Is this normal?

kadieradcliffe

Is it normal for my angel fish to basically wait at the surface of his/her water at night time (upright) when I turn everything off. While I'm here is it okay for my to be turning all the lights off and air pump at night, I keep the heater on though. Thanks in advance.

afremont

When my gouramis "sleep", they all park at an angle in the tank at various locations. It's like they have assigned or favorite spots they like to rest. You shouldn't turn off anything but the lights at night. So is he doing any better?

MinaMinaMina

He may be near the surface because he's having a hard time getting oxygen, or there are pollutants in his water. Is is respiration rate higher than normal when he is doing this? Is he still there once the sun has risen, but the air pump is not on yet?

I see some things here that concern me, kadieradcliffe. Let's see if we can straighten this out.

You tank profile shows that you don't have a filter for this tank. This is a big problem! An air pump is not enough. Angelfish are big waste producers, and need large aquariums with excellent filtration running at all times. An air pump/air stone is not filtration, it solely helps oxygenate the water. What size tank is he in? When can you get a good filter?

There are some other problems I see. Keeping a single Angelfish is not recommended. They are social creatures, and need to be in a group of 5 or more in a 55g tank or larger, or in a breeding pair in a 30g or larger. They are under great stress when kept singly.
How large is the cube of bloodworms? If it is a standard sized cube, and you're feeding flakes in the morning and half a cube at night, this is too much food for one Angelfish. This contributes to more waste being produced, and therefore poorer water conditions.

28 degrees C/82.4 degrees F is pretty high temperature for domestically bred Angelfish. Not that he can't handle it, but he could do just as well at 25 degrees C/77 degrees F, and it would slow his metabolism a titch so he wouldn't be producing quite as much waste, and the the water would be able to hold more oxygen at a cooler temp. You can slowly lower his temp by about a degree an hour.

If you can answer a few questions, we can help you out.

What size aquarium is he in?
How long has this tank been set up?
When can you get a good filter?
Do you have any live plants? If so, what kinds? How many?
What are your values for pH, hardness, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?
How many inches is he from nose to beginning of tail? How old is he?
How often do you change his water? How much water do you change at a time? Do you vacuum the gravel?

kadieradcliffe

afremont
Urm I wouldn't say he's doing better at all, I'm in the process of waiting for a parasites medication to be shipped that's supposed to be great.
Sigh. P.s I changed my mind about what we talked about, its not for me to decide what lives and dies. :)

MinaMinaMina

When the sun has risen he's swimming around like normal even before I feed and put his pump on.
And his respiration rate is normal when he does this yes.


He's in a 5 gallon tank, and I can't get a good filter for some time due to my hamster having to have an operation.
He did have another angelfish in there but he/she died. I'm not really leaning towards getting another one as he's not well as it is. So I definetly wouldn't want to put another fish at risk. The cube is about 3cm long and 2cm wide.
My fully grown terrapin has half at night, my baby terrapin has quarter, and my angel fish has the other quarter.

What size aquarium is he in? 5gallons

How long has this tank been set up? A year or so.

When can you get a good filter? Next month.

Do you have any live plants? If so, what kinds? How many? No

What are your values for pH,
hardness, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?
Ammonia - 0 
Nitrate No3 - 0
Nitrate No2 - 0
GH - 125
KH - 100
pH - <64

How many inches is he from nose to beginning of tail? I'd say about 6inches

How old is he? Not sure as I don't kno how long the previous owner had him for before I took him in.

How often do you change his water? Every day due to him being ill and there being no filter.

How much water do you change at a time? 25-50%

Do you vacuum the gravel? I have one but he panics when I try to siphon the water.

Thankyou.