How many angelfish and discus in a 60 Gallon and 75 Gallon
- Thread starter AquaCentralFan
- Start date
I'd recommend not more than six angels in a 55 and not more than six or seven discus in a 75.
WYite
For sure on the 6-7 thing considering either gets saucer sized.
I'd recommend only 2 angels in a 55. Here is why - with 6 there is a good chance that a solid pair will form and the female from that pair will be very aggressive to the other 4 and will likely kill them (though it depends on individual fishes). Once you get a larger school - say 12 they tend to 'get along' in the sense that she can't decide who to kill first 
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The problem is a 55 really isn't large enough for 10 or 12. Here is my 120 which has 11 adult angles (but 8 of them were off springs from the platinum and large black). The platinum female is the alpha female and she pretty much decides who gets to stay (she effectively killed her platinum mate because one day she decided she prefer the black male). However they are good community breeders - they will raise the eggs to wrigglers but only guard a small area around the eggs (the tank has zebra, clown and yoyo loaches but they are not readily visible):
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The problem is a 55 really isn't large enough for 10 or 12. Here is my 120 which has 11 adult angles (but 8 of them were off springs from the platinum and large black). The platinum female is the alpha female and she pretty much decides who gets to stay (she effectively killed her platinum mate because one day she decided she prefer the black male). However they are good community breeders - they will raise the eggs to wrigglers but only guard a small area around the eggs (the tank has zebra, clown and yoyo loaches but they are not readily visible):
I’m not into planted tanks or angels, but damn that is coolI'd recommend only 2 angels in a 55. Here is why - with 6 there is a good chance that a solid pair will form and the female from that pair will be very aggressive to the other 4 and will likely kill them (though it depends on individual fishes). Once you get a larger school - say 12 they tend to 'get along' in the sense that she can't decide who to kill first
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The problem is a 55 really isn't large enough for 10 or 12. Here is my 120 which has 11 adult angles (but 8 of them were off springs from the platinum and large black). The platinum female is the alpha female and she pretty much decides who gets to stay (she effectively killed her platinum mate because one day she decided she prefer the black male). However they are good community breeders - they will raise the eggs to wrigglers but only guard a small area around the eggs (the tank has zebra, clown and yoyo loaches but they are not readily visible):
View attachment 229366
Welcome to AC jake72. Very nice tank.I'd recommend only 2 angels in a 55. Here is why - with 6 there is a good chance that a solid pair will form and the female from that pair will be very aggressive to the other 4 and will likely kill them (though it depends on individual fishes). Once you get a larger school - say 12 they tend to 'get along' in the sense that she can't decide who to kill first
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The problem is a 55 really isn't large enough for 10 or 12. Here is my 120 which has 11 adult angles (but 8 of them were off springs from the platinum and large black). The platinum female is the alpha female and she pretty much decides who gets to stay (she effectively killed her platinum mate because one day she decided she prefer the black male). However they are good community breeders - they will raise the eggs to wrigglers but only guard a small area around the eggs (the tank has zebra, clown and yoyo loaches but they are not readily visible):
View attachment 229366
So the OP buys two angels for his 55 gallon and 24 hours later he's going to be posting asking why one of his angels is picking on the other.
Unless they are already a mated pair, two angels in a 55 is asking for trouble if even one is a male. If they're both male, the dominant male will harass the submissive male to death unless it is removed. It will only take a few days, maybe less. If you do have a male and female, and they are not already a pair, there is the risk that they don't bond or the female isn't in spawning condition and then the male will harass the female to death. And the bottom line is angels are hard to sex, to say the least. Angels shoal in the wild, and multiple individuals disperses aggression. Unless you are intentionally trying to breed angels, keeping two has the potential for being a disaster.
In my experience, a pair in a 55 with five or six angels total is rarely a big problem as long as the tank is scaped correctly with plenty of driftwood and plants to limit the pair's line of sight. The breeding pair will rarely let the eggs out of their line of sight, and will rarely follow any interlopers past that. You can easily limit that to a 4 or 5 inch radius. In my experience the pair will usually determine the tank does not provide optimum breeding conditions and therefore will eat the spawn within a few days. Last, I've noticed that angelfish pairs will usually break up after three or four spawns in a community tank, where they will often breed for years if kept in their own tank.
With angels, you either keep one or you keep a shoal of five or more, and if managed properly in a properly set up tank, five or six angels in a 55 gallon tank will rarely pose a problem.
WYite
So this is an area of debate. I went through several cycles - my original set was 8 angels and once a pair form the female sort of well kicked one out at a time until there was just two. I then started again with 2 sets of 4 angels. This was an odd arrangement - one set the 4 platinums constantly bicker for about 4 months until they finally got along but again once a a pair formed the other 2 were not welcomed - conversely the 4 blacks got along until a pair formed - and then things were a bit rough. I ended up keeping 4 the two pairs but once they were together the platinum female dumped the platinum male. She sort of accepts the black female (hence the trio) in that she didn't kill it but she did beat it up plenty.
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There some points here - in my case I always started with a selection of young angels (maybe an inch or 3/4 of an inch) and grew them out. My sample points are small as i only did this three times - when i decided to raise some of the wrigglers things went a *lot* better. I kept 10 (5 black and 5 gold); 1 of the black developed the whirls and i gave the lfs one of the gold to keep things balanced. I moved them into the 120 when they were maybe just over an inch and i was surprise that the parents accepted them and didn't brutalize them. Now they are adults and there is some modest bickering but nothing alarming - at least when i am around (previously the female would force a target into a corner and then continue attacking). The frys are now reaching maturity and they have bred a few times (well laid eggs - they are still learning) and things have actually been reasonable for a community tank with as many as 2 pairs breeding at the same time.
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However the op indicated he isn't going to have a planted tank and a 55 is pretty narrow so there will be no where to run if a fish gets chased.... so he can try starting with 6 or 8 but i think in the end there is a reasonable chance things won't end well once they mature or maybe my experience has been abnormal and i've just ended up with particularly nasty females (the difference between males and females is the male will threaten or attack once or twice but he won't chase and continue attacking once a fish cowl - the female will - or at least the ones i have had).
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Of course my tank is so dense now a fish really can hide if they so choose as long as they don't get trapped in a corner.
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There some points here - in my case I always started with a selection of young angels (maybe an inch or 3/4 of an inch) and grew them out. My sample points are small as i only did this three times - when i decided to raise some of the wrigglers things went a *lot* better. I kept 10 (5 black and 5 gold); 1 of the black developed the whirls and i gave the lfs one of the gold to keep things balanced. I moved them into the 120 when they were maybe just over an inch and i was surprise that the parents accepted them and didn't brutalize them. Now they are adults and there is some modest bickering but nothing alarming - at least when i am around (previously the female would force a target into a corner and then continue attacking). The frys are now reaching maturity and they have bred a few times (well laid eggs - they are still learning) and things have actually been reasonable for a community tank with as many as 2 pairs breeding at the same time.
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However the op indicated he isn't going to have a planted tank and a 55 is pretty narrow so there will be no where to run if a fish gets chased.... so he can try starting with 6 or 8 but i think in the end there is a reasonable chance things won't end well once they mature or maybe my experience has been abnormal and i've just ended up with particularly nasty females (the difference between males and females is the male will threaten or attack once or twice but he won't chase and continue attacking once a fish cowl - the female will - or at least the ones i have had).
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Of course my tank is so dense now a fish really can hide if they so choose as long as they don't get trapped in a corner.
Welcome to AC jake72. Very nice tank.
So the OP buys two angels for his 55 gallon and 24 hours later he's going to be posting asking why one of his angels is picking on the other.
Unless they are already a mated pair, two angels in a 55 is asking for trouble if even one is a male. If they're both male, the dominant male will harass the submissive male to death unless it is removed. It will only take a few days, maybe less. If you do have a male and female, and they are not already a pair, there is the risk that they don't bond or the female isn't in spawning condition and then the male will harass the female to death. And the bottom line is angels are hard to sex, to say the least. Angels shoal in the wild, and multiple individuals disperses aggression. Unless you are intentionally trying to breed angels, keeping two has the potential for being a disaster.
In my experience, a pair in a 55 with five or six angels total is rarely a big problem as long as the tank is scaped correctly with plenty of driftwood and plants to limit the pair's line of sight. The breeding pair will rarely let the eggs out of their line of sight, and will rarely follow any interlopers past that. You can easily limit that to a 4 or 5 inch radius. In my experience the pair will usually determine the tank does not provide optimum breeding conditions and therefore will eat the spawn within a few days. Last, I've noticed that angelfish pairs will usually break up after three or four spawns in a community tank, where they will often breed for years if kept in their own tank.
With angels, you either keep one or you keep a shoal of five or more, and if managed properly in a properly set up tank, five or six angels in a 55 gallon tank will rarely pose a problem.
WYite
I don’t have much experience with angels, but I have kept lots of cichlids and from my experience, especially in a 55, he’s better off with either a pair or just one. Sometimes diffusing aggression through numbers works well, but in a 55 I think there will be lack of room to escape and possible bio load issues with 6-8 medium sized cichlids
Beautiful tank jake!
I had a different experience with 5 (gift) adult angels in a planted 75g. 2 paired up (not the 2 I expected) & all the other fish were forced into maybe 18 inches of tank space. The pair laid fertile looking eggs a couple times but either the pair or someone else ate them. They switched tank ends & raised fry to free swimmers...Then carefully spit them into the filter intake that was near the surface. I didn't really want to raise fry but it was hard to watch. The pair didn't seem stressed or to just be trying to move them to a new area...
My only discus success was 8 raising "2 inch" (ha!) juveniles in a bare 55g for a year. I lost 2 from jumping & hitting the lid (sniff). They were very spoiled, daily 80%+ water changes & 6 different meals/day, often homemade. Later I slowed them down to 4 meals & skipped a WC once in a while...then we were moving across the country & I "sold" them to a discus club friend & they immediately paired up! I was happy for him but sorry I did all that work for someone else...Sadly, that winter everyone lost power for days...most lost all their fish...& my former pets...I don't miss real winter...or the work of discus keeping...maybe 1 more time...
That's angels & discus in my most recent tries.
Ooops, I see a couple more posts since I'm a slow typer while making dinner...
I had a different experience with 5 (gift) adult angels in a planted 75g. 2 paired up (not the 2 I expected) & all the other fish were forced into maybe 18 inches of tank space. The pair laid fertile looking eggs a couple times but either the pair or someone else ate them. They switched tank ends & raised fry to free swimmers...Then carefully spit them into the filter intake that was near the surface. I didn't really want to raise fry but it was hard to watch. The pair didn't seem stressed or to just be trying to move them to a new area...
My only discus success was 8 raising "2 inch" (ha!) juveniles in a bare 55g for a year. I lost 2 from jumping & hitting the lid (sniff). They were very spoiled, daily 80%+ water changes & 6 different meals/day, often homemade. Later I slowed them down to 4 meals & skipped a WC once in a while...then we were moving across the country & I "sold" them to a discus club friend & they immediately paired up! I was happy for him but sorry I did all that work for someone else...Sadly, that winter everyone lost power for days...most lost all their fish...& my former pets...I don't miss real winter...or the work of discus keeping...maybe 1 more time...
That's angels & discus in my most recent tries.
Ooops, I see a couple more posts since I'm a slow typer while making dinner...
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