Angelfish Sexing??

[stik6shift98]

how do u tell the sex of each and when are they ready to breed...

[valerie]

its really hard to tell the sex of angels. You either have to wait untill they pair up,and even then i have heard about a pair consisting of 2 females if there are no males in the tank. Or you can vent them. But someone will probably be around soon that knows more about this. I only figured out my angel was a female after she layed eggs.

[Dangerdoll]

Sexing Angels is almost impossible until they are mature and/or ready to spawn. The Angels breeding tube called the papilla becomes very evident just before and during the spawning process. The papilla is a small protrusion located between the ventral and anal fin..... A female's papilla looks tubish-like and is larger than the male's.... A male's papilla is not as large, is thinner and smaller than a female's. Males will also expose their papilla to establish territory if in a tank with a gravid female and multiple males. My male is a bit larger than my female though I'm not exactly sure that this is the case in all pairs. If you've got a pair, good luck with yours...

[Deb2]

It's really hard to sex them before they spawn. Females are thicker than males due to egg production. They are sexually mature at 5 inches which takes about 1 year.

[stik6shift98]

i have about 20 or 25 angels and one is about 3 inches in diameter and the smallest is silver dollar sized.....are they close to being bred yet

[Dangerdoll]

Originally posted by stik6shift98
one is about 3 inches in diameter and the smallest is silver dollar sized.....

is that including their fins and tail? I can tell you the silver dollar sized one is definitely not ready.....mine started when their bodies were 3 inches around (not including finnage). Your larger ones should be getting ready if they're not ready yet and if this entails not including the fins in measuring....

Good luck!! :D

[stik6shift98]

im talking about just their bodies.....no fins ar anything....the biggest one including fins would measure 5 inches vertically if not more

[Dangerdoll]

If you can't see the papilla between the ventral and anal fin, chances are that spawning isn't being thought about with your fish. They may need to get a little bit larger still and/or they may not have found another to pair up with yet. Don't worry, when they're ready and have paired up, you will know the differences between the two and will see just how evident that make themselves (as male and female). Is there just one or a few that are as big as the biggest one...or are a majority of them the size of the silver dollars?

[stik6shift98]

1 is just huge....the silver dollatr size is the smallest and others are in between those sizes

[Dangerdoll]

I can guarantee that your big one hasn't shown any evidences of it's papilla because of the others in your tank not yet being mature. Or, if you do see it and just can't tell if it's more of the males or the females version, it's likely you won't be able to tell until the others have caught up in size, especially since you haven't seen the differences between the two to decipher. You'll have to wait it out until some others get a little bigger and a liking starts to take affect. Good luck with them, I get a lot of enjoyment out of mine and there's only two, you've got your hands full of them :D ;) :D

[stik6shift98]

ya i hope i get a couple breeding pairs out of this group...:D

[Dangerdoll]

do you plan on eventually separating them? I'm not sure bow big your tank is but I'd imagine breeding may be tough to nonexistant with more than one breeding pair in the tank....I mean, sure, you may have them drop eggs and fertilize, but if you don't separate the pair or the eggs, they will most likely be eaten from the parents in warding off the others. Plus, they can get quite aggressive during breeding or when there's eggs evident.

[stik6shift98]

i have a 100 that they are all in right now.... i have 3 10 gallons 1 20 gal and 1 40 gal empty and ready to take the breeding pairs out and have some babies

[stik6shift98]

its actually a 110 gallon......