Angel Pair?

[coolwade]

I have what I think may be a pair of Angels and the big male is makeing 'funny' faces (openning his mouth really wide) So I assume he is the male. The female, I hope she is anyway!, is a little smaller and more placid. They are both 11cm - 12 cm high and long. If they were both males would hey have started to tear each other apart by now?

 

[biogirl361]

i had a pair of angels and the female liked to try and tear the male apart. they both went crazy attacking each other, but the male was always the shyer of the two and it seemed like he was always the one getting sores on his lips from the lick locking, and he was always the one getting chased into a corner and not allowed to come out, and stuff like that. sometimes behavior isnt even neccesarily a good indicator of male and female!

 

[NatakuTseng]

To get a reliable suitable pair you should get several small angels and grow them out and let them pair off on their own. Also the only ways to sex angels reliably is when they are spawning and you can see obvious differences in their papila, or by dissection which I am sure you don't want to do. The way an angel acts toward another is not an indication to the sex. Also angels will not always pair up in male/female pairs. A female/female pair is quite common, and I have heard of male/male pairs as well, so you may not even have a male and female. Just because Angels are cichlids doesn't mean they have the aggression factor of a Jack Dempsey, Angels are usually quite docile, and are best kept in groups, Sure they are a bit aggressive, but most of the time not to the point where they will severely hurt each other.

 

[biogirl361]

Sure they are a bit aggressive, but most of the time not to the point where they will severely hurt each other.

i guess you didn't see my pair then they were crazy agressive to each other , before the female died! :sad

 

[NatakuTseng]

First off I said most of the time, not all the time. Secondly how do you know they were male and female, and another mistake I saw with that was you only kept two together, there was no other angels in there for the aggression to be spread out with. If that dominante fish the one you say was a female didn't like the other, it simply didn't have any other angels to also show she was the boss in the tank.

 

[coolwade]

Who cleans the area where the eggs are to be laid? As they have been cleaning an Anubias leaf very regularly. The leaf is about 20 cm long.

 

[biogirl361]

i know they were m/f pair because they spawned. my male did most of the cleaning. i know you said 'most', i was just kidding. i know you are suppose to keep more than 2, but not all of us can have huge tanks, and i didn't really want any of the standard community fish.