2 Angels, longer term

[Magnum Man]

So I bought 2 angels 6 months ago, pretty much the same size, likely from the same breeding… they were buds, no aggression between them, in the same tank, and fed the same… 6 months later, one is 50% bigger than the other… curious if the size difference could be sexual, as it’s supposed to be hard to tell the sexes apart… I’m not trying to breed them, just curious if that could be a way of telling them apart long term??? They are both Zebra Lace, and lucky for me the prettiest one is the biggest ( they are both gorgeous ) and likely about half grown??? The bigger one is like 4 inches nose to tail, and 6 inches high… the smaller like 3.5 inches nose to tail, and 5 inches high… they are in a 55 gallon South American community tank, with lots of tetras and dwarf cichlids

 

[Colin_T]

probably both the same sex and the big one is bullying the smaller one.

 

[Magnum Man]

sorry, there is no bullying... they have been buddies from the start

 

[Uberhoust]

I have raised a number of batches of angels, I get a whole range of sizes especially in the latter batches where I suspect they were more inbred. My last batches have some fish that are literally 3 times the size of their brothers and sisters. I suspect if you have more of the pet store type angels that you can have a larger variety of sizes from a single breeding pair. If you had a pair of wild caught from the same stream I would suspect you would end up with fry that grow to more similar sizes.

 

[Magnum Man]

These came from one of the best on line Discus sellers, but being Zebra Lace Angels, they are no where near a pure stain... so I can accept it's just a size range thing...

I've never had good luck with angels ( previous water conditions ) the bigger one is exceptionally pretty, wondering just how big it will grow??? & hoping it doesn't get too bossy, as it get both bigger & older... right now I would just call it inquisitive... seems like it wants to taste everything, like it's always hungry... doesn't matter if it's an artificial plant, some drift wood, or the big Apple snails antennae... & it might run off the tetras from the middle of the tank when food is falling from the sky... but otherwise it swims around hunting food on the plants & hard scape

 

[Uberhoust]

I had over 30 adult angels and 300+ fry for a bit, but they require a lot of care unless you crowd them, that's what most breeders do, or you keep them as individuals. If you have a set of angels that get along do not change any of the angels because you are tempting fate. Take one out of a community tank to breed then the dynamics in the angel tank will change often for the worse, then if you re-introduce the angel again the dynamics will change again but not necessarily to the way it was before. For me I had most success keeping peer groups together, they will breed but I never get any fry surviving in that configuration. My angels had distinct personalities and had very distinct rivals and friends, makes them interesting but hard to house.

Right now I have 11 angels, all related, living in a 75 gallon tank, along with 2 left over black neons and 1 left over ember. My angels do not bother the tetras because they were raised with the same tetras their whole life, the tetras are quite old now. I can get away with 11 angels because only 4 are normal size the others are runts I could not find home for, but the mix seems to work ok. The runts had their own tank when they were juveniles, but they still did not grow.

I had the same issue. My previous home had harder water and I had no luck with angels. My home now has very soft water and the angels seem to do quite well.

 

[Magnum Man]

these came at about 1.5 inches, & I figured they would be OK if they came from the same tank at the sellers, bought at the same time... it worked... I suppose that's no guarantee, they may have hated each other in the tank they were in before... I have another South American tank I'll be setting up next, figured I'd take a chance, if they didn't get along, I hurry up with the new tank, & separate them... I'd like to add another to the next tank, maybe 2, but don't want to press my luck... but that tank is going to be mostly non aggressive medium sized Cichlids, no Tetras, maybe a couple Rams as the smallest fish

 

[Uberhoust]

The only time I ran into an issue with a pair of angels is when the pair already had "words" within a larger group. Pairs seem to work for me most of the time.

 

[Back in the fold]

@Uberhoust You’ve said some things about Angelfish that I have seen myself but it didn’t register with me what I was seeing . Thank you for your posts , they were very informative .