Tank mates for a breeding pair of angelfish

[Kim Esbye Blomberg]

2 of my angelfish has paired of, and has been laying eggs (and been eating them) for the last couple of months. I have removed the other angels and community tank mates that were in there, to help the pair in their breeding efforts. And to ensure they were not the ones eating the eggs. 

Turned out its definately the parents themselves eating them. 

This made me think though. 

Is there any good tank mates for a breeding pair of angels, that wont interfere in their breeding? 

The danish fishkeeper. 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Kim Esbye Blomberg

[ADMWNDSR83]

I am by no means an expert, but the research I've done has shown that breeding is the primary time when angels become very aggressive as they guard the young.  As far as eating the eggs, I've found several sources that say they will eat them at first, but then will mature and guard them ferociously.  I'd love to hear from people smarter than me!

[RovingGinger]

@Dean’s Fishroom did a video in the coop talking about breeding 3 varieties of fish in a 55. Believe he chose Apistogrammas, sterbai corys, and angels. 
 

If your tank is large enough you could try something like that? 

[Mr. Ed's Aquatics]

46 minutes ago, RovingGinger said:

@Dean’s Fishroom did a video in the coop talking about breeding 3 varieties of fish in a 55. Believe he chose Apistogrammas, sterbai corys, and angels. 
 

If your tank is large enough you could try something like that? 

I really liked that video since I had actually been making that setup and just added a pair of Angels from Dean to go with some Appistogramm and Corydoras I bred myself. 

I thought it was a good mix for what I call "working show tanks". Once I saw Dean recommended it, I was confident it would work well. 

Almost spooky when it was like "hey, that thing I did Friday is a video on YouTube today" ... from the same guy I met on Friday. 

[ange]

If your goal is to breed the angels, it's possible that tank mates aren't the issue. Some angels have had the parenting bred out of them unintentionally as many fish farms separate the parents from the eggs immediately in order to maximize survival rates of fry. KG Tropicals has an excellent series on the subject and this was one of the points addressed. This is the video in the series that best explains it. It's a bit long for me to put into one comment here so hopefully you have time to watch.

The breeder that is interviewed for this series does keep fish with his angels, usually guppies or other small fish and he refers to them as decoys as they usually draw harassment that the angels would otherwise put on each other. Another organism (not fish) that he uses is cherry shrimp, as many of them will eat eggs that are growing fungus. This role is supposed to be filled by the parents, but since many angels need to be separated from their eggs it ends up being done either by us (with a pipette) or by the cherry shrimp. Sorry I couldn't remember where exactly he mentions tank mates, but it's definitely brought up in the series so give it a watch if you can.