Liplocked angels.

This afternoon, I noticed two of my angels were lip locked, then started dancing around the tank with each other. Is this aggression, or something else? Next question. Will a pair lay eggs with other fish in the tank? If they will, how long do I have to remove the eggs before they get eaten?

Thanks guys, Randy

This is probably two males. There is probably a third angel, usually a little smaller that is hanging around the fighting. This is the female.


The pair will usually push all of the other angels to the end of the tank. Put some slate or pipe at a angle in the tank and the couple will stay around the slate.


They will lay in a community tank but it is unlikely that you will get one fry from them. You need to figure out which ones is the pair and put them in a separate tank, Each pair is different but a young pair will eat their eggs the same day they lay them a few tries later they may go a couple of days and when the eggs get a tail they usually will eat them the first time. Sometimes they never learn not to eat their eggs but again each pair is different. I like to pull my eggs.

im just the opposite, i like to find which of my pairs will parent raise, and only keep those. parent raising pairs are worth twice as much also. if it were me i would get them into a 20 tall with a slate, plant and sponge. let them try it a few times. you may just get lucky and they will raise right out of the gate. ive had this happen when working with stock that had been bred for generations only to parent raise (koi from ted santos @ the house of orange angelfish hatchery in chicago) if anybody got some of the bags of koi i was donating to the meeting raffles, those are products of that pair. the fry of such pairs is much more likely to also parent raise, as this is how they were brought up. the other possitive to letting them raise is that the parents will typically cull out most defects for you. they have much better eyes than we do lol. the fry i get from parent raisers are always much better looking IMO.

what kind of angels do you have there that are doing some courting randy?

The angels that are displaying this behavior are marble ones that I got from Viv. She is one of our newer members. I guess my only option here is to set up another tank. This is not something my wife will be particularly fond of. Oh well, wish me luck.

if you are wanting to try to raise the fry yes you will need at least a 20 tall. otherwise just let them spawn and eat the eggs. it happens all the time in my 75's and 90 community tanks.

It seems like the angels that were displaying pairing behavior have stopped protecting their space. They are no longer hanging around the slate like they were. I'd say they defended their territory for a week or so. Now they are social fish again. Is this normal behavior? The reason I ask is because I have an new, cycled 29 gallon tank that Brad and Gina set me up with just for a breeding pair, so I'm getting anxious to start breeding these bad boys. I currently have 4 half dollar sized angels in a 29g(my pairing tank). I know that is a bit crowded, but once I get a confirmed pair, they will get their own tank to hopefully "parent raise" in. Any and all advice is welcome. One more question. How many angels should I have in a 29gal pairing tank? Is 4 too many, or can I add a few more to increase chances of pairing?

Thanks
Randy

my guess is they did in fact spawn then gobbled them up asap because of the threat of the other angels so closely quartered. i would only put the 2 you think paired in there for a while and see what ya get. keep the water clean and feed frozen bloodworms often to the breeders.