Well I Finally have an update. Sadly the angels didn’t work out. I moved the two angels into a larger acclimation box for a few days to give them so more room. The Venustus started developing slight bruising on its belly. So I made the decision to move them to my QT tank. They were fine and eating for a few days when suddenly one day they were both dead. I was really bummed about this loss. I love angels and really wanted this to work out.
I’ve done a lot of reflection on this
and have come to several conclusions.
One, I don’t have as many hiding places for larger fish as I had thought. Suddenly I don’t like the aquascape as much. Couple that with the amount of bubble algae I’m currently battling and I’m considering completely redoing the rock work. BUT. I’m not sold that that’s the right solution.
Two, this tank just isn’t big enough for more than two or three angels. I think I will still try adding a Lamarks angel in the future but we will see. I think I’ve reserved the idea of many angels in a tank for when I get a larger tank. Next tank will be 180gals or bigger for sure.
Going back to the bubble algae issue, I did add a Biota Gold Line Rabbit fish to the tank a while back in hopes of him taking care of the algae on the rocks and the bubble algae. No such luck. I must feed to heavily because Cuzco (that’s his name) is just a big lazy puppy dog that constantly dances and begs for you to feed him. Occasionally he does he pick at algae but never enough to make much of a difference.
So then about a week ago I decided to add a Medium sized one spot fox face because they are known for eating tons of algae as well as a good reputation for eating bubble algae. I was worried about aggression between Cuzco and the fox face as there isn’t a whole lot of information and experiences between these two fish in particular. After several days of Cuzco chasing the fox face out of his territory periodically, Cuzco has resigned to being buddies with the fox face. They happily beg for food together and do little dances to get my attention instead of eating the vast amounts of bubble algae readily available for them. I will note, the more comfortable the fox face gets with the tank the more I do see him pick at the algae, bubble algae included. But not enough to make much of a dent. But hey, maybe I’m being too hard on him, he has only been in there for a week.
The tank itself is doing fine. I haven’t done a water change in quite some time and am paying the price for it. Increased nitrate and phosphate levels, 20ppm and 0.5ppm respectively. I’m seeing algae on the sandbed now and some algae on the rocks… lazy rabbit fish.. I’ll be doing a water change today and probably over the next week one or two more to get those levels back down.
In some more exciting news, since I’ve temporarily given up on the angel lagoon, I’ve decided to add tangs into the mix. My last experience with a tang was not… ideal. But after talking with my LFS guru I came to the realization that it was my own fault. I made multiple mistakes that lead to my previous tang having a single child, snot nosed, entitled brat, attitude. So I’ve decided to have another go with tangs, Three to be exact. I know that sounds like a lot but I found the three perfect sized tangs which are exactly what I wanted. A very small sail fin, a very small purple tang, and a small White Cheek/gold rim tang. All qt’d by my LFS and have been with him for no shorter than 3 months. I think that small purple tang has Been in the store for more like 6-8months honestly. I’ll be picking those three up today and adding them all the to the tank at once to help avoid aggression.
I’ll probably post a filtration update soon as lots has changed with that. I’ll also post a general update with more tank pictures.
