Angel Fish

[Gepetto]

Hi you all,
I have a 40 gal tank with two large Angels, 9 Neons and two plecs. I originally purchased 3 small marble Angels for this tank, but two were growing much faster than the other and picked on it. I ended up transferring the runt to a ten gallon tank. The two in the large tank appeared to pair off and lay eggs a few times in a six week period or so. In all cases the eggs never hatched. It was noticed during one egg laying session that both Angels were laying eggs. In the mean time, the runt in the ten gallon tank grew to be as large, if not larger than the other two. I decided to take one of the "pair" and swap with the "runt". The now "pair" were quite aggressive towards each other but then settled down and eggs were laid seemingly being fertilized. But alas, the eggs didn't hatch and fungused even though they were attended by both Angels. Has anyone seen this behavior? Do I have three females that can act as pairs?

As an aside, can I add more fish to my 40 gallon tank and what variety? My tank is planted with live plants.

 

[DrRob]

Hi Gepetto, welcome to the forum.
 
Yes, female angels will "pair" and then lay eggs that never get fertliised. Angels are notoriously difficult to sex unless you know what you're doing, although both laying eggs is a pretty good indication that they were both female.
 
Sadly angels these days also aren't the best of parents. So many have been tank bred for so many generations that they seem to have lost some of the parenting instincts and the eggs fungus easily. It could be that you have 3 females, or that you just didn't get good fertilisation on the first batch with the new pair, but overall it's often a flow issue over the eggs as in nature the parents would fan them fairly constantly with fresh water and pick off any that fungused so that it didn't spread to the rest. It may be that later broods will do better and that the new parents are simply learning the ropes.
 
In answer to your last question, almost certainly yes, but I do wonder what plecs you have. The word plec with no detail always worries me, as the common plecs are huge fish. Several types are fine in that sort of setting though and you'd have room for several more fish, although a breeding pair of angels can dominate a tank well and make additions difficult.