More than one dwarf angelfish...?

[david.hatton]

Ive only been in the saltwater side of the hobby for about 7 months and one of the things I keep hearing in pet shops up and down the country is that you can only keep on dwarf angelfish in a tank.

So I thought I'd ask you all the reason why this seems to be 'fact'

Is it the alternative of keeping freshwater betta fish where they will just keep fighting til the bitter end?

Is it about them being territorial about parts of the tank?

No pet shop 'expert' seems to have a answer. It seems to be like the old myth of only 1 fish per x amount of water rule.

Is it possible to do, are there obstacles to overcome or is it just a case of if they like each other then they will live together?

Thankyou in advance, and apologies if it's a stupid question but I'm very much still learing

 

[TX_REEF]

Welcome to the hobby David! The answer is completely dependent on your tank size. Generally speaking, I’d be comfortable keeping one dwarf angelfish per 3 feet of tank size, so limit of 1 up to 80-90 gallons or so, and could do 2 over 100 gallons. They are extremely territorial, but they will tolerate each other if they can avoid each other. Intricate rock work with plenty of caves, alcoves and pass-throughs are also hugely beneficial to keeping dwarf angels with minimal aggression, to other angels OR other fish. In fact, my coral beauty was not even a fan of my yellow tang in my 70 gallon.

 

[LPS Bum]

Tank size is definitely important. As are rocks and caves, as mentioned above. But type of Dwarf Angel and when they’re added is also very important. Bicolors and Lemonpeels are going to be more aggressive than Flames and Coral Beauties. If possible add them at the same time. If not, add the less aggressive species first. A 4 foot long 90 + gallon aquarium should be a good min tank size to keep more than one.

 

[crazyfishmom]

I’ve kept a flame, flame back, coral beauty, and keyhole in the same tank without any issues. It’s a 200 gallon tank for frame of reference. I’ve also kept juvenile flame and coral beauty in a 70 gallon without any issues. Always have lots of food available and lots of caves in the rock structures though.

 

[Louis Z]

have you thought about only one species but multiples of that species ? That can be fine with some . An adult with multiple juveniles . I don’t know if all dwarfs can change sex but many of them do . So an adult male with juvenile females creating a harem

 

[FernBluffReef]

Lemonpeels are going to be more aggressive

Interesting. I have a lemonpeel currently in my smaller tank (32 gallon), in part was for observation and second before considering moving to the main display but figured I need to add more than one fish. Currently in with a baby tang.

How aggressive is aggressive? Likelyhood of being able to transfer to my 5’ display without issuing a death warrant?. Decent sized Red Sea sail fin, young-med sized powder blue, small Scopas. Four Anthias, a coral beauty, jewel damsel, blue devil damsel, pair of occellaris clowns, couple Mandrians and a purple striped dottyback. Decent amount of hide holes but is a busy tank. Thanks for comments

 

[LPS Bum]

Interesting. I have a lemonpeel currently in my smaller tank (32 gallon), in part was for observation and second before considering moving to the main display but figured I need to add more than one fish. Currently in with a baby tang.

How aggressive is aggressive? Likelyhood of being able to transfer to my 5’ display without issuing a death warrant?. Decent sized Red Sea sail fin, young-med sized powder blue, small Scopas. Four Anthias, a coral beauty, jewel damsel, blue devil damsel, pair of occellaris clowns, couple Mandrians and a purple striped dottyback. Decent amount of hide holes but is a busy tank. Thanks for comments

I’ve had a Lemonpeel in my 240 gal FOWLR for many years. It’s a very territorial fish in my system, and I have a ton of rock and swimming space. It goes after fish 3X its size. I’ve found them to be the most aggressive of the Dwarf Angels. A 5 foot system is plenty big enough for it, but they can be pretty feisty. In particular I’d watch out for the Coral Beauty and the Mandarins.

 

[i cant think]

Ive only been in the saltwater side of the hobby for about 7 months and one of the things I keep hearing in pet shops up and down the country is that you can only keep on dwarf angelfish in a tank.

So I thought I'd ask you all the reason why this seems to be 'fact'

Is it the alternative of keeping freshwater betta fish where they will just keep fighting til the bitter end?

Is it about them being territorial about parts of the tank?

No pet shop 'expert' seems to have a answer. It seems to be like the old myth of only 1 fish per x amount of water rule.

Is it possible to do, are there obstacles to overcome or is it just a case of if they like each other then they will live together?

Thankyou in advance, and apologies if it's a stupid question but I'm very much still learing

Hey there! What size is your tank?
Dwarf Angels can mix in larger tanks but we rarely recommend it for smaller tanks as their aggressive behaviours may not allow for other dwarfs to be with them.
It also depends what species you’re after specifically, some will mix with ease, others you’ll have a lot more difficulty mixing.

I have what most shops round the UK call a “Fireball” Angel (African Flame Back or Centropyge acanthops for those over the pond), mixed with a Multicolour Angel (Centropyge multicolour) in my 5 foot 700l/180G system. Now, the Acanthops is my most aggressive angel in the tank, and that’s saying something as I have 4 angels mixed together, one being a Majestic angel (Pomacanthus navarchus - which can be quite defensive when they want). But the Multicolour and Flagfin (Apolemichthys trimaculatus) are much more relaxed and stay in the background of the hierarchy. A few photos of the 4 angels I have if you don’t know what they look like;

Also, that’s another thing a lot of shops may tell you is that the “large” angels all require 6 foot (600-800l) tanks - it’s simply not true for ALL of them. Most of them, yes I’d agree. But that’s another story.

Back to the main question though, the obstacles that can overcome the aggression are;
1. Mirror trick, angels will always fall for this (so will Wrasses and Tangs) - It’s basically where on one side of the tank you place a mirror which distracts the old guys from any new comers with minimal aggression towards them.
2. Rearranging rockscapes. This totally resets the territory that your fish claimed, and with a lot of dwarfs (this was especially the case with my Acanthops) they will often claim the whole rockwork.
3. The size of dwarf angels you get. I have a 3.5 inch Acanthops, and my multicolour is only just 2 inches, she’s grown since I got her, but it meant that she could get into the holes and caves that my (fat and large) acanthops couldn’t reach, giving her a break from the aggression.
\————>this did come with a downside of I didn’t see my Multicolour for a good 5-6 hours after she entered the tank and faced some nasty aggression from the acanthops. But as you can see, she found the one cave nobody (not even me) knew existed!

I hope this helps a bit!
Oh and a shot of my 5 footer for an idea of the rock scape the angels can claim - see if you can spot them all!

 

[david.hatton]

Thankyou for your replies.

The tank is 5 foot x 2 foot so it's not tiny.. but not huge.

I already have a coral beauty in there and wanted to add more angels, I do have a lot of rock work in there and I keep on top of feeding so maybe ill try adding another angel and see how I get on. I just wondered what so many shops were against the idea with noone having a actual reason for it

 

[i cant think]

Thankyou for your replies.

The tank is 5 foot x 2 foot so it's not tiny.. but not huge.

I already have a coral beauty in there and wanted to add more angels, I do have a lot of rock work in there and I keep on top of feeding so maybe ill try adding another angel and see how I get on. I just wondered what so many shops were against the idea with noone having a actual reason for it

You’ll find most shops (especially around the UK) go by the book, fairly old fashioned and not really going towards the new information - I’ve caught a couple of “big” shops with it.
It’s why what I do is I will always give a reason if I ever tell a customer it’s a bad idea - I’ve got both views of the LFS, from being part of one to being a customer of others.

 

[Savage Henry]

I was told that if you are going to mix dwarf angels in a small tank, don’t mix angels of similar colours.

 

[OrionN]

Thankyou for your replies.

The tank is 5 foot x 2 foot so it's not tiny.. but not huge.

I already have a coral beauty in there and wanted to add more angels, I do have a lot of rock work in there and I keep on top of feeding so maybe ill try adding another angel and see how I get on. I just wondered what so many shops were against the idea with noone having a actual reason for it

David
Your tank is plenty big for multiple Angels. You can keep harems of Dwarf angels in your tank or you can mix species in your tank.
I like to keep harem of Dwarf angels now but in the remote past I keep mixed group of dwarf angels with no problem.
Here are a few of my threads on my dwarf angel harems

Flame Angel Pre-Spawn Ritual

Took a Video of my Flame Angel pre-spawn ritual in my 65 gal reef last week. I did not have time so did not stay to video the spawn. Maybe another time. Enjoy.

www.reef2reef.com

My Centropyge acanthops harem, African Flameback Dwarf Angel

I have to reset up my office 65 gal tank this year. It sprung a leak after 7 years or so. After much deliberation, I settle with a list of fishes as below: Tomini Tang Copper Banded Butterfly Harem of 3 African Flameback dwarf angels A pair of clown fish, Black snowflakes, breed by a friend of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[JumboShrimp]

A very beautiful dwarf (especially when the light hits is) that few people tend to keep is the Rusty Angel. Mine was very chill (non-aggressive), in a 150 gallon tank.

 

[Fury808]

David
Your tank is plenty big for multiple Angels. You can keep harems of Dwarf angels in your tank or you can mix species in your tank.
I like to keep harem of Dwarf angels now but in the remote past I keep mixed group of dwarf angels with no problem.
Here are a few of my threads on my dwarf angel harems

Flame Angel Pre-Spawn Ritual

Took a Video of my Flame Angel pre-spawn ritual in my 65 gal reef last week. I did not have time so did not stay to video the spawn. Maybe another time. Enjoy.

www.reef2reef.com

My Centropyge acanthops harem, African Flameback Dwarf Angel

I have to reset up my office 65 gal tank this year. It sprung a leak after 7 years or so. After much deliberation, I settle with a list of fishes as below: Tomini Tang Copper Banded Butterfly Harem of 3 African Flameback dwarf angels A pair of clown fish, Black snowflakes, breed by a friend of...

www.reef2reef.com

Do you have any recommendations for what dwarf angels could be kept with a golden angel (c. aurantia) and a multibarred angel (paracentropyge multifacsiata) in a 6' x 2' 120 gallon tank? I have had the multibarred about a month. The golden is on order. They are both captive bred juveniles. I really like the flameback, the pygmy, and the eibli.

 

[Louis Z]

The flame backs and the Pygmy are boisterous and bold . Don’t know if you want to put them with the two you have . In general wildcaught multi bar and golden have been shy and cryptic . I can’t speak for Captive bred ? If it were me I would choose multiples of those species that you already have . Maybe someone else may chime in .

 

[i cant think]

Do you have any recommendations for what dwarf angels could be kept with a golden angel (c. aurantia) and a multibarred angel (paracentropyge multifacsiata) in a 6' x 2' 120 gallon tank? I have had the multibarred about a month. The golden is on order. They are both captive bred juveniles. I really like the flameback, the pygmy, and the eibli.

Flameback is one I wouldn’t go for again when mixing angels with largely peaceful fish. Mine behaved completely fine for years, then suddenly a month ago I lost my YLN Butterfly because he just switched. My multicolour was shyer than usual, and all my fish behaved weirdly.
It was only a day or two later when I managed to pull him out into his own tank - my SPS/Clam nano. He’s fine in there but you can tell he is aggressive as he will flare up to anyone even just looking at him the wrong way.

I’d recommend looking at a Multicolour Angel (Centropyge multicolour) or possibly a moderately sized “large” Angel. Something like a Majestic, Regal or Flag Fin.

 

[Louis Z]

It was only a day or two later when I managed to pull him out into his own tank - my SPS/Clam nano.

I would try a harem of flamebacks in that nano
I really love that species and would devote a tank just for them .

 

[Spartan76]

I ve kept a flame and cherub in a 180 w no issues for several years, other than that they generally avoid each other. All goods points on this thread, only thing I’ll add is keeping them well fed and fat also significantly reduces aggressive tendencies.

 

[mpatterson42]

I really want to try a flame angelfish with a lemonpeel angelfish in a 6ft 180 gallon tank, but people keep telling me lemonpeels are the devil.

 

[Louis Z]

Flames can be aggressive also . The trick would be to have in large tank and possibly start small sized specimens . The young ones don’t seem to show much aggression . It’s later as they mature into males . There are always exceptions