Frequently Asked Questions about
Angelfish

What other fish can I keep with angelfish?

We recommend that angelfish be kept by themselves for a few reasons. First, other fish commonly harbor pathogens that are not an obvious problem with to the other fish, but are very harmful to angelfish. Most people will not quarantine properly or know how to identify or eliminate these pathogens. Second, angelfish are cichlids and are typically fairly aggressive when they pair off. Smaller fish in the tank could be in danger. Lastly, some angelfish will not pair up as readily in a community situation (especially if it's crowded), and most of us wouldn't want that. The exception to this is keeping a bristlenose ansistrus or some corydoras with them if you are certain they don't carry pathogens. If you must have that community tank, then add some tetras that are too large to be eaten and possibly some of the more peaceful South Americans such as, discus, festivums or urarus. Remember to use a good quarantine procedure, or expect to lose your angelfish to disease.

What temperature should I keep my tanks at?

Raising angelfish can occur at a very wide range of temperature. The temperature you decide to keep them at, will vary with your goals. They can do quite well from about 72° to 95° F. At low temperatures, angelfish will live longer, tend not to breed as frequently, show less aggression and on the negative side, will have a less effective immune system. Higher temperatures will reverse the above to a large degree. You have to decide what is most important to you. Most people with show tanks, keep angelfish in the mid to upper 70's. Breeders tend to be raising angelfish in the lower 80's.

How often should I feed my angelfish?

This will be largely related to temperature and age.. If angelfish are kept warm, they will need more frequent feedings to keep up with the resulting higher metabolism. Juvenile angelfish over 4 weeks of age, kept at approximately 78°-80°, will do quite well with 3 feedings a day. Keep them at 82°-85° and you should probably increase this to at least 4 feedings a day. Full grown adults will need less than fish that are still growing, and producing female angelfish will need more food if you desire frequent spawning. If you are someone who cannot feed more than twice a day, we would recommend keeping and raising angelfish at a temperature no warmer than 77° F.

How often should I change their water?

This is one area where you can do too few, but you can't do too many. Many factors go into this. More angelfish per gallon require more frequent changes, as do higher temperatures, heavy feedings, high pH and large angelfish. You can change the water as frequently as every day or even after every feeding, but we would recommend no fewer than once a week in any circumstance. The more you change water, the easier keeping and raising angelfish becomes.

How much water should I change at one time?

No hard rules here either. If the water going in, has the same basic parameters of pH and hardness as the water being removed, you wouldn't be able to change too much. Tests have shown that changing 10% of the water everyday is less effective than changing 50% once every 5 days, in maintaining water quality. Many breeders of angelfish will change 50% of the water or more each day on tanks where they are raising angelfish, whereas a well planted, under-stocked show tank may do okay on only 20% a week.

How can I tell the male angelfish from the female angelfish?

There are some subtle differences that an experienced angelfish breeder can use to help identify mature males and females. In our experience, these differences do not exist on immature angelfish, all of the time. The only sure way to distinguish mature males from mature females is to examine the breeding tubes during spawning. The female's breeding tube is wider and more blunt than the male's. In some lines the mature male angelfish may show some other small differences. For instance, some may have a hump on the crown and some may be larger than the females. However, this may not hold true from line to line or even within a line. There are many who say the angle of the anal fin in relation to the belly of the angelfish, will identify the sex. We have not found this to be consistent, but it does appear to have some validity in some lines. The female angelfish will generally have a near 100°-110° angle formed by the forward edge of the belly and the anal fin. The male angelfish will have a greater angle in the range of 120°-150° degrees. Most often it requires a lot of experience to detect the subtle differences seen in some lines.

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