Stock Opinions

[abcdefghi]

Back at the beginning of the year I upgraded my 55G to a 125G tank, at the time I had wanted to simply add a bunch of angels to the tank along with my existing stock and call it a day. A few things happened along the way and now I only have 1 angel, along with a bunch of other fish.

However, lately I have been wondering if I should have kept with my original plan of about a dozen angels. At the moment in the tank I have:

1 x angel
11 x australian rainbows
7 x apisto
8-10 x coral red pencil fish
a handful of candy cane tetras
a bunch of corys

I am wondering whether to swap out the rainbows for between 9-11 more angelfish. My problem is though that the rainbows are really awesome fish, providing a lot of color and activity to the tank. They are also one of the few things I have ever had spawn (although no eggs, much less fry made it in a community tank!!) But, I know if I keep them then realistically I can't add more angels.

So, what would you do? Rehome the rainbows and go with what you originally wanted? or stick with what you have? The tank is fairly heavily planted, with plenty of filtration (2 x canisters, but I also have a sponge filter I could run if I needed).

Thanks.

 

[Becca]

I'm actually kind of surprised the Rainbows don't eat the pencils. I'm also a little surprised they don't terrorize the Apistos by virtue of their sheer existence.

We have 8-10 Rainbows in a 210 with 11 or 12 Discus, plus a few schools of tetras, plus a horde of doradid-type catfish, a few Cupidos, some "friendly puffers," and 2 8" L128 plecos. The tank runs on an FX5 and FX6 and gets weekly 50% water changes, though we can skip a week without issue.

If you're good on your maintenance, you could probably add some angels - why not go with 5 or 6, as opposed to 11 or 12? If Discus can handle rambunctious rainbows, Angels should be able to hack it.

 

[abcdefghi]

The Rainbows ignore the Pencils entirely, just looked over my shoulder and saw a bunch of them literally right in front of the Rainbows face and they may as well have been invisible. The Apistos also seem to ignore them or just not be bothered by them, but they do have plenty of rocks, wood and plants to swim around, where the Rainbows are typically mid/upper level in the tank.

5-6 would be a good number as well, typically I do around a 40-50% weekly water change unless something happens where I can't get to it. Even then it would be rare that it goes 2 weeks without a change, usually would be 10 days and then another 4 days later.

 

[Becca]

Yeah, I mean, hopefully others will chime in, but I think you could add some angels without it being too problematic.

I guess I've never seen my Australian rainbows bother anything but each other, but I've got Madagascar rainbows in the 125 and those guys are serious jerks, especially to any other topdwelling fish.

 

[jonclark96]

I'd give it a shot adding more angels, but only the 5-6 Becca recommends. Your bioload isn't that much, as you have a good amount of small fish. In the long run, a dozen angels may not work out well once they pair up and try to breed. 2 or 3 pairs out of 6 fish wouldn't be bad, but I think if you had 4 or 5 pairs in one tank they would get rough on each other.

 

[abcdefghi]

Thanks both. I think I will start looking around for some new angels, hopefully with a group of 6 or 7 in there and plenty of room there should not be much if any real aggression. If there is then I can cross that bridge when I come to it.

 

[Becca]

Thanks both. I think I will start looking around for some new angels, hopefully with a group of 6 or 7 in there and plenty of room there should not be much if any real aggression. If there is then I can cross that bridge when I come to it.

I don't know if he still has any, but Josh at Batfish Aquatics brought in some stunning peruvian altums a while back. I have 5 of them (2 that look like they're considering pairing up and making everyone else miserable) and they are just gorgeous, robust fish. Frank Cowherd also has lovely captive-bred angels.

 

[abcdefghi]

Hmm might contact Josh, I got my rainbows from him and they are amazing looking. They look fairly bland initially but once settled, have a great blue shimmer to them. I suspect they are getting set to spawn again as the large male is hassling one of the females.

 

[FishEggs]

You could also forget the angels and go with other rainbows.

 

[abcdefghi]

Much as I love the rainbows I have, it's either adding more angels or sticking with what I have.

 

[abcdefghi]

Picked up 5 silver angels today, into the QT tub they will go.

May still look to rehome the rainbows, will see how things go. They spawned again this past week.