Sexing angelfish

Angels are tough to sex - many times the males will get a "bump" on their forehead, the females usually do not (I would say that about 80% of my males have this bump). It is more prominent as they mature. Also the shape of the bottom fins attachment to the body can help identify them. The females tend to be a more straight attachment, the males are a little more curved. All that being said, I have some that are just the opposite. I am right maybe 75% of the time. When they are younger, the largest, fastest growth seems to be more of the males than the females. When I pull some from a batch to grow as potential breeders I used to pull the largest, fastest growing ones - I had a growout tank of almost all males. Now I just look for fin shape, color, body shape and I am getting some females w/the males.

HTH,
 
I got the pics last night. They're not as great as I had hoped, but maybe you can do something with them:

Small Angel:

SmallAngel3.jpg


SmallAngel2.jpg


SmallAngel1.jpg


Large Angel:

LargeAngel4.jpg


LargeAngel3.jpg
 
And the larger fish is a super veil (2 veil genes) and the smaller looks to be a veil (one veil gene) they are both very pretty. I woudn't give up yet- with veils IME they sometimes take a little longer to mature, I think it has something to do with how much of the energy/food they take in goes to make those big beautiful fins. Males do tend to grow larger- but it usually takes a year or so for them to really outpace the females so that its obvious. A slight size difference in growing fish doesn't really mean anything IME.

The thing is, If I am not mistaken, there may be slightly exposed tubes showing in these pictures. Its hard to tell, but especially in the 2nd 3rd and last photo... Keep an eye on them.
 
I was thinking the one wasn't a Double Dark or Superveil either, but didn't know for sure. These are my first angels that I bought myself. The only other angel I had was given to me and it was marbled and it died during last years ice storm.

Knowing that the one is not DD or Super Veiled makes me want to get rid of it and get one that is considering that's what I bought them both as.

Guess I'll just wait a little bit and see what happens.
 
they may both be DD black but only one is a super veil.
turbosaurus is correct you have veil and a super veil.
 
First pic: Male, imo. Look closely as he may be showing some sign of tube.
Large Angel: Need pic with fully extended anal fins like the first.

BTW, nice angels!
 
Last edited:
AquariaCentral.com