallon that I may put him in eventually. BUT I DIDN'T WANT ANOTHER TANK!!!!! The work! The work! The work! I feel like I have devoted every spare minute the past two years to FISH!!! But I love them. I do. And I wouldn't give this hobby up for anything. Sincerely, and thanks again Rebbie.

Angelfish with Goldfish?
I have had two young angelfish in a 20-gallon tank (with plans to upgrade soon to a 29-gal.) for about a month now. They've grown quite a bit. Day before yesterday, the apparent female (belly swollen) began to pick on the apparent male. I found him sort of cowering in the corner, fins torn in several places, so I reluctantly moved him to my 50-gallon tank which houses two goldfish and three Rainbowfish and three Siamese Algae Eaters (I know, but it has worked beautifully for two years now). 
I am not interested at all in breeding the angels, but most of all I don't plan to subject the more docile male to this harassment from the female again. After almost two days, he seems quite happy in my 50-gal. My questions are, 
1) do you think there is a hope of compatibility between the angel and my goldies long term ? So far, they seem to be ignoring each other and things are fine, and also 
2) are angels OK, kept singly, with other fish like rainbows? Thanks for any advice you can give! 

Angelfish Problems
I've been having trouble keeping Freshwater Angelfish. When I am at my LFS they look healthy, but within a matter of a day or two they die. Why is this? I thought these are hardy fish. pH is acidic (slightly) and no trace of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. The temp is 76-78 and it is a 29-gallon tank. The fish are usually 1/2"-2" long. Can you help me? Jahner
 

Angelfish Trouble.. F/W? S/W?
Hi. 
 
I bought an Angelfish almost a week ago and I have kept the conditions excellent in my tank. I have a 50 gallon tank and not too many other fish. I feed my Angelfish as directed from the pet store but suddenly it is having a buoyancy problem and wedging himself behind my filter and I'm not sure how to help it or if I can. I would really like to know if there is anything I can do to help him other then possibly wait a couple days to feed him to see if maybe it was a problem with overfeeding. Thanks, Krissie.
 

Mixing new, established FW angels, Plecos
Mr. Fenner I only have a couple of more questions for now. I was wondering if angelfish living together are going to be ok because I already have two angelfish and I was think of getting two more of the same size, and two of the x-large angelfish (for a total of six angelfish), I was wondering because I've read some articles that tell me that they can be/come a problem with the other angelfish and other fish alike. 

My last question was if adding a pleco to my tank in addition with my angelfish would be OK or if it would be/come a problem. Thank you for your time Mr. Fenner
 

Camallanus Worms - 01/19/2005
I have a large planted freshwater community tank which includes a number of Angelfish (9).  The majority of the Angelfish (but not all) appear to have short red sticks (approximately 1/4 in - 3/8 in) protruding from or near their genitals.  No other symptoms on any other part of the angelfish's bodies or on any other of the fish (German Rams, Bala shark, Corys, etc.).  From looking at books, it appears that the "red sticks" could be the ends of anchor worms but I am puzzled that they do not appear anywhere else on the fish.  What do you think they could be?  

I regularly change the water (every week or two) from 10-33%.  

If anchor worms, what should I use for treatment (formalin??) and should I treat the whole tank or only those fish which display the "red sticks"?  
/out/?http%3A%2F%2Fflguppiesplus%2Esafeshopper%2Ecom%2F26%2Fcat26%2Ehtm%3F519 .  I understand the folks there are greatly customer-service oriented, as well.>
Thank you for the help.

Diane Thompson

Camallanus Worms - II - 01/20/2005
There did used to be guppies in the tank. I had this parasite 2 years ago and perhaps I never got rid of it as I thought. 

What is the treatment for Camallanus worms?
http://flguppiesplus.safeshopper.com/26/cat26.htm?519 .  In fact, they offer a de-worming flake that would probably be effective. You might call them to discuss this product and its ability to combat Camallanus.>
One more question on the Camallanus worms. Since you say they are highly communicable, it would seem one should treat the whole tank??

Diane Thompson
 

Curve on dorsal of freshwater angelfish
I have some dark black juvenile approx 7-8wks old angelfish. There are a combination veil and standard fin. Some of the dorsals on the veils are starting to have a curve .the standard fins are fine. Is this a genetic trait (the parents do not show it) or overcrowding, water condition or lack of some nutrient?

They were raised on brine shrimp and have been eating TetraMin flake and Spirulina the last 10 days. Also there is this reddish brown slime algae looking substance on the glass and sponge filters, What is it and could this possibly cause the problem?  Help
Try  checking the ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. The ammonia and nitrites should be zero. The nitrates should be as low as possible for you developing fish. You remove these factors when you do regular water changes and service the filter often.-Chuck>
Thanks
Heidi

FW Angelfish Lip Tumor?
Writing from Jamaica. I've got a 95 or so gallon home-made tank on my balcony housing some little Oscars, a clown loach, Plecostomus and a collection of native river gobies and Gambusia (sp?) that I'm collection for a guy at UWI. I've inherited a lovely, though heavily inbred, large angelfish from a
neighbor's tank that it had outgrown. It's lips, both top and bottom are covered in a fleshy, pinky-gray tissue (tumor), which seems to make its feeding difficult but otherwise seems all right, though ugly. It sounds like Phillo. (I've forgotten) according to the internet literature, though it did come from a tank that was too small. With the illness, I'd love to have not accepted the fish, but the neighbors
kids wouldn't have taken it so well. They're new to ecology and survival of the fittest. This tumour situation seems very common among angels sold in Jamaica. I think there are only a few breeders, or less. Every shop seems to sell very similar angels. Could you give a better description of what this tumor Phillo. looks like, how it might compare to a tank-side chronic bruise or, as suggested on this
forum a bacterial infection, is it infectious (if Phillo., no) and will it go away or can I surgically excise it/them, and if I do will they grow back? I reckon that these tumors will eventually hinder the animal's feeding enough that it will fade and float.

Angelfish in general
Hello,
My name is Michael Hoefnagel and my family recently bought me an angelfish
for my aquarium as a gift. However I know very little about angle fish thus
and your website was very helpful in answering most of my questions. I do
however seem to have a problem I have a single angle and it seems to just
float at the top of my tank and kind of moves with the current. He has not at
this point eaten anything... Is there something wrong with my fish and if so
is there anything I can do?

Thanks for your help
Michael Hoefnagel

Can a Silver angel and a Black angel breed?

Also, I have a Black Ghost
Knifefish about 4.5" in a 30 gallon tank, How long do I have to wait until I
upgrade? In the Future I am thinking about planning a 55-gallon tank for him.

Jahner

Fat Angel
Hey Bob, I wrote you a while ago regarding my koi angel needing a friend.
Well she got a silver slightly bigger than her, and she keeps nipping' at
him! Is she establishing dominance or are they flirting?
cichlids. As long as there are no fins being ripped they should settle down
in a few days. But do keep an eye on them>
Also I fed them bloodworms. In which she ate all of them and her belly is so
fat and she is swimming a little sideways. Will she make it? What is going
on???
Erica
problems. Skip their dinner tomorrow and see if the bulge goes down>

Fallen Angel
I have five angels in a fifty five gallon with dojos and Corys. The head female and three others have started tearing up one of the angels. They almost killed it before I moved it to my ten gallon to heal. First, do you have any idea why a school of angels would suddenly start isolating a male, bite his scales off and eat his fins and tail? Second, I have another 55 with a 8inch pleco and two 6inch Oscars, two ten gallons and a 29 brackish with four green spotted puffers.  I do not want to put him back into the original tank for fear of them starting it again, but fear the puffers or the Oscars may hurt him also. He is too big for my ten gallon. Could he survive in the brackish tank with puffers or with the Oscars?

Re: poor beaten angel
Thank you very much.  I just cleaned the Oscar tank, so I will let it settle before the transfer.  Now the Head female is beating up on another male I have.  She appears to be a loner, and not to have paired with anyone.  Do I just keep moving them out till I can spot the pair??  She is your typical silver and black striped, the largest.  The one I just moved is black, and the one she is fighting with is of marbled coloration.  The only two she will be left with are hi-fin angels.  I can not tell the sexes on those, but one has significantly larger fins. Do the colors or hi-fin make a difference on their pairing?  Is it just possible that she may not be pairing with any of them and is the one I should remove.  I hate turmoil in my tanks, but these fish are the oldest ones I have.  Thank you for all your help.

Re: poor beaten angel
Wow, thank you.  I will do as you advised... The black angel is doing fine in the Oscar tank, but is very lonely.  How small of an angel tank mate could I get before the Oscars would devour it?

Angelfish treatment
Hello I want to thank you for the knowledge I acquired on your wonderful
website, however I couldn't find an answer for my specific question. Please
help me save my angels. I have 6 angelfish the size of a quarter I would say
and they are exhibiting these symptoms. Its like there color is
disintegrating and leaving a transparent outline of fins and tails. First I
noticed it on just 1 angel, in the lower fins, one was shorter than the
other, then all the others started getting kinda scraggly looking, like
someone rubbed them the wrong way. Kinda hard to give exact description and
I couldn't take a better picture than this, sorry. I figured its fin rot so
I isolated them in a new set up quarantine tank ( not cycled) and started
treating them with Quick Cure 10 drops per 10 gallon daily. Says cures ick
not fin rot, this is what Petco gave me, said should help. I don't think
they have ick but Petco should know more than me I guess. Now I understand
that salt helps so been adding aquarium salt as directed along with meds.
Now the Quick Cure direction state to only treat for 2 days and to perform a
25% water change should you need to repeat treatment. Well that was no
problem I change 25% every other day just because tank isn't cycled with a
no carbon filter (did put an old sponge filter that was in a cycled tank
awhile to help the process).  But does not state how many treatments can be
repeated and I don't know what I need to look for to know its cured. Just
slowed the progression I guess then I should transfer to original tank and fins heal in awhile?
The angels are eating and swimming kinda lopsided
sometimes, don't know if that's normal, however I have no idea if I should raise the heat or when the meds are working and should stop?

It looks like the symptoms have not progressed any further but has not disappeared, but I
understand this will take some time to grow back. If I transfer back to
original tank I have Cory's bottom feeders and they don't like salt too
much. So when to transfer them back to original big tank?

I know it must be stressful being in uncycled tank. I just don't know what to do, please
point me to the right direction, thank you so much beforehand for your
response. Another thing one angel has real red gills was always like that
and since he's an albino I thought maybe its normal, but a friend of mine
said it must fluke or something. I understand ammonia makes the gills red, couldn't find nothing on fluke so ??

Also she suggested treating fin rot by putting a penny in the tank, so don't know if I should do this in addition
to Quick cure or what. If I do put a penny will it affect the nitrifying
bacteria as the meds would hence transfer in hospital tank. I had a hard
getting the tank cycled and would not want to go thru the process again if possible

Teresa Azzopardi

Goldfish and angelfish
Hi, I have had my goldfish for over two years now, I change their water every month and feed them every other day, and they were in a 2 gallon tank.

  About two weeks ago, I got a 10 gallon tank, and my fish are fine.

But now I wanted some more fish in the tank,

I went to a fish store and I got 2 angelfish and two snails.  I asked a man about adding angelfish to my goldfish, he said that I shouldn't mix the two, but he said that they both might be ok.

I know that goldfish are to have 65-70 degree water and
angelfish 75-82, but my goldfish are spoiled and they are always in 74 degree water (they have been for the two years, and they are doing fine) I would like to know is it ok for me to add the angelfish since I have the two snails (which will clean the tank) and since my goldfish like warmer temp.?
  
And please tell me what I can to do so.

Mel

Lonely Angel
I have a 20 gallon tall with one koi angel that I have had for nine months. She is the only one in the tank and is doing great but sometimes I'm tempted to get her a friend. Would there be enough room? Should I get one of the
opposite sex? Or should I forget this idea entirely? By the way your web sight is awesome!

sincerely, Erica

Lonely Angel
Just how big can Angel fish get? Do you have any suggestions besides bottom feeders, because they don't do well in my tank due to very little algae.

Some fat lips on angelfish

        I have looked in a lot of places but haven't seen anything on fat lips on angels. This poor fish looks like he's been overdosed with collagen injections!  He seems to be healthy, otherwise.  No trouble eating and no trouble being bossy at times.  There are 3 other angels in the 55 gal tank and they, too, are healthy. We bought the 4 fish as babies and have had them for about 8 months.  Any ideas as to the cause and treatment of fat lips?   My angels and I thank you for your help!

Angel fish with white eye growth
My Angel Fish's eye clouded over and the whiteness continued to grow until
it was about 4x the size of his eye and was loosely flapping as he swam--it
literally looked like he had a small wet cotton ball attached to his eye.  I
finally got the net out and scraped it off as he swam by.  It took half his
eye with it.  I've searched on the web but can't find anything even remotely
related to this.  I'm assuming he's blind in that eye now, so what I'd like
to know is whether or not it can spread to the other fish or is going to
kill him.

Thanks,
Amy Woods

Today's dying FW angel question....
In attempting to discover why my angels are dying and no other fish are, I
wondered if maybe they are a little more sensitive to nitrites than the
other fish, as the nitrites were activated a little around that time when I
did a gravel cleaning and water change.  I had to stop once 50% of the water
was gone, but there was still detritus left in the tank-although I don't
think there was a lot.  Must have been enough to cause some trouble, though,
as when I took a nitrite reading shortly after the cleaning) they were about
.40.

I assumed from the fact that there was still detritus that I must be
overfeeding-although it's hard to imagine since I feed twice a day with one
pinch during each feeding.  I am trying to clean a little per day, so as not
to cause too much distress to my fish, and this morning I rinsed the
bio-filters and pressed water out of the carbon filters themselves. The
carbon filters were about 3/4 greenish and 1/4 blue.  What determines when I
should change them?  Should I change one at the time? (There are two-my
filter is a 330 Marineland) There was quite a bit of detritus on the filters
as well, but I rinsed them pretty thoroughly and put them back.  To my
horror, I noticed some detritus (sorry to keep using that word so much) came
through the filters-although not much.  Is this normal?  I filtered what I
could see through a net, and the water is clear once more.  I should mention
that my water has bounced back to crystal clear during both water changes
and filter cleanings and the fish seem to be thriving and there haven't been
any more deaths.  Your thoughts on all of this?

Cyndy Monarez/Thomas Nelson

Angels can't swim!
Hey there my angel fish have stopped swimming. Their tails have folded up and there long fins have gone thin and superficial. They just lie on the bottom, not eating. What is wrong and how can I fix it?

Achin' for Angels - 06/23/2004
Hi there,

I just want to say thanks first to you all being there to help us all out!  It really is invaluable.  

I have been reading all the Angel sites I can find including your FAQ's and I'm starting to think that unfortunately I won't be able to keep Angels in my tank.

It is a 25G tall,

and I would like to keep a pair of angels and my 4 Panda Cory's.  Would there be a problem with aggression with only 2 angels?

I would like to start with 6 and try to get a breeding pair and then return the other 4.  

I don't think I could have more than 2 Angels in only a 25G, could I?

My Panda's currently have a hard enough time with my 6 Danios trying to get to the sinking pellets I try to feed them.  Will the Angels also give them a hard time and be a threat to them if they do breed?  

(I would be putting the Danios in another tank if I get the Angels)  I really want to keep Angelfish but not if it means all my tank inhabitants end up stressed and unhappy.

Your advice is greatly appreciated!  Oh p.s. will the Angels eat my Amano shrimp?

Maggie Masters

Angelfish puffer fin damage
Hello...I have a question about fresh water Angelfish...My son bought a green spotted puffer and put it in the tank with his other fish...it proceeded to bite one of the long feeler like fins over half way off. My question is will this feeler or fin grow back...? the puffers are now history and live across the street so there is no other problem with them.  I was just kind of worried about the angel at this time...I hope you can help...thanks Echoe
slower tankmates.-Chuck>

Angelfish and Gourami aggression
Hi there!
Great website!  I just got a brand new 20 gallon aquarium. I have a few
dwarf gouramis and a couple of tetras. I also have a young ghost angel fish.
  The angel fish is constantly nipping at my gouramis, although they are
pretty much the same size. I was wondering if there is a certain type of
fish or group of fish that I can get that will reduce the aggressiveness of
my angel. Thanks,

Kathryn

Possible angelfish tank-mates
Hi there,
Thanks for your recent help with the guppy fry...
I now have a question about angelfish which I'm sure you can answer if
you have the time.....
My girlfriend and I are soon to be setting up a tank for angelfish, and
would like some suitable tank-mates.
After browsing the web and learning that angels are compatible with
dwarf-medium South American cichlids of similar temperament and size.
Our local fish stores stock both keyhole and firemouth cichlids (amongst
others), would these be suitable?

Are there any other common cichlids
that the angels would get along with?

Also, I was thinking maybe a small herd of bronze Corydoras to keep the
tank clean, are there likely to be any problems there?

Cheers!
Liam

Re: Possible angelfish tank-mates
Hello
I'm just following up a question you answered for me *see below)
i was just wondering if, when mentioning Kribs you meant the Krib sold under
that name (don't know what the Latin name is, sorry!), or the Pelvivachromis
taeniatus, or if both types of fish are suitable tank mates for angels. The
Pelvivachromis taeniatus are beautiful!

thanks, Liam

Very strange, & Angelfish
I seem to be able to write you about a new subject, but I don't seem to
be able to reply to your responses. It has not always been this way,
When I was asking Kevin about different approaches to a reef tank, we
wrote back and forth a number of times; but lately I keep getting an
"undeliverable mail" message if I attempt to reply to your answer to my
question. >
Anyway, I have 4 Angelfish in a planted 46 g. bow-front. They have been
growing well, eating well, colors are vibrant, but lately I notice at
least two of the Angelfish are eating my bolivianus.  I thought that
Angels did not eat plants. Is it possible they are missing something
from their diet? What sort of diet would you suggest? How often?

Thanks very much,
Dave Harvey

Angel Without Wings
I have an angel fish that had its fins eaten by other fish. I was wondering if the fish could ever grow back the fins lost? He has lived for 2 months in my father-in-law's tank with the other fish and we just recently took him and put him in his own tank. I was wondering if you had any suggestions because he seems to be healthy except he has no fins. Thanks!

Get the fry to eat dry?
Hello, wondering if someone could tell me how I can get my angel fish fry to start eating dry food. They are about 3.5 weeks old and all they've ever eaten is newly hatched brine shrimp. I've put in crushed flake and pellet but they will not take. Even tried them on frozen daphnia- no go. Should I quit the shrimp and they would have to eat the dry because of hunger? 
 

Angel Finds Neons a Tasty Treat (4/22/04)
Hello - I cannot thank you guys enough for the awesome website!
I've had a planted 29 gallon freshwater tank running with only an Angel (about 4 inches) and a balloon bellied molly for quite a while. All of the other fish died of velvet and these two were the survivors. Today I decided that the tank could use some new inhabitants and I really wanted small schooling fish. I purchased a 3 pack of neon tetras and finished acclimating them about 2 hours ago. Unfortunately my 3 pack is now a 1 pack and my Angel fish now has a pot belly, so he got a very colorful snack.
I really want to keep some sort of schooling fish in this fairly small tank. My question is if I buy more of the neon tetras will they have a better chance of survival in a bigger school (maybe 6-9 of them to create confusion) or am I just buying an expensive snack? Are there other small schooling freshwater fish that are better at escaping or a bit bigger so they wont fit in the angels mouth? Thanks in advance for the advice :)

Substrates in Angelfish breeding tanks
Hi guys I need some advice on what kind of flooring a fish tank should have
for breeding angelfish babies are coming but they go under pebbles we turned
off the tank filter because we thought the fish were get sucked under but
then we found out that the fish just go under  .Help what do I do. GREAT WEB
SITE THANKS. SIL.

Silvia

Aggressive Angels 3/7/04
I have these 2 angels in a 29 gallon tank (also a pleco %20 2 clown loaches %20 some cichlid that I don't know the name, but he is not aggressive at all because nobody really likes the corner cave he's in).  Just recently one of my angels (yellow one) has been nipping the hell out of my other angel (marble). The yellow is just a touch bigger, but I bought them both at the same time over a year ago and never noticed this behavior before. I am pretty sure the marble is a
female as she has a rounder belly. Any suggestions?
  
I have no more tanks free to separate them except for the 20 gallon with the GSP in it, and I'd like to keep him solo except for maybe add one more fish that eats algae and stays small.

But really, this nipping has to stop. He nipped off all her nice flowing fins and I'm pissed.

And it's for real aggression, not just playing.
Thanks again. -LH

Angel Fin Rot
Hey, Rachel here, again. My two young angels have fin
and tail rot. Nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia are all
O.k. PH is 7.3. One of the angels has stopped eating.
I need to treat them for fin and tail rot, but there
is a baby fry in the tank. The brand of the medication
is ALL NATURAL MELA FIX. Will this hurt the fry, or is
there anything that treats the fins, without hurting
the baby??
>>Hello again Rachel; do you know which species the fry are? Melafix shouldn't hurt any fish, but it might affect your biological filtration. Please make sure to keep testing your water! The fins should start to heal, but may take a week or so, assuming your water quality is good. If your fish are not eating, this isn't a good sign. Keep an eye on them for the next couple of days, and let us know if the fins are indeed healing. Also if they don't start eating, maybe the Melafix will need to be changed for another medication. It's also possible that another fish is bullying your angel to get its food. -Gwen

German Red Angelfish fry
Dear Sirs:
  I have a pair of German Red Angels.

  They have laid eggs many times and never grow longer they 5/16"  before they all die.  I hatch the eggs out in 2 1/2 gallon tanks with methyl blue added to the water to prevent fungus.   After they become free swimming I start doing 1 gallon water changes every day.  The pH is about 7-7.4.  The adult angels are doing fine in my water.  I feed them newel hatch brine shrimp daily.  The temp of the water is about 78-82.  I would really appreciate any and all help you can give me with these fish as I have looked on the internet with no- avail.  I have at present about 1000 baby angels swimming of various sizes.  A total of 4 pairs of adults including the Red's.  All the other baby angels do fine with the above regiment. I am at a lost as to what is happening with the Reds.

Thanks
Everett Martin

Threatening to Breed
Have been wondering if you ever found the reason for your angels dying?

And really need your help. My 6 angels have done great and when I saw they were getting bigger, got my 55 gal. tank. ( Had a 20 gal.) I had great luck cycling by using the old water from the 20 gal, part of the gravel and a sponge that had great bacteria. I put in 3 Harlequin Rasbora to finish up the cycle.

Over this time, I noticed the fish starting to pair up. I put 2 of the pairs in the big tank and left the gold pair in the smaller tank.

But, I DO NOT have room for more tanks and DO NOT want fry.

How would you recommend that I separate them?

Males in the big tank and females in the small?

I wish some one that wants to breed would have this " problem". Ha.

Sincerely, Lorraine

Angelfish "plague"? Hexamita? 
Hi, 
 
I’m so impressed with your site – thank you. 
 
I recently bought a group of 4 young (silver-dollar sized) angels and 2 platys that I plan on adding to my 75-gallon planted community tank. Before doing so, I am quarantining them in a 20-gallon tank. 
 
I did break from protocol in so-doing, because I didn’t have a cycled filter to add – the tank has a hang-on-back Whisper filter that had not been running for some time, so I was putting the fish into a basically brand-new setup. Though I knew I should, I didn’t add old filter media to the filter… 
 
Everything was fine, and the water quality looked good in tests, until one of the platys decided to do a Nemo into the filter – goodness knows how. 
 
I found her some time later wedged between the plastic and the filter media, alive but a little bruised, and with a bit of white fuzzy fungus-looking stuff already starting to grow on the wound. I put her back in the tank, and added Mardel MarOxy (the fungicide) and Maracyn 2. 
 
I did the treatments, but then exams hit and I came to big mistake number 2 – I didn’t clean the water again for a little over a week, or add the carbon back in, so the fish were swimming in the medication-water. 
 
Then I noticed that my angelfish looked a little funny. The dorsal fins on three of them looked like they had started to stick together, so they come together in a point, rather than being fanned out and rounded as they were when I bought the fish. Also, I noticed a whitish film covering much of the bodies of the fish, that you could only really see when the light hits it directly. It’s pretty even, and doesn’t appear to have ‘pinpoints’ like you would see for Ick or parasites, but does appear to come in sort of “swathes”, slightly worse in some areas of the body than others. 
 
In addition, the white angelfish has a thin red line outlining the base of the dorsal and tail fins, and going out in what is otherwise an almost imperceptible straight crease in her body that goes perpendicular to the line at the base of her tail (a little hard to describe; the other angelfish are black so I wouldn’t be able to tell), 
 
They still swim normally, eat eagerly, and don’t look like they’re clamping their fins. 
 
The fourth angelfish, which is a different strain from the three that are affected (and looks to be more of a mongrel) and the platys, appear fine (the injured platy has healed perfectly). 
 
When I tested the water, it seemed fine, except that nitrate and nitrite levels were a little higher than their usual imperceptible levels, but still in the safe zone 
 
(I had run out of ammonia test, so couldn’t tell those levels). 
 
Now, nitrate is at 20 ppm, nitrite is undetectable, hardness is 25-50, alkalinity is about 80, and pH is about 6.8. The temperature is about 80 degrees. 
 
As soon as I noticed the change in the fish I snapped out of my self-absorption, replaced the carbon filter, and did a 25% water change using water from my cycled, planted tank (which tends to have lower nitrates/nitrites than the tap water around here). 
 
I’ve been doing ~20% water changes each day since then, which has been about a week. 
 
In the meantime, the fish continue to eat well, appear active, but their fin sticking, red lines, and slight milky filminess has not gone away, or even improved. Since I suspect that the long period of time in medicated water led to this problem in the first place, 
 
and I’m not certain what the problem is in the first place, I am reluctant to throw more medications at the fish as long as they don’t take a turn for the worse. On the other hand, it doesn’t appear to be clearing up on it’s own as I had hoped. After all that description, finally my question: Does my daily water change strategy make any sense, or am I overdoing it? 
 
Should I be adding medications to address the white film, red lines, and ‘fin sticking’? If so, which one should I try first? 
 
I am sorry this is such a long question; I appreciate any help you can give me. Johanne Auerböck 

Stressed-Out Angel 11/04/03 
 
I have a 46 gal tank,pH-6.6-6.8, 0 Nitrites, 0 Ammonia, H2O temp is running @ 76 deg., etc. Her name is Lace and I would be devastated is something happens to her, if I can help. he is approx. 5-6" in size and I have had her for quite some time. All variables have been constant. Two days ago, my husband & I introduced a marble kissing Gourami to the tank ( I have had a Gold Gourami in with Lace; NEVER had any problems ). It was within minutes, the INDY 500 between the Gourami "vehicles." I put the gold Gourami in a breeders net for a 12 hr." time out, " which seemed to help. The next am, we the intro. again....after 10 min, the race resumed.. gold Gourami assured 1st place. This fish has now found a new home, & all is quiet . HOWEVER, this seems to be the time I began to notice changes in my Goldveil...she interacts with me constantly...coming up to the frt of the tank, eating out of my hand, etc. Since this occurrence, she appears to want nothing to do with myself or my husband, "hangs" in the back corner of the aquarium and appears very interested in the food ( she's a top feeder ) but only eats very little if anything...no visible signs of anything wrong, no gill redness, but she just acts " out of sorts" She's not "gasping for air" but it looks like her mouth is going constantly, though I'm not sure if this is new or not. Can you help? Could she just be stressed? She just appears timid of everything, us & food included...esp. with the "food part" she looks at it, appears to want to go to the surface to eat, but she just " looks scared " to me. This has only been going on for less than 48hrs. Between the race, adding the breeders net, netting the culprit, confining him, taking him out again, confining him again, (this took 15 min to coax him out of hiding), then completely removing him from the tank...I stressed just telling you my story...Could you help diagnose her condition and/or what we can do to help? Please respond to my HOME e-mail address. The e-mail address is: 
 

Angelfish genetics
Hi, I would like to know what type of angelfish I would get when I cross a silver with a chocolate.  I would like to give them a name.  Thank you for any help you can give me.

Constipated angelfish?
Hi,

I have a large angel fish that has developed a larger than normal stomach over the last week or so. It is lethargic, is not eating or producing waste. It also seems to be gulping. Otherwise it looks OK - no external signs of infection, parasites, injury. Is this likely to be constipation?

If so, I have been advised to try syringe feeding a little natural yogurt as this could be more effective than Epsom salts. Is this a good idea?

Thanks,  Mark.

Angelfish 'n Platies
Crew,
I read the post & Sabrina's reply to the reader with an impressive
collection of FW fish in a 58G tank.

Among the multitude of fish in the tank were angels and platies and swordfish. Over the years, I have never had much luck keeping angels and platies/swordtails thriving in the same tank. My daughters have taken over the FW in our house now that I have moved to SW. My 10 y/o wants an angel and a swordfish, but I have resisted so far.

Am I correct in my understanding that their optimal pH and hardness ranges are different enough that it is difficult to keep them together?

Also, the fish guy at the local Petco tells me that the hardiness and general health of the swords and platies available at retail had been going down in the past few years, probably from genetic problems.

I've been hearing similar concerns about angels recently - too much inbreeding for certain desirable traits leading to problems with other genes.

Thanks, Steve

Microscope and Altum Angels
In light of my new employment, I intend to treat myself to a microscope. You told me of one marketed
as a kids' toy, available at Fry's - do you remember the manufacturer?

Also, at some point or another, I want very much to take another stab at Altums, but I've gotten myself
paranoid with this angel 'plague'. Apparently, some views are that it's not Hexamita or
Childonella/Costia/Ichthyobodo type illness, but I'm not at all certain of anything, except that it's very
frustrating. I've spoken with angel breeders, discus breeders, other hobbyists, and for every one person I
speak to, I get a completely different answer.

General consensus is that it kills all your angelfish, and roughly 80% of your discus, and is incurable. But
I'm not willing to accept that. If it'd be okay with you, I'd like to discuss what my experience was, what
I did, etc. Might you be willing to criticize, let me know what I could have done differently?

See? You spoke of gurus and got yourself condemned to answering angelfish questions....

Sick FW Angel - 8/23/03
I have a female angel fish that has some kind of illness that I am unable to determine.  This has been going on over a month now.  

It started out like she was full of eggs, she has had numerous batches of eggs in the past, successful and a few unsuccessful. So I just thought she was pregnant again, I didn't think a lot about it until she just kept getting bigger and bigger.  This went on for a couple weeks.  

I called the local fish store and they advised I change her diet and feed her seaweed or smashed English peas.  (Thinking constipation.) I did that for 1 week, she was still getting bigger even after eating the above.  

She then developed bubbles in her scales where her stomach was stretching.  This whole time she has had a normal appetite. Two weeks ago, she was nose down stationary barely breathing.  I thought she was going to die.  The next morning I was expecting her to be dead and she was swimming around like nothing was wrong.  She was acting normal for a week or so, and did the same thing I just described.  

I have just started putting parasite medicine in the water to see if that would help.  

The only other fish in the tank with her is the male that is her breeding pair.  If you have any suggestions, please let me know.  The fish store here is puzzled as well.  Thanks- MC

Angel Losses
For years, I had beautiful angelfish in Indiana. But here in Sun City, Az. they have been dying. INFO- 20 gal. tank. Bio filter for up to 30 gals plus air stone. Tank has been up for two and a half months and cycled. Some plastic plants but live plants are doing great. Temp-82.  Test as of tonight: Nitrate-40 Nitrite-0 Hardness-150 Alkalinity-120 PH-7.6 Ammonia-0.  Added fish tank salt as directed.

Have had 6 little angels and 2 Cory cats in the tank for the last month but--I would lose one or two angels one week, replace, etc.

For the last week or 10 days, all has been great, then 4 angels dead one morning. I only feed them as much as their "eye", change 15% of the water once every week. Have had the water tested at different pets stores. They say every thing is good but the angels still die.

This is getting very depressing. Hope you can help me as you have others.  Thanks, Lorraine

Super Thanks for Answering - Freshwater Angelfish plague

Am using the 20 gal. as a starter tank. Will be setting up a 55 or larger later. As for symptoms, the first ones would stay at the top in a corner and breathe hard. (Added air stone) as dying, they were disoriented.

Was also told that the stock was not really first class.  First class or not, I want them to live.

Not into breeding, just love to watch them. The deaths were cutting down as I did different things. Letting the faucet water set with Wardley's CHLOR- OUT, etc. Thought I was winning with the last fish. There were NO signs. They were all swimming, eating, chasing my finger when I ran it across the glass. The next morning, 4 dead.  

The 2 other angels are fine and so are the Corys. (As of now.)

Angel plague? - continuation of a sad story
Sabrina, (& crew) This is to be added to my last message.  Before I got your reply, I did get another angel. (That I won't do again.)  Any way, I was home from work today because of "our fuel problem", here in  Arizona.  I had a Silver and a Veiltail left. The new one was a silver and it sort of  paired off with the other silver but the 3 would stay together. Last night the Veiltail didn't want to eat and was in the corner and she did look thinner with every thing close to her body.  This morning she wouldn't eat and stayed up in the corner. I decided to put her in a small tank because she started swimming curved. Does that make sense?

I noticed her eyes looked "out" but she is thin. I gave her a bit of frozen shrimp and she did eat a bite. Since, she looks up with her tail down, like this / . Some of the others didn't even seem as bad as her and they died.

I did a 25% water change last night. Right now, Nitrate-30,  Nitrite-0, Hardness-150, Alkalinity-120, pH- 7.6.  Have read that Angels like soft water with the pH 6.5 to 6.9.

Have even tried distilled water and do use Cycle.

So give me your verdict.  Sincerely, Lorraine

Angel plague - continued again
So sorry about your loss. Just wanted to tell you that my angels are doing great.

I did remember that I had put some ICK medicine in the tank.

I thought that maybe they had it and I wasn't seeing it. I don't know if this is what saved the last 2 angels or not.

I also have been using the cycle and like it. Let me know if you have any luck with your experiments.

Lorraine

Angelfish Species Hybrid - 8/15/03
Dear Anthony, Sorry for the confusion.  The female scalare has spawned successfully for the past few times. I'm just wondering if it is possible to cross her this time with my male altum and get feasible spawn as they seem to be pairing up.

From other forums, it seems that crosses between altum and scalare doesn't give feasible spawns.  Thank you, Winston

Altum /Wild Angel Spawning - 8/16/03
Dear Bob,

My wild angel has been breeding for 4 times already and this time around it has been hanging around a male altum. What's the feasibility that I can have the eggs hatched and survive, or should I not waste the eggs but let her have her old mate instead.
Winston

Info Not on WWM... Or is it? Like Ragu... - 8/13/03
Hi, this isn't really a question but I didn't know how to contact you guys any other way. My angel fish recently had a parasite and not finding it on your site I went to all the fish stores I could find.  They too didn't know what it was and said they had never seen it before and I have been to these stores numerous times.  Knowing that these people knew what they were doing, some with over 25 years worth of experience I went to one last store.  I brought my fish with me and showed the people there.  They too were stumped because the fish had no eating problems behavior problems and in all respects was perfectly healthy except for small black dots that looked as if someone has poked the fish all over with a pencil.  The fresh water fish expert there said to give it Jungle Parasite Guard.  This cleared the fish of all dots within 4 hours.  I would just like u to post this somewhere for people with angel fish, discus, and cichlids as they expert there said this parasite can probably get in these fish as well.  Melafix will not work as I tried the 7 days and then 3 extra days of medication.  However to achieve the 4 hour fix add the recommended amount of aquarium salt for your aquarium and repeat medication in 6 days with a 25% water change before adding. Hopes this helps you guys and the people who have fish with pencil like black dots.
and http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fshwrmdisfaqs.htm
(scan archives for black spot FAQs).  best regards, Anthony>

Angelfish Genetic Problems and Breeding
About a year ago I swapped some large fish for smaller ones including a half dozen tiny angel fish that had been spawned at the fish store.  The angels have grown up into gorgeous glittering fish and I am now thinking of breeding a pair before I trade some back to the fish store for other small fish.  Of my 6 angels, 2 are genetically deficient (one has no lower fins, one has too many lower fins), one has been single eyed (so swims like a flounder) probably through early accident but has good body conformation otherwise.  

I am assuming that the larger fish in each of the naturally occurring 'pairs' forming in the tank is a different gender than the noticeably smaller other part of the pair.

My most perfect large angel has paired with a fish with bulgy eyes and puckered lips who otherwise has good form.  (I think of this smaller fish as 'she' so forgive me if I am using the wrong pronoun here.)  She has had the puckered lips and bulgy eyes for three or four months and seems to be the equal of any other angel in the tank in terms of eating and other behaviors.  

When I stopped by the fish store the other day I noted that in the pair who are parents of my brood, the smaller fish also has the puckered lips and bulgy eyes.  When I asked about it, the fish store owner said he didn't know why but that the fish has been that way for as long as he can remember.  My question is whether this sounds like a disease and/or parasite to be treated or whether I should assume the genetics are just wrong for breeding.  

If disease/parasite, I can turn the tank I am ageing for a breeding tank into an infirmary tank if I know what/how I am treating the fish.  Since a pairing seems to have occurred, would I be wise to keep 'her' with her mate in the infirmary tank?

Thanks for any suggestions you may have.  Cathy

Angelfish Genetic Problems and Breeding, Follow-up
I do have several in the batch who appear perfect enough to be worthy of breeding--hopefully they are opposite sex :)  I do recognize the need to not breed malformed fish.  When I got mine they were smaller than a dime and you really couldn't tell that much about them yet.  And since even though not perfect they add charm and beauty to my tank they sort of become 'family'.  Certainly no deformed fish will be leaving here to exchange back into the pet store.

While I would love to get a different genetic line in here I have seen no goldens in fish stores around here that practiced enough sanitation I would be willing to take a fish home.  

So we will give this a try and if there is too high a percentage of deformed offspring, not let it happen again.

Certainly appreciate the advice.  Cathy

Water Parameters for freshwater Angel Fish
Hi,

I have a 20 gallon aquarium and am new at this hobby.  I bought the aquarium as a kit from my LFS.  They gave me everything I needed including a heater and all the necessary water conditioning agents for my new tank.  I let it run for 24 hours as they said and then bought a small angel fish for it.  I had my water tested a while back and they said it was at the stage where I could add another fish if I wanted too.  Well a couple months have passed and I have done 10-20 percent water changes weekly adding stress coat with water conditioning in it to the water when I change it.

I looked all over your sight and could not find a part where it told me what my values needed to be in my aquarium for angel fish.

I want to test my own aquarium so that I don't have to drive to the store every time I want it tested.

What are the pH ranges for angel fish?

What should my nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia levels be at?

When reading what I could find it said that my ammonia should be very close to 0 if not 0.  And my nitrates should be around the same. but I'm getting confused with all the information and sometimes get confused what is supposed to be 0 and what is supposed to be 5.0 and the like.  If you could tell me what I the values need to be at for angel fish I'd much appreciate it.
thanks for reading this lengthy question, Sam

Fading Angels
I have two small angle fish with predominate stripes, well they had predominate stripes but the stripes are now starting to fade. Is this a result of putting them in a new tank?

I have a larger angel fish that acts well with the smaller ones and they often hang out in a group. I also have a fancy goldfish. (I know you're probably thinking this wasn't a good idea because the angel fish will attack the goldfish but they actually all get along)

it too has lost the purple it had on its back and face and is now all orange.

What is causing my fish to lose their stripes and color?  I feed them 3 times a day and they are active.

Please get back to me as soon as possible on some solutions to this problem
thank you,
Sam

Goldfish & Angelfish
Hi. I am a beginner at this, and I just purchased a 55 gallon tank.

I have 7 goldfish, 1 pleco, and 2 Angelfish. I  was wondering if its  okay to have angelfish and goldfish together?

the temperature in my tank is 78 right now.

I got my fish at Wal-Mart and they couldn't answer my question. I have a 10 gallon tank also and if The angelfish cant live with the goldfish then I plan on putting them in there.

Thank You.

ANGEL FISH FRY
Dear Bob

My angelfish fry are free swimming and I raise them in a 10 gal tank with no filtration but 50% daily water changes. They are fed freshly hatched brine and Liquifry food twice a day.

I have originally about 400 fry but I lost about 20 daily for the past 3 days. I noticed also that some of the fry have bloated stomach that are almost bursting.

Is the loss of fry normal as nature makes sure that the weak doesn't survive  or are they underfed or overfed.

Should I add a sponge filter and reduce feeding or increase feeding.

Need your urgent advice as it pains me to see losses daily.
Winston

If you're gonna make an omelet you have to fertilize a few eggs.  No wait, that's not it!
Can you help me please....!

My one and only Angel Fish has laid eggs on the side of the filter in my tank. She is guarding them all the time.  There was another Angel fish in the tank (about 6 months ago).  Will these eggs Hatch?  Could another type of fish fertilize them??

We have had a power cut and since Friday ( 5 days) the light has not been working. Could this have caused the fish to lay the eggs???

any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Janet

Somewhat OT: Kudos to Anthony/WWM Crew 5/23/03
Hi ya folks!

I regularly peruse the daily FAQs, as I find them fascinating. I fortunately haven't had a need to ask any questions myself; my freshwater Angel tank seems to be doing fine (stop making faces at me you marine addicts! *grin*).
we're not that bad. My heart is actually still with freshwater discus and so many other beautiful freshwater species (magnificent African Cichlids, oh-so-many catfish, amazing livebearer varieties... and definitely angelfish!- BTW... if you ever make it to Baltimore to see the National Aquarium, go across the street to the Barnes and Nobles 2nd floor Altum angel/Amazon tank run by the Aquarium... unbelievable!). Marines and invertebrates just happen to be the focus of my/our pen oftentimes :) >
Anyway, the reason I felt a need to send this, was due the restraint Anthony showed with the 15 yr old shark boy. I work with adolescent kiddies, and  that boy displayed a blatant case of "the world revolves around me" as well as chronic " mom said no, I'll ask dad". Anthony, I'm well impressed with the way you handled that;
sometimes. I think of what some of the folks I most admire, and wonder what they would have done in such cases... too often/most often I lack grace. Doing the best I can in the meantime... hoping to get smarter as I grow older .>
teenagers can be masters at getting under one's skin, and you REALLY restrained yourself despite provocation! That incident
supports my belief that this is truly a quality aquatic website.

Heh, I do kinda feel bad for the folks at the NJ State Aquarium
though...hopefully they will be able to deal with that young fellow as well as Anthony did. Allison
. With kind regards to you Allison. I do hope to make your acquaintance one day perhaps at a fish show/conference. I do make it to freshwater shows as well ! I was just at the NEC in Hartford/Springfield a couple months ago... wonderful time/people/show. Anthony>

Success in treating freshwater parasite problem
>Hi Marina:
>>Good morning, Bill.
Your treatment seems to have worked! The white angel is free of all outward signs of ick and the other fish are all fine.
>>Excellent!  Very glad to hear it.
>I bought a device that allows me to read salinity and it is at 3 ppt, and I am going to leave it there for a couple of more weeks just to be certain.
>>A refractometer, perchance?
>Can loaches and Bala cats tolerate the salinity treatment? Would a seawater dip work with an Oscar?  (My Oscars are fine, but just
wondering for future possibilities.)
>>Yes, they can tolerate this better than they can certain medications.
>Boy, I love keeping fish! (Although I do feel a little odd when I eat sushi now - and should I catch me any salmon, trout, halibut or grayling, it's going to feel a little different than it used to, now that I have fish buddies.)
>>Yes, some folks do find themselves in a similar quandary.  As of yet, I have no problem eating what I keep (raising animals for food does help in that area).  Very glad I could help!  Marina

The Angelfish Society
Hello Bob & crew.  Here is the copy of the new TAS Newsletter.
In this issue you will find the critique of your website.  I look forward to
your comments.
Susan aka Starsdawn

TAS BOD
TAS Newsletter Committee
http://www.aquaworldnet.org/tas/

Sick Angels
Hello all, I had a breeding pair of freshwater angelfish, they had been in a 80 gal community tank, but the bickering with other angels was becoming a problem for the fins, so I moved them to their own 29 gal (temp 84, ph 8.2ish, no ammonia, cycled sponges for bio-filters, 80% water changes every other day)

Very shortly after that, the female developed long, grey strings of slime hanging off of her and her fins got very ragged, 2 days or so after that, her eyes got cloudy and she would not eat. She just drifted around the tank at the top, breathing hard, but not gasping. Then the male started to show the same signs. Day before yesterday (about 1 1/2 weeks from onset of symptoms) the female died.

Treatments I tried are - Salt bath, 1 tbsp per gal for 20 min -  then simultaneously -parasite clear - super sulfa for 5 days, the 90% water change and then Clout by itself, now I am using only Maracyn, 1 tab per 10 gal every other day, I am on day three, and the male is not getting any worse, but not better either, and has not eaten for over a week now, I am also using a fair amount of slime coat stuff to help him retain at least some slime (water conditioner by Proquatics) but his eyes are not showing any sign of clearing.... Help!!!   

Thank you in advance, Aimee

Re: Sick Angels
Ronni - re the sick angels....

If you assume the grey slime is a normal stress/parasite/adverse conditions reaction, it is no wonder they stayed with a combination of high pH, mega water changes with water of undetermined quality and a battery of salt and treatments.  Add to this slime coat - well this doesn't 'retain' slime, it merely 'encourages' its production - these fish must be sweating slime!
Your comments - am I talking 'jibe'? Wayne Oxborough

Very aggressive Angel fish (fresh water)
My angel lives in a 55gal aquarium with 2 silver dollars a blood parrot, Raphael cat, and a few others. Last night my angel got very aggressive towards every fish in the tank including the bigger iridescent shark. His body color would fluctuate between light and dark. His eyes would also get dark red. I put him in another tank last night and this morning I noticed redness around his fins. Does this sound like a disease you are familiar with? And what do I do to treat him? This fish must be saved; my wife gets really upset when her fish die as do I. Help please!!!!
http://www/wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwfshparasites.htm for more info. Ronni>

Newsletter article
Hello Crew,  Sorry I haven't been around in a while.  I am a member of "The Angelfish Society" (TAS), a present we are in the midst of creating a newsletter.  One of the sections is for favorite links.  I would like you to send a write up about your site I will then add my opinion about the site.  I would really like your site to be in our first newsletter.  I have really enjoyed the forum & all aspects of your site.  I have sent numerous people to your site in search of answers.  Thank you in advance for your time & patience.

Susan aka Starsdawn
TAS BOD
TAS Newsletter Committee

Freshwater angelfish
Dear WWM crew
My name is Cassandra Allen and I am 9 years old. My dad said I should write to you about a question. He says you know a lot about fish and aquariums and are very helpful.

He gave me and my sister each a 29 gallon aquarium for Christmas. Then he divided his fish up between us so he could change his 80 gallon tank into saltwater.

I now have an angelfish that is about 4 years old and some golden barbs and Serpae tetras and a couple of Corys. Here's my question: About how long does a freshwater angelfish live? He looks kind of old. Thanks.

Fish Illness
I breed angelfish and recently a couple of juvies developed redness around the mouth between the eyes. They were in a cichlid tank (they were fish I was culling) with two cichlids and a handful of feeder fish, Rosies. I removed the juvies because of the redness thinking the angels were too big for the cichlids to consume. I put them in with approx. 50 other juvies who are now getting the same symptoms redness, not active, sometimes staying at the top and within two days are dying. At a closer look at the Rosies, a few were "bent" looking. Not having straight bodies. The only thing I've found online that maybe wrong is fish tank granuloma.

Is it possible this is what's wrong?

Thank you for your time, Stacey

Bullied Freshwater Angelfish
I have a sunset blusher angelfish that I introduced into a large aquarium. I first put a divider between her & the old angels so they could get used to each other. After a couple weeks I took out the divider and everything seemed fine. Well after just a couple days, I noticed that she was acting different. After close observation, I noticed that she had this white stuff covering one of her eyes. She also had frayed fins. She was looking very rough!

I immediately removed her from the tank & put her in the hospital. I put some Melafix in the tank.

Yesterday she was swimming on her side. Today she seems a little better, she ate a little. I am wondering if I should medicate her with something?

All her fins are in terrible shape. Please help. I do not want to lose this fish. Thanks you very much, Danielle

Freshwater Angelfish Question
I have had a single angelfish in with 2 Bala sharks and misc. community fish in a 30 gal. aquarium for about 5 years. Tonight I noticed the angelfish viciously protecting hundreds of little clear eggs stuck to the under gravel filter tubing daring any of the other fish to even venture to that side of the aquarium. Since there is no male how did this happen?

Is there any way they could hatch

and if so is there anything that I should do? This fish generally eats every other fish in there that is smaller than her.

Tank Suitability of Angels
Hello and thanks to the Crew,
I received an answer about my Azie (?) Shrimp, and yes, I think they are definitely taking chunks out of my other fish, in fact I think the big one got one of my otos ! So back to the LFS I go with them.. My question is, would I be able to introduce 2 small young angels in with my neons/cardinals, otos, black widows and soon to be Corydoras sterbai...we have a 240 litre Juwel aquarium all set up for a south American river habitat? The aims is to build up, at the moment we have otos, 2 neons (used to be 6 but due to shrimp there are fewer!)
Thanks for any response
Cheers, Nicola

Angel fish
I am in a bind. I have lost 20 angel fish in the past 72 hours. The first
symptoms I see are a slight fungus around the eye. Within 12 hours the fish
are dead. No other open wounds are seen except for one. All of the fish look
like they have lost their eyes. The sockets are wide open and sunken. There
is no fighting in the tank. Angelfish are the only breed in the tank.
The tank was started 2 years ago with 2 fish that soon after had a lot of
babies. Unfortunately for me and the fish, only a few of the fish died.
Because there were so many of them I changed the water on a weekly basis to
avoid ammonia buildup. Several months ago, I finally got a local store to
take about 30 of them, a friend to take another 20. So I was down to about
30 fish. I continued to change the water weekly and the fish looked fine.
Then I went on vacation and the water was not changed for 3 weeks. I now come home to this.
pH was off the lower end of the scale.

I put salt in the water I added ick and tried some fungus eliminator.
With each treatment I have done a complete water change.
Now i have Melaleuca CAS#8008-98-8 where do I go from here????

Re: angel fish
Thank you for answering back so quickly. Should I continue with the
Melaleuca CAS#8008-98-8 product (which is the only Rx I have in the tank
now) along with the aeration and drip? 

At present, the ph is 6.8.
At least I have not had any fish die since I first wrote you. I appreciate
your help. There are no fish doctors in this town only the fish supply
person (who at times I think is out for a sale).
Again thank you, thank you, thank you.
Jan