Angelfish Advice Please

[SLIM]

Hi everyone

At the moment I have 6 fairly young angelfish.
I got 6 in the hope 2 will pair then the plan is too rehome the other 4.

At the moment they all seem to get along fine and there doesnt seem to be a pair forming just yet.
To be honest im not really sure what im suppose to be looking out for. I have jus been assuming that when 2 do pair the 2 will follow each other around making it obvious.
Is this right? What am I looking for exactly?

Also, the largest of the angelfish has now got abit touchy around the other angels. He nips from time to time and once I see him lock mouths with another. Its only happened once which was a couple of weeks ago. Other than that the nipping is something hes just started doing.
Has this got anything to do with pairing? Is this normal behaviour?

Any comments and advice is welcome and apreciated
Thank you

Paul

 

[minnnt]

Hiya Paul. The angels usually swim side by side when they pair. Lip locking is usually a test of strength to see if the mate in question is a suitable one. There is very little aggression between angels when a pair in my experience, they're more of 'a couple' than some other cichlids are. They are very aggressive towards tankmates though when spawning.

What temperature are you keeping them at? Angels will require clean and well filtered watered to be at theory best for raising fry and for the fry to live.

 

[SLIM]

Hiya Paul. The angels usually swim side by side when they pair. Lip locking is usually a test of strength to see if the mate in question is a suitable one. There is very little aggression between angels when a pair in my experience, they're more of 'a couple' than some other cichlids are. They are very aggressive towards tankmates though when spawning.

What temperature are you keeping them at? Angels will require clean and well filtered watered to be at theory best for raising fry and for the fry to live.

Well they all seem to swim together in a school apart from the big one. He does join them every now n then but he can get nippy and territorial especially around feedin.
Im keeking them at 25c
They also share the tank with 2 pearl gouramis and 5 corys.
The water is very clean and well filtered too.

I should say tho that im not actually that interested in breeding the angels.
Im interested in getting a pair so they are peaceful and not aggressive towards each other. If I picked 2 at random I could end up with 2 males which wouldnt be good.

 

[karin]

6 months ago I did what you did. Started with 8. Pairing happened when two started traveling together and harassing the others. I had one get a bit dominant earlier than the others and this turned out to be a male. He paired up and the two of them harrassed the heck out of the other angels. It was obvious with the first pair anyway.

Important to keep in mind that angel fish are cichlids and can be different. My current spawning pair are usually mellow but right after spawning and after the pleco eats their eggs they can get very aggressive with each other, lip locking and ripping scales. Most of the time they are mellow. During spawning they chase others away but it is never ugly.

 

[minnnt]

Well they all seem to swim together in a school apart from the big one. He does join them every now n then but he can get nippy and territorial especially around feedin.
Im keeking them at 25c
They also share the tank with 2 pearl gouramis and 5 corys.
The water is very clean and well filtered too.

I should say tho that im not actually that interested in breeding the angels.
Im interested in getting a pair so they are peaceful and not aggressive towards each other. If I picked 2 at random I could end up with 2 males which wouldnt be good.

Good plan. Angels will always show aggression at some point though due to the family of fish they come from. Usually the lower the temperature the more peaceful they are. 28 is recommended for breeding but if you say you're not interested in that then the lower temperature will be fine. You may find when they do pair that they will show aggression towards the Gourami's anyway though, especially if they go near the female.

Although my female is a monkey too!

 

[Squidward]

I also have a group of 8 Angels in my tank.
Apparently there should either be 1, or a small group of at least 6.

Any less and there will be potential problems with aggression.

 

[SLIM]

6 months ago I did what you did. Started with 8. Pairing happened when two started traveling together and harassing the others. I had one get a bit dominant earlier than the others and this turned out to be a male. He paired up and the two of them harrassed the heck out of the other angels. It was obvious with the first pair anyway.

Important to keep in mind that angel fish are cichlids and can be different. My current spawning pair are usually mellow but right after spawning and after the pleco eats their eggs they can get very aggressive with each other, lip locking and ripping scales. Most of the time they are mellow. During spawning they chase others away but it is never ugly.

How long did it take for u to get a pair?
Mine are growing fast. They are probably about 3 inch long and about 3-4 inch tall

 

[SLIM]

Thanx everyone for your input.

So as I understand it, locking mouths is a good thing and im lookin for a pair that swim side by side?
Is there any other good signs too look for?

There behaviour seems to be drastically changing at the moment.
Now they all seem to go off and do there own thing they dont really swim in a school anymore and some of the others seem to be getting nippy too. Not as bad as the big one tho.
They dont really chase each other, its more like if one gets too close to another.

Iv seen the big one try and mouth lock but the other fish swims away in fright lol
Im hoping it wont be too long as I worry the nipping will lead to an injury, torn fin or a disease.

I also have a group of 8 Angels in my tank.
Apparently there should either be 1, or a small group of at least 6.

Any less and there will be potential problems with aggression.

8? Wow you must have a huge aquarium!

 

[karin]

I would say that lip locking, in terms of pairing, is not definitive. Like I said, there are times usually right after spawning that my pair go at it including lip locking but 99% of the time they just hang out near each other. My experience trying what you did is that a pair just became obvious. They did not lip lock with each other if I remember, but they did harass, chase and nip other angels in the group. It is a little unnerving to do this process as you feel bad for the fish getting harassed.