Angelfish in a 25 gallon

Pearl2011

I love the look of angelfish and would love to have a pair in my 24x20x12 inch 25 gallon tank. Is that what you could consider a tall tank? Anyhoo, how would I get a pair? Should I go with the group and hope to get a pair, or just pick two and hope for the best? Are angels easy to re-home, and if so, where would they go? I have no other tank for them.

Any other tips for a beginner with angel fish, aside from clean water, varied diet, no ammonia, nitrite?

Thx :)

Byron

The angelfish is a shoaling fish, meaning it lives in groups and needs this to be "happy" which means healthy and normal. They develop a social heirarchy within the group. As it attains 6 inches in body length, with an 8-inch fin span, they need more space, at least a 4-foot tank for a group of 5. You can read more in our profile, click the shaded name Pterophyllum scalare.

A breeding pair can be housed in a smaller tank, but this is only to breed them, no other fish.

Byron.

Pearl2011

Thanks Byron! I'll keep that in mind if I ever want to get them in the future.

Back the the drawing board, er, tank.

Byron

So to offer some suggestions. For this sized tank, I would stay with fairly small fish. The benefit is that with small fish you can have more of them, so that means the tank has more activity and interaction between fish which is more interesting. "Larger" fish tend to remain motionless; one might as well sit and look at a photograph.

Knowing your water parameters, namely GH and pH, will allow us to point you toward species that could work together.

Pearl2011

PH is dead on neutral (I got my dad to look at that one because I suck at reading that kind of thing) and according to a official report whatzit the hardness is 75. <-- Not sure what that would be considered.

Dwarf Puffer fish look interesting and the Glass Catfish are so neat. What other cichlid could pairs could I keep in here?

Byron

GH at 75 will be ppm (parts per million), so that equates to 4 dGH which is very soft. You will want soft water fish, which includes most of the characins, cyprinids, catfish, dwarf cichlids, anabantids, and so forth. Avoid livebearers and rift lake cichlids.

Cichlids are not easy in small tanks, but in a 24-inch you could have one dwarf species. Some of the Apistogramma species would work, we only have one in our profiles. The species in Dicrossus would be fine too, there are two in the profiles. [Profiles are under the second tab from the left in the blue bar across the top of the page].

If the name is the same in posts, it shades, and you can click it to see that profile, as the two fish you mentioned. Have a read; they have some very specific needs.

Pearl2011

How do you determine that (the hardness)? How many (if possible) gourami could I keep together? Are they as aggressive as bettas when keeping males together?

Byron

In GH, ppm can be converted to dGH by dividing by 17.9, and in reverse you can convert dGH by multiplying by 17.9. So 75ppm is 4.189 or 4 dGH. I assumed 75 is ppm because 75 dGH is next to impossible; very hard water is 30 dGH and it isn't likely to get much harder.

Gourami like betta are anabantids, and the males of all anabantids are territorial and thus somewhat aggressive. Some species are worse than others; the common Betta or Siamese Fighting Fish has been specifically bred to fight so they are worse, but two males of many gourami species in the same tank can result in one of them being killed, depends upon species. Same holds for cichlids.

There are many gourami species, check the profiles as most of the available ones are included.

Pearl2011

I have (finally) chosen a fish! Dwarf puffers! How many could I keep together, if possible and can they have tank mates? Is there anybody on here who breeds them?

Byron

In a 25g with lots of plants--and this is essential to provide thick cover for territory definement especially if you have more than one male--you could have a small group. Most recommend 2-3 females with one male. Males may fight to the death at breeding time. We do have members with dwarf puffers, so you might have better luck getting info by posting a new thread in the puffer section.