Henry the fish keeper Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Hello freshwater angelfish keepers! What is the minimum tank size for one angelfish? I am not planning to get more than one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 im not an angelfish person myself, but because of their finnage i would suggest a 29 as a minimum as it gives them some height for their fins. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry the fish keeper Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 I would like more answers from angelfish keepers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrencher_Scott Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 @HH Morant could help I'm sure. We will see if he's listening. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry the fish keeper Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 Ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 On 4/22/2022 at 8:54 AM, lefty o said: im not an angelfish person myself, but because of their finnage i would suggest a 29 as a minimum as it gives them some height for their fins. They are cichlids and need some room. 29G is mentioned because it's a tall tank. Minimum for me is going to be a 55G or a 40B. Preferably, honestly, 75. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry the fish keeper Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 On 4/22/2022 at 11:06 AM, nabokovfan87 said: They are cichlids and need some room. 29G is mentioned because it's a tall tank. Minimum for me is going to be a 55G or a 40B. Preferably, honestly, 75. Wait I am so confused. Dean says (in the freshwater angelfish care guide video) he keeps angelfish in 10G, 29G, and more. Can you clear things up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 On 4/22/2022 at 11:25 AM, Henry the fish keeper said: Can you clear things up? Dean is a breeder. So he has fish in various stages of their life in a variety of tanks. Full grown, adult angels in a long term tank.... Let me pull up and see what Dean is using specifically. That's very different than I think a tank that is used for display and not breeding. Dean also has very limited space and a TON of tanks. First thing dean says "this is a 29G tank, probably overloaded". (13 fish in one tank) and he clarifies that's JUST a holding tank while he is setting things up for pairing. Dean says 29G tank. no more than 4 adults. "if you overcrowd, make sure you do keep up with waterchanges" He says he's kept them in a 10G tank before. I don't think he recommends that in any way. I think as mentioned above 29G is the bare minimum because you want a tank with some vertical space. If you're keeping 1. a 20H does this as well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Rams Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 I have 14prs., each pr. is in a 20high. Been going great for years. Of course I use them as breeders, but fully planted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry the fish keeper Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 On 4/22/2022 at 12:27 PM, nabokovfan87 said: First thing dean says "this is a 29G tank, probably overloaded". (13 fish in one tank) and he clarifies that's JUST a holding tank while he is setting things up for pairing. Dean says 29G tank. no more than 4 adults. "if you overcrowd, make sure you do keep up with waterchanges" He says he's kept them in a 10G tank before. I don't think he recommends that in any way. I think as mentioned above 29G is the bare minimum because you want a tank with some vertical space. If you're keeping 1. a 20H does this as well. Would a tiny angel in a ten gallon for a bit do fine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 On 4/22/2022 at 12:54 PM, Henry the fish keeper said: Would a tiny angel in a ten gallon for a bit do fine? We had one in a 38G bowfront. It was about 24" tall. After three months the guy was chasing everything in the tank around. You never know the personality and they have some pretty specific needs. I would highly recommend starting with a 20H. If you have JUST one angel in the tank (maybe some corydoras or something on the bottom) then you can use a 10G. If it is one that happens to be tall it's going to have very little room and you're going to have an issue with flow depending on your filtration you're using. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry the fish keeper Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 Can you name an angelfish that is relatively short? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HH Morant Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 I think I agree with the trend of the people who are responding. A 20-gallon might be the minimum for one angelfish, although a 29 high would be better. I assume we are talking about mature adult fish. I have found that mature fish vary a good deal in size, so a 20 might be fine for one fish, but cramped for another. I have 13 adults in a 120. They are all about the same age - about a year and a half - but some are much bigger than others I have had as many as 300 young angelfish (2-3 months old) in another tank, which I think is about 115 gallons. As I have sold the fish, that number has decreased, but I still have about 50 adolescents in there. It was a new tank when I started putting the young angels in there in late December, so my sump's efficiency and the fish have grown together. I used Dave Bogert's method of cycling before I put in any fish: 2.3. How I Cycle (aquariumscience.org) Thanks for the mention, @Wrencher_Scott. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HH Morant Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Here is the tank with 300 angels - on February 11. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry the fish keeper Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 Woah! That is a lot of angels! 🤯 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 On 4/22/2022 at 4:44 PM, HH Morant said: Here is the tank with 300 angels - on February 11. i want to know how you count them??? i have a hard enough time with a couple dozen guppies. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HH Morant Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Counting them was hard. Naming them was even tougher. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HH Morant Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 I counted them when I put them in the tank and when I took them out. During the four months I have had various quantities of angels in the tank, I lost only one fish. Not sure why that one died. The little angels react like piranhas when you put food in there, so one day I noticed that one fish was not interested in food. The next day he died. His name was Grumpy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 If you're an ADD breeder (like I am) you probably do not stick with a single species terribly long. You can breed Angels even in a 20 gal. long. But if they grow to full size, that will definitely NOT do. Angels actually enjoy shoaling, so the very best arrangement is a large tank with a number of them together. I think that a 55 gal. is about right for someone looking to keep them awhile. But I think that a 75 gal. is ideal if you want to keep them for a lifetime. Don't get me wrong though . . . I cram them in when I'm breeding. It's just never a long-term proposition for me. I breed them, then sell the brooders as a confirmed pair, and sell off the young angels then too once their bodies are about dime-sized. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 On 4/22/2022 at 4:56 PM, HH Morant said: I counted them when I put them in the tank and when I took them out. During the four months I have had various quantities of angels in the tank, I lost only one fish. Not sure why that one died. The little angels react like piranhas when you put food in there, so one day I noticed that one fish was not interested in food. The next day he died. His name was Grumpy. as long as sneezy, dopey, and doc were okay! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nabokovfan87 Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 On 4/22/2022 at 3:06 PM, Fish Folk said: Angels actually enjoy shoaling, so the very best arrangement is a large tank with a number of them together. I think that a 55 gal. is about right for someone looking to keep them awhile. But I think that a 75 gal. is ideal if you want to keep them for a lifetime. Perfectly said, and if you end up getting one that yellow, feisty, attacking it's friend, and you name it Logan after wolverine..... Then I recommend having some tall plants to give the other fish in the tank somewhere to go. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 I tend to agree with @nabokovfan87on this one. While one angel in a 10 gallon should be fine, I would go larger if you can. 2 of my angels arrived at about 1.75 inches tall. 18 months later they are 3.5 inches tall. Their tankmate is about 6 inches. For now the 10 would be ok for the smaller pair. When you add substrate, filters, plants, decorations and dither fish, the 10 gallon would be a little cramped for the larger angel. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn T Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 I agree with many of the above about 29g MINIMUM for a single angel, as far as long-term confinement/display tank type of setup. I kept my angels (had 4 at that time) in a 55g when they were young and moved them into a 125g when they got bigger. Those fins got HIGH, and those girls and boys grew FAST. A 10g is fine temporarily for a very small, young angel, or for one who needs to be quarantine for a bit, but for an adult long-term? Definitely wouldn't be a good idea. They need room for those beautiful fins as well as room to swim. Oh, and my 55g and 125g tanks were communities, so the angels weren't in there alone. Just thought I'd note that. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HH Morant Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 Here is the tank today with about 50 angels (a little bigger now). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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