Stinson Beach Aquatics Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 Hello all! I’ve read conflicting information on this compatibility so I wanted to open it up to you guys. Has anyone had success with angelfish and chile rasboras together? The tank would have plenty of plants and rocks for boundaries and territories. I was thinking a pair of koi angels with around 10ish chili’s in a 31g tank. Just throwing the idea around but looking to try a schooler other than tetras. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazalanche Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 As someone that has kept angels & chili rasboras for many years in separate tanks, I'd highly recommend against it. Things might be fine while the angels are small, but once their mouths are large enough, the chilis would become a snack. I've witnessed some angels going after Cardinal tetras and even lemon tetras, which were bigger than an adult angel's mouth. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 No shot 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach Cruiser Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 Even my fully adult Harlequin Rasboras are wary of the Angel pair in the tank. Anything smaller would just be an expensive snack. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 I’ve heard of angels slowly picking off even adult rummynose tetras that get to 2” so anything smaller would be a snack. Chilis barely come out anyway so they would likely not be seen in a tank with angels as the angels got bigger than an inch. Then they would indeed be invisible as they got picked off. I would bet that the chilis that are adult at barely 3/4” would start to get eaten before the angels are even half grown. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinson Beach Aquatics Posted September 3 Author Share Posted September 3 Okay, makes sense. I’ll try something bigger instead. Thanks for sparing me the loss! 🙏 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted September 4 Share Posted September 4 (edited) Sounds like you’ve already gotten all the advice, but I agree with what had already been said. I keep both Chili’s, and Angels, in separate tanks, and I agree with the others that those are some expensive snacks! Edited September 4 by AllFishNoBrakes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazalanche Posted September 4 Share Posted September 4 On 9/3/2024 at 9:13 AM, Odd Duck said: Chilis barely come out anyway... A LARGE school of them shoaling all over the top half of a 55 gallon aquarium is a sight to behold! Any given year I have 24-50 in my school. I still haven't been able to get them to breed, so as they die off from old age, I'll order a couple dozen to get their numbers back up. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinson Beach Aquatics Posted September 5 Author Share Posted September 5 (edited) On 9/4/2024 at 1:40 PM, Tazalanche said: A LARGE school of them shoaling all over the top half of a 55 gallon aquarium is a sight to behold! Any given year I have 24-50 in my school. I still haven't been able to get them to breed, so as they die off from old age, I'll order a couple dozen to get their numbers back up. Ooh very tempting idea to try 🤔 If you just go with chilis in a 31g with really good filtration, what do you think, maybe get away with having 20 - 25 or so? It wouldn’t have the same effect but it’d still be cool. Edited September 5 by Stinson Beach Aquatics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tazalanche Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 I'm not sure. That's a pretty light bioload, so it shouldn't be an issue. In my situation, it's a heavily planted 55 gallon aquarium with an eheim 2217 canister filter and a large one of the new style ACO sponge filters. It's stocked with 2-4 dozen each of chili rasboras, pygmy corydoras, & neocaridina shrimp, with a few each of celestial pearl danios and emerald dwarf rasboras... plus unwanted ramshorn snails that hitchhiked in on a plant addition. The CPDs & EDRs didn't thrive as well in there, so after they die off from old age, I'll pick another mid-water nano fish species to replace them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stinson Beach Aquatics Posted September 5 Author Share Posted September 5 Very cool! Thanks for the info and ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odd Duck Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 On 9/4/2024 at 3:40 PM, Tazalanche said: A LARGE school of them shoaling all over the top half of a 55 gallon aquarium is a sight to behold! Any given year I have 24-50 in my school. I still haven't been able to get them to breed, so as they die off from old age, I'll order a couple dozen to get their numbers back up. That’s what I keep trying to do. I had close to 60 in the 100 G at one point (that’s when they hung out in 2 groups, one at each end), but they’re often already adults when purchased and fairly short lived little guys (depending on what source you believe, either 2-3 years, 2-4 years, 4-6 years, or 4-8 years. Somebody is way off, but it’s hard to tell who. I think it’s more likely to be on the lower end as it’s very unusual for such small fish to live in the 6-8 year range. They certainly haven’t lived that long for me. They've also been a bit tough to get in at a decent price for a while now. I’ve been trying to get a good colony going in my 14 G cube thinking they might breed and be able to supply the 100 G with replacements to maintain the bigger shoal there but I can’t even keep enough in the cube to know if it will work. The current group is doing well, but I’d like to at least double it and at least 5 times as many as I currently have in the 100 G. I’ve tried buying locally and the last time my LFS ordered them they got the exclamation points, not actually chilis. I’ve tried ordering but they haven’t done super well when shipped. At this point I’ll have to wait for cooler weather before I can order more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biotope Biologist Posted September 5 Share Posted September 5 Running any small shoaler in a larger fish tank is very rewarding. In larger shoals they tend to keep their natural behaviors more and socialize more. Without predators small shoals tend to break up and strike off on their own. If you want a larger centerpiece fish geophagus are a good bet, although 31g is not enough space imo for them. I would go at least 50g. Very docile fish as long as you don’t mind your decorating choice to be…. Scrutinized and moved to a more… suitable… location Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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