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I couldn't save their poor little souls.... [32 gallon to stock]

7K views 57 replies 16 participants last post by  British 
#1 ·
Well, the friend that stuffed 28 fish in that little 12 gallon is no longer an aquaintance of mine. I went over to do my daily water change and all of the fish were on the bottom or at the top of a murky red tank; dead. He laughed when I confronted him about it. I feel horrible I couldn't save these fish.... I wanted to so badly.... Turns out he killed them all and enjoyed watching them slowly meet their demise. He put a slit in each one of their little throats and watched them die. I'm infuriated and sickened. I don't know how anyone could do that to a fish.. Sick, sick man.

On the brighter side of things, I now have a 32 gallon custom to stock. It's perfect for Angelfish and I'd love a mated pair. I would like more information on them doing so and how I can acheive this. How do you sex and Angelfish? Also, what would be good tankmates for Angelfish? I would only like two Angelfish, but do not want an empty-looking tank. Would this be okay:

2 Angelfish (Mated Pair)
2 Kribs (M/F)
1 Red-Tailed Shark
1 Powder Blue Gourami (M)
1 Betta (male or female?)

I think it would be a Beautiful tank with these inhabitants, but is it okay for these fish?
It has around 7.2-7.4 pH and an Undergravel Filter.

Sincerely,
British
 
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#31 ·
Hi there British (and others...)

Just read about your incident and although I do sympathize with you regarding these fish, I do feel you are possibly taking it a little too personally. At 15 years old this will be one of MANY time you will encounter people who JUST DONT CARE. You need to find a way to deal with it because you only have one good hand left...LOL...which brings me to my next more serious issue...How is your hand? What did the x-rays show? Going to be difficult to work on your tanks and not get your cast wet...
 
#32 · (Edited)
Off topic: You went vegan when you were 9??? What got you into that, I thought I was hardcore because I went vegetarian at 11 but I've only been vegan for two years and I'm 18 now. I would be careful about how you associate your self with peta, Ingrid is insane and everyone knows. Usually once you say you're a proud member of peta your argument gets thrown out the window, it's better to fight the eco way. More people listen when you say the beef industry pumps out more green house gases annually then all the cars in the world. A lot of people truly don't care about farm animals, just my two cents anyways, peta doesn't know how to get peoples attention without offending them therefore turning them off of our lifestyle.

Edit: Out of all my years punching holes in walls and the odd concrete one, I've never managed to break my fist. I do have some misshaped knuckles though... Lol wait maybe I did do something to it I never actually get it checked out, ice does wonders.
 
#35 ·
Reading through previous posts, to sum up I think you (British) are now thinking 4 small angels and a bottom fish? Good idea in my view, although I would go with five angels. And corydoras are excellent tankmates, 3 now and 3 later would work (minimum 3 is best, they are very social and do not do well singly).

Plants like vallisneria and saggitarria, and/or amazon swords, would be good with the angels. The vertical stripe on the angels is camouflage, in their native habitat they live in quiet water among tall plants and twigs, roots, etc., a clue to acquascaping, and in groups.

I concur with earlier suggestions not to mix gouramis or kribs with angels.

Byron.
 
#37 ·
My hand is completely shattered along with my wrist. Dislocations, snaps and complete shattering. The list of specifics is too long to post. I can manage working on tanks with my left hand. I'm just so indecisive about stocking. :p
 
#38 ·
I'm sorry to hear about what happened, if I asked someone to look after my tanks and they did that, well I don't think i can say what i would do to them (for legal and morale reasons).

From my experience with gouramis and angels they don't get along unless your tank has alot of swimming space. As for a pair of kribs they would be ok until they try to breed then they will get very aggresive. Red tailed sharks are very aggresive aswell, i don't know why they are 'community' classed fish because my girlfriends sister had a 6.5 foot tank and it was still territorial in that.

Easiest way to sex angels or get a pair is to get 6 to 8 wait for a pair to come from them then return the rest to your lfs, you should probably speak to the manager first about the angels and explain you are tryin to get a pair.
 
#41 ·
I've decided. Saturday when I go to the petshop I will buy four angels. Do you all think a few (three-four) Mollies would be alright with them? When a pair forms I'll give the others to the petshop for free. I'm going to wait off on getting bottom fish, unless I can find a bristlenose pleco. Would this be okay until they form a pair:

4 Angels
4 Mollies/Platies
(1 Bristlenose Pleco?)

Sincerely,
British
 
#43 ·
Swordtails do very well with angels. I would lean towards swordtails or platies over mollies
 
#45 ·
yes
 
#48 ·
Just a caution, if you have a male and female platy or swordtail (they will interbreed as NCFrank correctly said) you will have hundreds of fry for months. I just finished a post in another thread on this topic. Livebearers can mate very young before it is even possible to differentiate males from females without very close observation, and once impregnated, a female stores the sperm and can deliver dozens of fry every 2-3 months for several times. And during this period, it is best to separate her from the male(s) as they will hound her attempting to mate again and frequently the female dies as a result. All males or all females avoids this--provided you find females that have not been impregnated which in a store tank of males and females would be next to impossible.

Byron.
 
#47 · (Edited)
FYI, a fish stores will not be able to distinguish a female vs. a male angelfish...trust me! I just bought 3 adult angelfish from a breeder and even he couldn't distinguish male from female. You can't be certain it seems until they spawn. And if they're not fully grown, it's impossible to tell. In fact, I would have SWORN that one of my angelfish was a male...but then she spawned eggs. I was convinced she was a male for several months, turned out I was wrong.

As far as breeding them goes, there's ALOT of work that goes into it. I was just reading a post on the angelfish forum (angelfish.net) about someone who was successfully breeding angelfish for a while, so he knew what he was doing. All of a sudden his fry is dying off at a certain stage and the possible causes to this seem endless. I personally pull the eggs because I don't have what it takes to raise fry. I know alot of people will argue that angelfish make great parents, but they're held in captivity so you have to be very involved in the process and for providing perfect conditions so that they survive.

And one last note if you are going to try breeding. If you buy 3 of the same type of angelfish from the same batch, you most probably will be interbreeding them. The breeder that I bought my fish from was telling me about some of the issues that arise from relentless interbreeding (even physical characteristics). Just some food for thought.

BTW, bristlenose plecos are supposed to be better for angelfish as opposed to common plecos. If your angelfish lay eggs however, you'll have to move the eggs into a breeding tank because the plecos and other fish may have caviar when the lights go out.
 
#52 ·
Yeah, what that kid did is pretty disgusting and sounded like he knew exactely what he was doing putting twenty eight fish into a 12 gallon.. And the slitting their necks? That means he had to catch each and every one and get an exacto knife or something... Probablly took him more than a few minutes... What a jack ass.

I have 4 Angelfish in my 55g right now, they get along great with my Blue Dwarf Gourami. Right now they are also with a full sized Siamese Algae Eater and 4 Burmese Zebra Loaches.....


In my opinion, do not put the betta in with your angelfish...
 
#54 · (Edited)
I don't know, I managed to type this with just one hand and with the exception of capitalizing,,Found it not to be all that difficult and only took me slightly longer than otherwise. I might add ,that my typingskills I would imagine,,are only slightly better than a monkey's.
I do find it troubling that someone would go to all the trouble of slitting the throats of the fish. T he others prolly died from shock after witnessing the fate of the first fish thus,,, making it unnecessary to repeat the deed on the others.
 
#56 ·
Believe me or not, I know what I saw and did. This board seems to be making it's way to the rubbish bin. I wish to cause no issues. Thank you.

Sincerely,
British
 
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