Why are my angels being so aggressive?

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Nepherael

Nepherael

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My angels have become more aggressive with each other lately. Recent changes include removing other active fish and leaving nothing but the angels, oto's, and Cory's, increasing feeding, and that's about it. There hasn't been any damage or anything, just some chasing and nipping. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with them reaching sexual maturity? It would be great if they were close to pairing. Just now I noticed 2 face to face and some slight pecking at each others lips but prior to that it was all just chasing.

Anyone make sense out of this?
 
Nepherael

Nepherael

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A closer look reveals one angel has his feelers(?) kinda bent. I don't know if that is an injury or not or if it is even serious. Any insight on that would help also
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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as you know, angels are Cichlids..that said they can be aggressive , Angelfish are generally conspecific aggressive, meaning they are aggressive in the Species.
this can be any number of reasons, some are just plain nasty and aggressive to all angels in the tank (dominante, usually Male but females can also be very aggressive.
question, how many angels in the tank and what size is the tank?

this aggression could be the result of them reaching marrity but if there are several angels together .. this could be the end result of establishing the pecking order.
 
Nepherael

Nepherael

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Right on. I have had them for about 2 months. There is 5 angels, 4 blues and a gold veil and they were not all put in at the same time. It is a 55g tank with 4 Cories and 3 oto's.

I would also like to note that 2 of the blues have always had a little more blue/black coloring to them and since this morning one of them specifically has colored up so much s/he just looks majestic. Don't know f the coloring up may have something to do with pairing also
 
Nepherael

Nepherael

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One of them has always been a grump. The largest one my gold veil. Never hurt anyone but always nipped a bit to show she was the boss. Now that you said that I'm thinking she is a he and I can't call him queenie anymore. I'm gonna go with sausage lol cause he makes sausage link poos
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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until angels spawn it is very difficult to determine the sexes..
keep an eye on them as this continues and be prepared to move fish( i hope you have spare tanks)
P. Scalare tend to exhibit this aggresssion more so than P.Altum.. I 've had 6 Altum in the same tank since they were dime sized , they are nearly 1 yr old and are still exhibiting schooling behavior... a little niping from time to time but nothing as severe as I have seen with P.Scalare.
 
stephcps

stephcps

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My group is pre adultish and definitely beginning to set up a pecking order. They harrass each other especially at feeding time. Nothing serious yet. Same happens with discus. They may settle down a little once someone becomes dominant.
 
Nepherael

Nepherael

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Star_Rider said:
until angels spawn it is very difficult to determine the sexes..
keep an eye on them as this continues and be prepared to move fish( i hope you have spare tanks)
P. Scalare tend to exhibit this aggresssion more so than P.Altum.. I 've had 6 Altum in the same tank since they were dime sized , they are nearly 1 yr old and are still exhibiting schooling behavior... a little niping from time to time but nothing as severe as I have seen with P.Scalare.
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Yeah I would have room if anyone needed to be moved. I'm not worried enough yet to even consider it though based on what I'm seeing but I do have a place if anything serious goes down. If it isn't anything to do with pairing or sexual maturity I am definitely gonna give em a shot at solving their pecking order issues themselves.

If I ever had a shot at getting an altum would you recommend against housing it with my scalare?
 
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