hey dangerdoll (an angel question)...

thanks for replying! i'm still a little wary of splitting them up because i think i have seen the papillae in a couple of my angels. now, since i'm not experienced, i'm not ready to say that i'm %100 sure that this is what i'm seeing, but i'm pretty sure i've distinguished one male and one female. the one that i think is a female has been in my opinion the most aggressive...so i'm not sure if i'm seeing right, or maybe i'm just seeing some poop...? i don't know. i look all the time to see if i can see the sex organs anywhere, and i'm pretty sure i've seen them on at least a couple. but still no fish are paired off...maybe i will just take a couple out and put them in the other tank. the other problem is that i broke my collar bone a week ago and i'm not supposed to use it at all--you'd be amazed at how much your collar bone affects. i'm kinda breaking the rules by typing :D but that's ok. it'll require some work to transfer the fish and everything, but maybe i'll be able to do it. i have a lot of homework, so maybe i can do it in the next couple of days. thanks for your help.

-chip
 
First let me start by sending best of luck in a speedy recovery with your collarbone mishap, ouch! I know it must be strenuous for anything you do.
Now, try to get someone to help you with the transferring of the fishes from tank to tank, it must be a terrible pain to do it yourself...... I think if you're almost positive you've located a male and female in your tank, your best bet would be to relocate them at this time..... at least you will alleviate some of the stress already going on in your tank. They may not have paired off yet because they are simply not ready but chances are, once together, things will work out eventually. If things still don't look right, try rearranging more so.
I find it weird that a female would be the terrorizor in the tank, but stranger things have happened. To help a little more, the female will usually be slightly smaller and rounder than the male when they are ready to set up house. I've never seen their organs resemble "poop" but everyone sees things differently, so I'm not really sure at what you're actually seeing. To elaborate, to me, the females organ looks as though it can release eggs as it has an opening at the end whereas the males doesn't....it's longer, and more slender. Know that the first spawn may not survive, whether by the parents being too young and/or the eggs being infertile, and/or they might just simply eat the eggs for fear of other fish eating them if there should be any other fish in the tank. Just know, the first batch or two is usually a loss. Also, Cories are notorious for eating angel eggs so careful with them.
Hope that helps and all my best for a speedy recovery. ;)
 
a couple things:

-the one that i think is a female is actually noticeably smaller than the other angels that i purchased at the same time, but of course that could be just because she hasn't eaten as much or whatever. the "poop" thingy is hard for me to tell what it is cuz it's black. the "female" we're talking about is a marbled/koi type and has shiny spots scattered around. so i didn't think that poop could be black and could be staying there looking the same for too long, but then again...maybe she's constipated?:eek: also, i dunno if the papillae thingy can be a different color than clear...? the one that i thought was a male looked clear and looked like the sex organ of males on websites that i've looked at for help. the "female" is also noticeably plump and round, so i was hoping that this was because of eggs...? can the sex organ be a different color? that'd kinda be cool...if so, i'll pry move her and the male i think i have and maybe another fish into my setup tank to see if then they'll pair off.

-i currently have 4 swordtails and 3 platys in the tank that i have setup for breeding angels (originally to cycle it (i thought that would pry be a good idea...am i wrong on that?)). if i move, say, 2-3 angels into that tank (it's a 20 g), should i move out the other fish? i actually was planning on it, but i wanted to make sure before i moved them, because believe it or not, it's hard to find help around the house when everyone's so busy, so i'll pry end up having to do it myself.

-my collar bone is already feeling a lot better, but i still have to be in a sling for about 3 more weeks (until my next appt), and i can't drive until then (and maybe longer). that kinda sucks.

thanks again for all your help. i really appreciate the advice and support. just for kicks, i'll try and post a pic of my 20 g breeder tank (i still need to add a peice of slate whenever i move the angels in there. i also wanna add an amazon sword). yeah...i guess it kinda looks like a tv:D

-chip

tvaquarium3.jpg
 
The angel close to the top of that picture, white and yellow one... it looks close to being big enough to mate. The others need to grow more, they will probably do better when they have been seperated and have more room to grow.
 
yeah, the two gold angels are the same size actually, so they're both big enough to mate. the larger of the two koi angels at the bottom is the same size as the golds as well. the smaller koi-looking one at the bottom is the "female" that's been really aggressive (with the black sex organ thingy). the two smoky angels are a tiny bit larger than this smaller koi female, and my one silver angel is inbetween the smokys and the big koi and golds. so yeah...a couple different sizes.

-chip
 
Well, I'd find out if those gold angels are opposite genders, and if so, grab em out of that tank! Get a whole whack of terracotta pots and lie them on their sides. Make sure they are big enough for both angels to get into. They need a good place for their eggs.
 
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