Freshwater Angelfish Care

Question
Dear Karen,                                      

I am researching getting a 15 gallon Aqaurium for two Freshwater Angelfish.I previously had one marble hybrid Angelfish that grew to five inches in height in the five gallon aquarium.He died after I had him for 4 years. I want two this time in a larger aquarium.Years before I had my freshwater angel my friend that owned a very good reef aquarium store set me up with a nice 10 gallon saltwater aquarium with a fluidized bed filter,seahorse books,live rock,powerhead,coral sand,test kits,salinity meter,gallons of filtered ocean water...etc.After cycling my first aquarium for a month I put in my new seahorse.I enriched newly hatched brine shrimp with vitamins.I had the seahorse for about a year until she passed on.Then I had various saltwater chromis and damsels.I became uninterested in saltwater aquariums because my friends reef aquarium shop closed down after 10 years in buisness and I had no other source of ocean water plus I didnt want to mix salt mix in water myself.So after that I decided to get a five gallon Freshwater tank and a tiny baby angelfish.He grew pretty fast and soon he was a really big guy!I got live plants but they died all the time even though I got a comprehensive book about live aquarium plants and followed the directions!Anyway thats an overveiw of my fish experiences.I have been reading many books and they say angels need at least a 15-20 gallon tank. Is that right?Could I go smaller than that(10 gallons) because I do partial water changes at least twice a week?Ive seen soft water pillows you can put in your filter to make your water the way angels prefer it-soft and acidic.Have you ever tried these with success?Also whats the best gravel vacumm that doesnt suck up gravel with it and take long to get suction?Thank you very much!

Answer
Hello Claire!

Wow,it was very interesting reading about your saltwater aquarium keeping! Sounds like you do have a lot of good experience and knowledge on your hands!

~About Angelfish~
You must have taken great care of that angelfish in the 5 gallon aquarium for him to grow that large and live that long! Most fish that get as large as angels can, even with experienced aquarists, don't survive long in 5 gallons!    You are very lucky! But as you know it's so much better for Angelfish to have at least a 20 gallon aquarium for about two angels. Although a 29 gallon aquarium is my most preferred and can house other fish with the angels provided you completely establish the aquarium before adding angels. One stocking recommendation provided by a awesome aquarist named David E. Boruchowitz goes like this-
In this setup, Three Swordtails are used for cycling and are the first fish added to the aquarium...
*A school of six cories will provide plently of action without harrassing the more peaceful angelfish. The cories can be all the same species or a mixture of species.
*Finally, two small angelfish of any color or type will complete this grouping. The Angelfish will seem lost in here for awhile, but for only a short while. Given the uncrowded conditions, they will quickly grow to their full potential, when they will make a impressive display, gracefully lording it over the other fish in the aquarium.

This stocking scheme is for a 29 gallon aquarium and should work out pretty nicely, though you don't have to follow it exactly. If at all, if you don't want to of course. It is really not a good idea to keep any angel in anything smaller than a 20 gallon at the most...They will grow large if they are feed right and water changes are very frequent as you already know.

I wouldn't think those softwater pillows are necessary for keeping Angelfish. Unless you have extremely hard water pH like over 8.0ppm then it shouldn't be needed. I keep my four lovely angelfish in a 55 gallon with a pH of 7.6 ppm and they have grown and are absolutely beautiful with no problems with pH. I even have a pair out of the four which spawn about every 2 weeks with no attention to the water on my part except many water changes (like 3-times a week!)    You may see the pH preferences of certain fish to be like 6.5-7.0ppm but in my experience I have kept fish with that preference range in my own reading for years and they are just fine. :)

~I use two method for my water changes 1. is the traditional little siphon tube and hose you buy at most local petstores. Suction is accomplished by making sure the tube is completely filled with tank water then vigorously shaking it up and down while keeping it still in the tank water, it should start after a few shakes unless the other end of the hose is higher than the level of the tank water. My first method is to drain water in a 5 gallon bucket but my next one requires no heavy lifting at all and is my own invention... It is made of a regular siphon tube and hose but with a extra length of clear tubing (bought at a home improvement store like lowes) The extra tubing is attached to the siphon hose by a connector also bought at home improvement stores. This works just fine and we run the end of the hose out the front door and onto the grass. No lifting of heavy buckets, the suction is a bit slower but saves you the trouble of buckets. If you might try this method be sure to get the right size of the extra length hose to whatever size your original siphon hose it and make sure you also get enough feet to it.
I'm not sure why your gravel vacumm would suck gravel up with it? Be sure you allow it sufficient time to fall back down when you push it into the gravel bed, by lifting it up somewhat off the bed of gravel until the sucked gravel settles back down....

~Well, My best wishes and the best success to your Angelfish keeping! They are truly wonderful fish and I do hope you get a couple or so...Just be sure to feed them lots of variety, including some freeze dried or frozen live foods at least twice a week, do frequent water changes (your twice a week schedual should do fine as long as it is at least 20% each time) Most importantly ENJOY them!        Do your very best with their keeping and you will enjoy Angels for years to come......

Best of luck to you and your fishkeeping adventures!

~Always remember if you have any more questions or need more info on angelfish, aquariums, or any other fishkeeping subject, you can always email me again! I am more than happy to help you out all I can, Claire!

Happy fishkeeping!
Karen~