# Vicious Angels



## summ3r (Jul 23, 2006)

I bought 6 angels to go in my tank along with rainbows, bristlenose plecs, swords and cardinal tetras. Most of these fish had all been happily co-existing together for at least three years.
Within a week I'd lost both plecs, 4 swords, 2 tetras and 2 rainbows.
%$$#$#!!!

Every morning it would be an adventure to see who had bought it in the night. 
:/
But I couldn't figure out what was killing them off so quickly; I never saw any evidence of sickness in any of the fish - just the bodies in the morning. And the bodies were in bad shape because the shrimp had got at them. 
One morning I found one of the rainbows trying to swim but upside down at the bottom of the tank, not dead yet but as good as, most of the scales were missing from his back. At the same time another rainbow was missing scales in patches on both sides at the back. Both of them died that day. I can only think that they lasted as long as they did, instead of dying right away, because they were much bigger and stronger than any of the other fish. 
The next morning another of the rainbows had a small patch of scales missing from his side and he didn't look well. 
All I could think of was that the angels were somehow attacking them in the night. I bagged them all up and took them back to the store.
Since then the rainbow with the small patch of damage has recovered and nobody else has died.
mystery solved.


----------



## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

My mother always said they're darlings when they're little, but boy do they get mean when they're bigger. It must have been heart breaking to have to take your angels away. 

I know I had to move my one shrimp to her own tank because of her injuring other fish. It was probably a good idea because she's bigger than most of my fish now. But I had a tank to do that... I would have been broken hearted to have had to send her away. 

sorry to hear of your losses.


----------



## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Don't forget angels are cichlids, and with that comes some inherent aggression.


----------



## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

How big is your tank?


----------



## Fishfinder (Feb 17, 2008)

Same Q as Tabatha, how big is the tank, because it could have been a mini-cycle that was killing the fish and perhaps the angels just aggravated the fact by attacking the weakened fish. Its also always a good idea to do small water changes when new fish are added to help keep the tank cleaner till the beneficial bacteria can establish a larger colony to handle the addition waste from fish and food.


----------



## Tabatha (Dec 29, 2007)

Also, if the tank was too small, this may have caused aggression as well. Recommended space for angels is 10 gallons per fish!


----------



## Gargoyle (Aug 21, 2008)

You may also have had angels thinking of spawning, and trying to carve out space. When cichlids are in breeding mode, breeders refer to their companion schooling fish as "target fish." If the tank was under 3 feet along the front, trouble was unavoidable as the angels grew.

Still, angels in a territorial mood usually kill the main competition - each other. Odd.


----------



## summ3r (Jul 23, 2006)

It's a 65g tall tank. 
I had done my usual once a week 25% water change on Sunday just before I put the angels in, and then when I saw the deaths piling up day after day I thought there might be a problem with the water so I did another 25% three days later, on Wednesday.

It's been a week since I pulled the angels and everything is back to normal, and the injured rainbow is healthy and chipper again.
Except that now I've got a tank that's practically empty.
hey! that means I can get more fish!!


What if I get just ONE angel? It's a tall tank, built to have an angel wafting through it. My research said that angels prefer to be in groups of 4 or 6 so I went with a group but it seems like they turned into a gang of bullies. Would just one be ok? [Defining "ok" as A) not likely to display unsocial tendencies and B) not emotionally crippled by being a solo fish of its species]


----------



## Shattered (Feb 13, 2008)

Did you give the Angels a time-out for misbehavior?  

Someone in this forum once explained it very simplistically like this; Angels like all fish seek to establish two objectives, either passively or thru aggression. 

1. Territory for eating
2. Territory for breeding

From what you explained I would lean to the aggression due to objective 2. So having only one angel will eliminate that and chances are you will have peace.


----------



## summ3r (Jul 23, 2006)

Cool! Sounds like getting one angel is my answer.

But if I only get one angel, will it turn all psychopathic because there's only one of them?


----------



## KhuliLoachFan (Mar 8, 2008)

I think it depends a bit on which particular kind of angel you get. Some are more aggressive than others, at least thats been widely reported to me, and I've observed that, and read about several varieties that are "extra aggressive". I suspect you would have better luck if you buy a very young juvenile (only one). He'll get more aggressive as he grows up. I had no luck keeping an angel with really peaceful fish like mollies or platies, but hardier faster fish like danios were fine.

W


----------

