Pairing my angels off

I'm still working on getting my angels to pair off and my girlfriend mentioned something that I thought I'd run by you guys. I have 4 blues and a gold veil that is slightly larger than the blues (noticeably larger but not more than 10-20%). She doesn't hurt any of them but she is the most aggressive in the tank. Sometimes she will charge at each blue in turn and chase them a few inches. No damage just a quick charge.

I noticed last night 2 of my blues were picking at each others lips. I watched thinking they may lock lips but they didn't. The whole ordeal last less than a minute but then my gold decided to do a quick charge on each blue at that time. My girlfriend asked me if that gold veil could be interfering with any of the other angels trying to pair off. Do you think there's any merit to this? If so do you have any suggestions. I could move her for a bit but I really do want her home to be that tank and I was hoping to have 2 angel pairs in there (with a territory and egg laying space on either side to avoid aggression).

So is there a possibility she (I think it's a she I'm not sure though) could be creating problems with the pairing or am I over thinking? I was also hoping for a blue pair and a gold-blue pair so I'm hoping she will pair too.

ppetropulo said:

She may be interfering/interupting, but it seems like in nature, the same thing would still be happening. How big are the angels, and how long have you had them? Sometimes it just takes a little while.

Click to expand...

Body size is 2 inches maybe a little over and definitely a little over for the gold (not close to three though I think). I've had them since about the first month of starting so around 2-3 months each.

Also, they are in there alone. Maybe a school of some other active fish will make a difference?

tanker said:

The large gold is acting like a male.

Click to expand...

That is entirely possible. I was basing my suspicions of sex on how wide their stomach is. 2 seem to have a bulging stomach (not huge) and three seem not to but it's a very vague way and I know I could be mistaken on all of them

stephcps said:

The are still going through all the natural progressions. The gold is the dominant male most likely. Mine are still establishing their pecking order. They are still small and still have plenty of time to pair. The pecking and rushing is all very normal behavior. At least from what I have read and witnessed. My discus do this as well. It is a very "cichlid" thing to do!

Click to expand...

Right on. The more I think about it the more I agree. I've been impatient but I just need to give it time. Today the gold male (yeah I'm pretty positive he's a male now lol) instead of rushing was chasing the largest blue relentlessly. Causing no damage but cornering the blue and just pecking at it. It didn't even look like he was touching the blue but he was on him like white on rice. Could be because the blue is almost the same size so it's a show of dominance

But yeah I get ya. Just gotta keep twiddling my thumbs a bit longer XD