# Angel fish behaviour



## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

I got angelfish about 4 months ago and this has been my first experience with them, I was wondering if anyone else has seen this kind of behaviour...

The story:

At the beginning I got three angelfish: angelfish 1 (large (comparitively)), angelfish 2 (medium) and angelfish 3 (small). They quickly formed a dominance heirarchy with angelfish 1 at the top. Angelfish 1 bullied angelfish 2 but both angelfish 1 and 2 left angelfish 3 alone. I guessed that angelfish 1 bullied angelfish 2 into submission because being the closest in size, angelfish 2 was the nearest thing to a threat on his position. Angelfish 3 was so small that he wasn't a threat to either.

About a month later I added another angelfish (angelfish 4) to make up an even number. Angelfish 4 was smaller than all the other 3. Angelfish 1 started to bully angelfish 4 but in the first week or so of having angelfish 4, angelfish 2 challenged angelfish 1 and they fought for dominance. Angelfish 2 lost and became very reclusive and submissive, hiding all the time. Angelfish 1 switched his bullying to angelfish 2, I guess to make sure that he stayed down and didn't get any more ideas.

Sometime in the next week I peered into the tank and saw something bizarre: angelfish 4 (the smallest of the lot!) was bullying angelfish 1. Without my notice angelfish 4 must have challenged angelfish 1 and won, however angelfish 1 still demonstrated his dominance over angelfish 2 so it was like they had formed a dominance partership. From then on the two of them hung out together casually, but haven't showed any mating signs. 

During this time angelfish 4 had had rapid growth, growing to the size of angelfish 2. Angelfish 3 however, after being permanently ignored, stayed the same size or, if possible, actually shrinked. He hid close to the ground all the time and wouldn't come out to eat. One day I found him panting and tilted in the water so I put him in a breeder net and fed him seperately but he wasn't able to eat and he died later that day. I believe that he was pushed so far into submission by the dominace of the other fish that eventually he was depressed (I don't mean like we get depressed, but I mean his bodily functions were depressed) into not eating and eventually he starved/exhausted himself to death. Which was a bit upsetting .

A few weeks after this I was started to notice the same symptoms in angelfish 2 (hiding all the time with his fins down and starting to miss meals) so to prevent the same happening to him I moved him to my other tank (tetras only) where he has started swimming around and has his appetite back, which makes me think it really is due to the dominance of the others.

I think I'll try to feed him back to health and confidence and then maybe return him to the fish shop. In the mean time angelfish 1 and 2 are still getting on ok and looking as healthy as ever so I think its best to leave them on their own.

Interesting  ? I thought angelfish were group animals but this makes me wonder.


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## Snakes r grreat (Aug 21, 2006)

Sorry to hear about angelfish 3  . Alngelfish i find can be a funny fish to predict sometimes. Most people will say not to have them with small fish such as tetra's because they will eat them, which they can and will do sometimes. Some people including me have kept them with small fish with no problems at all. 

Angels can be kept in groups, but i would always go for 6 or more to try and cut down on the dominance, with 3 or 4, 2 will probably pair up which sounds like they have now, then they will target the others left over to make their own territory. I also had 2 together for over 18 months and not a problem, then they started mouth locking and that was the end of it. How big is the tank they are in?

You will probably get some people who will reply with another experience on angels that goes against what i said, i think you will always get this with all fish, but angels are a good one for this.


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## intravenous (Dec 20, 2006)

None of the angelfish are big enough to eat tetras yet (when I said 'large' I just meant in comparison to the other angelfish it was with).

I think I'm going to keep angelfish 1 and 4, and if angelfish 2 recovers I think I'll return him to the shop.

The tank they were all in is Juwel Rekord 70 (70 litres). I know this is too small for them as adults but these are all quite far off adult size.


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## Emz118 (Nov 22, 2006)

Angel fish can be nasty! We used to have dominance issues at the aquatics shop I worked in, but only when there were a few in stock. 

When we had 30 in a 4 foot cubed tank they were all hapy as larry, when we moved that last few to another tank all sorts of stuff was going on!

Emma xXx


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## Coppyhill (Aug 10, 2008)

I am relatively new to aquatics. I recently bought 2 angel fish of the same size, one Zebra and one Diamond Coi (think thats the right spelling!) I settled them in and they areliving happily with a male Betta, neons, white cloud minoes and some guppies. I put a little mirror in the tank the other day to entertain the Betta, which it did but when I went to take it out I found that it was not the Betta who was obsessing with it, it was the Diamond Coi Angel. He was knocking the Betta out of the way to get to the mirror! Anyone got any suggestions why? (apart from loving his own reflection!)


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## bullet tooth t0ny (Apr 24, 2008)

people forget that angel fish are a cichlid at the end of the day.you are right to say that your tank is far to small for your angel fish.i have four angels myself and they are always picking on each other.nothing to nasty and it never gets out of hand.i know of some angels that have to be kept on their own cos they are to nasty to mix.however you can get a group that will live together with no problems.the thing you have to watch for is when you take the others away the remaining two might still fight.or they could pair off.

welcome to the wonderful world of cichlid keeping.:2thumb:


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## bullet tooth t0ny (Apr 24, 2008)

just looked at the date of this post.:lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2:


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