Urgent help needed!!!

[pgtips]

Ok just picked up my female Angel fish from my LFS that i've had on order for a month.

I have put her in the tank with the male angel (whole is a bit smaller)

he has been locking lips with her
ramming her into the side of the tank
locking lips
rolling on his back and flicking fins at her

My worry is he is being VERY rough!!! is he showing her whos boss and going to mate with her or should i get her out of the tank?

Any help would be great

Cheers

Paul

 

[CFC]

How do you know you have a male and female? Unless you have seen them in the act of breeding then angelfish cannot be sexed from external charcteristics. The behaviour sounds more like territorial aggression than a courtship ritual, keep a eye on it and if it doesnt stop then pull one of them out.

 

[pgtips]

I was told by the guy at the shop (who has been a friend for 10 years) that the angel is a female.

aparently you can tell by looking at the front 2 long fin bits......male has a V shape while the female has a U shape.

 

[babyfish]

Nope, sorry the only way to reliably sex an angel is to watch them laying and see who does what

I have sveral angels in my 4 foot which have bred and they all look identical, I know from watching them which sexes they are.

 

[Vip]

Sounds like 2 males fighting over tank space, if it was male and female i couldnt see the male being as rough as that.

 

[pgtips]

well just got home, been out for a few hours (they had settled down before i left) and it's not looking good for the new angel

Cloudy eyes, sitting at the bottom (almost laying).

My Male (origional Angel) is such an a$$hole!!! beaten the poor thing up. I've put the new female/male in my other tank so hope it pulls through.

So you think i actually got given another male? I really want to pair my male with a nice female but don't want him to hurt another angel like this, how can i go about 100% getting a female angel for him?

Or should i keep him by himself as he seems very aggressive to other angels.

really upset now......i would swap the male for another one but i've had him for years since he was small and apart from being a git he has loads of personality (his my favorite fish)

any ideas please people?

Paul

 

[CFC]

Unfortunately you just found out the hard way that breeding cichlids is not always easy, to get a breeding pair of angels you really need to buy a group of 6 or more juviniles and let them grow out and pair off together naturally, trying to just force two new adult fish together nearly always ends in territorial disputes.
The sex of your original fish (which still has not been confirmed as male or female) is unimportant as no matter what the sex it will have claimed the tank as its own territory and will attack any new angelfish or similar looking fish that you add.

 

[pgtips]

Unfortunately you just found out the hard way that breeding cichlids is not always easy, to get a breeding pair of angels you really need to buy a group of 6 or more juviniles and let them grow out and pair off together naturally, trying to just force two new adult fish together nearly always ends in territorial disputes.
The sex of your original fish (which still has not been confirmed as male or female) is unimportant as no matter what the sex it will have claimed the tank as its own territory and will attack any new angelfish or similar looking fish that you add.

So i will never beable to put a male/female with him/her now?

I thought female Angels don't fight? and are peaceful fish?

So what would you do CFC? give my Angel i've had for years away and get 6 babies and start again?

I really thought i was being nice to him, getting him a partner and all

I would love to have a mating pair.

 

[CFC]

If a breeding pair is what you really want then buying a group of juviniles and growing them up together is the easiest way to go. As for what you should do with your original angel that is entirely up to you.

 

[Fiddlesticks]

Angel fish can be little devils. I had a similar situation when I added a new angel to the tank with my big one. Only the roles were reversed. The new baby was beating up my big angel who is 3 times the size. My big one was just too peaceful, as she grew up with neons. The little one was from a tank crowded with other angels and had to be aggressive to survive. Any way the long and the short of it is that the aggressive angel had to be removed. I was not willing to jeopordize the health of my big angel. She is after all my fave fish.

 

[pgtips]

If a breeding pair is what you really want then buying a group of juviniles and growing them up together is the easiest way to go. As for what you should do with your original angel that is entirely up to you.

but lets say i buy 6 young ones....i could end up with 6 males?

damn i hate keeping fish lol

I dont know what to do with him, would he behave better with a group of young angels (say 4?) or would he just beat them up as well?

see i had 2 tanks planned and they are both nearly perfect but i only want (in a perfect world) my 2 angels in one tank

Tank 1
Angels x 2 (want 2, but the angel i have just beat up the partner which is now in tank2)
Ancistrus x 3 (1x male 2x female)
Platty 4 (1x male 3x female)
Golden Barbs x 5
Coolie Loach x 1
shrimp x 2
RFBS x 1

Tank 2
Betta x 3(1x male 2xfemale)
Cardinal Tetra x 20
harlequins x 10
cories x 4

but i've had to put the beaten up new angel in the tank 2.....might take him back to the fish shop if/when he/she recovers

 

[pgtips]

Angel fish can be little devils. I had a similar situation when I added a new angel to the tank with my big one. Only the roles were reversed. The new baby was beating up my big angel who is 3 times the size. My big one was just too peaceful, as she grew up with neons. The little one was from a tank crowded with other angels and had to be aggressive to survive. Any way the long and the short of it is that the aggressive angel had to be removed. I was not willing to jeopordize the health of my big angel. She is after all my fave fish.

yeah my origional angel beat up this new bigger angel

grrrrrr why won't he just get along

 

[David]

Unfortunately you just found out the hard way that breeding cichlids is not always easy, to get a breeding pair of angels you really need to buy a group of 6 or more juviniles and let them grow out and pair off together naturally, trying to just force two new adult fish together nearly always ends in territorial disputes.
The sex of your original fish (which still has not been confirmed as male or female) is unimportant as no matter what the sex it will have claimed the tank as its own territory and will attack any new angelfish or similar looking fish that you add.

So i will never beable to put a male/female with him/her now?

I thought female Angels don't fight? and are peaceful fish?

So what would you do CFC? give my Angel i've had for years away and get 6 babies and start again?

I really thought i was being nice to him, getting him a partner and all

I would love to have a mating pair.

I would suggest buying several more angels and placing them (along with your original) in a new tank, so that none of them will feel as if their territory is being invaded. This way you have a much better chance of getting a breeding pair, and you can sell they extras back to the LFS.

PS I was lucky when I bought my first two angels, I just happened to get a male and female and they spawned for me several times.

 

[David]

pgtips you have a male and 2 female bettas together? I'm surprised you aren't having problems. Usually the males are very aggressive towards even females when they are not spawning.

 

[pgtips]

pgtips you have a male and 2 female bettas together? I'm surprised you aren't having problems. Usually the males are very aggressive towards even females when they are not spawning.

no the opposite.....they all swim around together lol

i think 'they think', they are part of the neon school lol

my male betta is VERY friendly with the other fish