NickD Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 How many angelfish should I put into my 29 gallon tank, the ones at the store are young and measure I guess around 1.5 inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimOp Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 (edited) Out of all the cichlids, Angels and discus are the most chill. That being said, they all have personalities and a pair of mating angels can get aggressive, especially when mating. Adults can be as big a 6 inches so in a 29 I wouldn't put more than 4 in. Edited July 4, 2023 by JimOp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 On 7/4/2023 at 3:50 AM, JimOp said: Angels and discus are the most chill. I can't agree with angels being chill. It is more like, if you are lucky, you can have an angel that is chill as an adult. But even then, it usually only gives an idea about past and now. Not future. With angels, things can change anytime. Keeping angels in a community tank feels like keeping a betta in a community tank for me. Depends a lot on the character. Except, bettas usually give an idea about their behavior very soon, meanwhile angels having no guarantee to not change even if they act peaceful at first. Personally I wouldn't keep any angels in a 29g except as a pair for breeding project, or as a grow out tank. And I wouldn't keep any angels without a backup plan myself. You may need to separate one or another anytime. I don't think angels are beginner friendly, I have one tank I want some fish type of fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimOp Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 Let me clarify "chill" On a scale from one to ten concerning cichlids only I put Discus and Angles as 1 and 2 and Oscars and Jack Dempseys as 9 and 10. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennie Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 On 7/4/2023 at 6:40 PM, JimOp said: Let me clarify "chill" On a scale from one to ten concerning cichlids only I put Discus and Angles as 1 and 2 and Oscars and Jack Dempseys as 9 and 10. that is a big mouth comparison with a huge size difference there tho. A peaceful but big in size catfish will also slurp any fish if given a chance. Same goes for an angel. An adult angel will eat any small sized fish if fits in its mouth. Angels and discus have fairly small mouth compared to oscars and jack dempseys. You can't home a monster fish in a 29g tank anyway. It would be more ideal to compare angels versus other community tank cichlids that can be kept in smaller or mid size community tanks in my personal opinion. Like bolivian rams, german blue rams, kribensis, apisto species, etc. if the tank size increases, maybe electric blue acaras, geophagus tapajos. severums, maybe discus. 4 angels is very risky for a newbie without any backup plan in such tank size I believe. Even one, I think. I hate to sound demotivating but 4 angels for a newbie sounds very unlikely to go well in the future for a new hobbyist. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimOp Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 (edited) I would like to walk back my recommendation and I agree with Lennie. As they stated you are a brand new fish keeper, I did not know that. As such caution is warranted, we want you to succeed and starting with harder fish is not the way. I agree that it is not be a good choice for someone that is just starting out. My original statement of them being chill for a cichlids is actually lost when you have no idea how cichlids act. My apologies for not realizing this was the first tank. I had not read any of your previous posts. Edited July 4, 2023 by JimOp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted July 4, 2023 Author Share Posted July 4, 2023 All good, but if I start with very young angelfish how long would they last (meaning how long will it take for them to be too big for a 29 gallon) until I should put them in a bigger tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimOp Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 Angels take about a year to mature but they can start breading as early as 6 months. They can live up to 10 years. They are a long term commitment. I highly suggest you start with something easier in a 29 gallon community tank. That way you can learn how to deal with tank problems before making problem tanks. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 In a 29 i would not keep adult 29s just not large enough for swimming et all. You can breed a pair in a 29 but it really isn't large enough (imho) for their entire life. Having said that a single female can work as they are smaller and less active than the males. However you cannot sex young angelfishes. Having said that you could easily keep 4 or 6 young ones (dime to a bit over quarter); but plan on removing them or giving them away when they get larger. As adults angels fight constantly among themselves - depending on their sexes - and i won't describe all the combinations but it gets messy. In a 120 i'm lucky to have long term tranquility with 3 or 4 (4 foot long 2 foot wide); unless they are all the same sex or esp mild during breeding cycle (and i have had some excellent parents that didn't go on a terror; but conversely I've had parents who tried to claim the entire tank - so there is a huge amount of variance depending on specific fishes). Prior to maturity you can easily keep 10-12 in a 120 (near adult size but not yet fighting over who gets which mate et all). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted July 4, 2023 Author Share Posted July 4, 2023 Any recommendations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimOp Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 (edited) Lots of suggestions on the net. here is a couple:https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/5-best-fish-tank-ideas-for-a-29-gallon-aquarium Edited July 4, 2023 by JimOp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted July 5, 2023 Author Share Posted July 5, 2023 Interesting, I must see if my local store has some of those cichlids Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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