Angelfish tankmates

[Steve]

Quick question for those that know about angelfish. My nieces boyfriend has a small (15-20g'ish) tank that he had a pair of angels in and one recently died, so my niece wants to get him a few fish for his upcoming birthday. She wants me to go to the LFS with her later this week and pick out s few fish. Probably a couple more angels, but what eles makes good tankmates for angelfish? I've never had angels so don't know much about them.

[linuxrulesusa]

I would start by getting the exact tank dimensions.

I have a young pair of angels in a 20 high (24x12x16) and they will need to move out soon.  They are probably 1.5x silver dollar body size. 

Realistically, no more than 2 angels in a 20g high...a 29g would be better, and long term a 30 long or even 4' tank would be ideal for 1 pair (2 pair might work in a 4' tank, but often not. 

There's a decent change the angels will kill their tankmates if they decide to breed, or each other if they are all males. 

With a single angelfish, you could possibly do a pair of rams (small ones like Germans/golds/electric blues) and a small school of tetras.  But the small school of tetras may get eaten by the angelfish in time.  And larger tetras won't have enough room.

[Marty]

I would think a few Corydoras would do alright with angels.

[linuxrulesusa]

I would think a few Corydoras would do alright with angels.

That's true. They're pretty hardy.  Only possible issue in my opinion is that the smaller cories that would do well in a 20g (24x12) tank are a bit more sensitive and/or expensive vs. the more common larger ones.  Would you think so?

[Steve]

I know it's no bigger than 20g so maybe the suggestion of a couple rams and maybe a couple cories as well sounds like it might be a good one. I don't want her to get him fish that would cause him tank space issues. I have 5 cories myself in my 10g beta tank and they are nice little fish to have. On the Rams are there any species of rams that stay smaller than others or are they pretty much all the same size when they are full grown?

[linuxrulesusa]

I know it's no bigger than 20g so maybe the suggestion of a couple rams and maybe a couple cories as well sounds like it might be a good one. I don't want her to get him fish that would cause him tank space issues. I have 5 cories myself in my 10g beta tank and they are nice little fish to have. On the Rams are there any species of rams that stay smaller than others or are they pretty much all the same size when they are full grown?

Avoid Bolivians.  The others...blue, gold, and electric blue are color morphs of the same species and stay small.

[African cichlid Keeper]

I would start by getting the exact tank dimensions.

I have a young pair of angels in a 20 high (24x12x16) and they will need to move out soon.  They are probably 1.5x silver dollar body size. 

Realistically, no more than 2 angels in a 20g high...a 29g would be better, and long term a 30 long or even 4' tank would be ideal for 1 pair (2 pair might work in a 4' tank, but often not. 

There's a decent change the angels will kill their tankmates if they decide to breed, or each other if they are all males. 

With a single angelfish, you could possibly do a pair of rams (small ones like Germans/golds/electric blues) and a small school of tetras.  But the small school of tetras may get eaten by the angelfish in time.  And larger tetras won't have enough room.

^I agree

[Helloitsme]

I agree with the Corydoras. Avoid the long fin varieties of any fish the Angles will chew their fins up. A Bristlenose pleco and a Clown Loach would be a nice addition as well. IMO.

[JeffroM]

Clown loaches should never be kept alone.  Absolute minimum is 3 and best a few dozen together.  A small group of clown loaches would be good tank mates.

[linuxrulesusa]

Clown loaches should never be kept alone.  Absolute minimum is 3 and best a few dozen together.  A small group of clown loaches would be good tank mates.

We are talking about a 20 gallon, right?  Would you put even juvenile clown loaches in there?  The loaches I kept (yoyo, zebra, skunk) were nippy.  I would not personally do them with angels.  Maybe in a bigger tank. 

[Nick]

I've noticed loaches acting liking they are nibbling but I have never seen damage or stress caused from the occasional running of their bristles on a fishes body. Almost like an automatic cleaning system for the fish I have had.

[Steve]

Just thought I'd let you guys know what we ended up with. Took Marty's advice and we went last Monday and got him a trio of about 1.25" Corydoras. They also had some pretty neat looking swordtails that were a nice blue/gray color so we also got him a trio of those. He has had them in his tank for about a week now and they are doing well and he was happy so mission accomplished. Thanks for the help.

[TrailerParkFishTanks]

sweet the corys will be fun to watch in that tank.