Angelfish aggression question

**luke77** · 01-30-2013, 01:06 PM

Ok so I have a black marble in my tank. Thursday I rescued a silver domestic and the body of this fish is the size of the palm of my hand, it's huge. Those 2 angels get along great. Well yesterday I was able to get a pair of very large koi angels for my tank as well that have been together since birth. But their not a breeding pair. Well ever since adding the koi angels the big silver domestic has chased them and pestered them everywhere. Now will this stop once they establish a pecking order or am I gonna have to rehome someone? My tank is a 55 gallon.

**madagascariensis** · 01-30-2013, 01:20 PM

That is what happens when you add new cichlids to a setup already containing cichlids without taking further precautions. The old cichlids will feel like some intruder is invading their territory. You could, if it is only limited to chasing without any actual damage, just try waiting it out for the newbies to get accepted, or try rearranging your tank to break up already existing territories to give the new fish a chance to establish themselves, or even more drastically, remove the old fish for a short while, again with the intent to let the new ones establish themselves.

**KingFisher** · 01-30-2013, 01:23 PM

In my experience a 55g does not have enough room for 4 angels. I tried it years ago and ended up having to rehome two of them after they were nearly killed. I would stick with the first two and move the others.

**Drumachine09** · 01-30-2013, 01:25 PM

Rearranging the tank is great advice. Worked for me every time I tried it. Another thing you can do is add some more decor, such as big leafy plants to break up the line of sight, so the fish aren't always seeing eachother. It also helps to keep the aggression down.

**Honey Badger 1** · 01-30-2013, 01:30 PM

You never know with angels, changing the tank around and adding more decorations might work, but more often than not, it doesn't work once there is an established fish or pair of fish in the tank. 55 gallon doesn't give each angel much territory to claim and the aggression is more likely to continue and get worse. Angels are some of the more passive cichlids but they are still cichlids and at times will act like it.

**luke77** · 01-30-2013, 01:39 PM

There has been no actual fin nipping or injury done just chasing. Man I really like them koi angels. Their colors are awesome.

**Honey Badger 1** · 01-30-2013, 01:41 PM

That is a great excuse for a new tank!

**luke77** · 01-30-2013, 01:48 PM

This is a new tank only 4 months old, upgraded from a 20 gallon. This is it for me only one tank at a time.

**Sandz** · 01-30-2013, 01:57 PM

Sad... sick denial of MTS... DOCTOR I NEED AN IV STAT!

Just FYI, the only time multiple angels have worked for me is when I bought several at the same time from the same clutch and had them in the 55. THey were half the size of yours. With adult angels its tricky. Good advice has already been provided. Good luck!

**luke77** · 01-30-2013, 03:47 PM

Update the big silver domestic is wanting to ram the one koi relentlessly. So both the koi angels are now in a bucket going back to the Pet store. Don't want one of them or both to get killed. Boy I learned a lesson on this. It seems the silver one I added and the black one I already had have paired up and Sampson(what my wife is calling it now) is gonna guard her ferociously.