Angel questions

[cplawrence]

So, I seem to have two "pairs". The first to pair up was moved to my old 29, where they reside with five cories and a couple of tetras. They have been laying eggs every couple of weeks for a while now, but always wind up eating them. While I have never caught them in the act (and I'm not all that sure I could tell the breeding tubes apart anyway ), I have been suspicious that they are both female. For one, they both seem to be either gravid or fat. The longest I have seen them go is about a day and a half. Now at that point, I definitely noticed some white eggs and some that had the amber color. Does it simply take time for the unfertilized eggs to become white or were they fertilized?

In my 75, I have a second pair with some yo-yo loaches and keyhole cichlids. In this case, only one of them seems to be gravid which makes me more hopeful that this actually is a pair. These two have not tried to breed nearly as regularly and it has been unpleasant to watch when they try. One of the keyhole cichlids (which is usually very mild mannered) becomes quite agressive to them going after the eggs. The most recent time, I netted the keyhole cichlid to keep him from bullying the female, and they actually got to try doing their thing. However, the yo-yo's took care of them. When one is being chased away, another will come in and snack on as many as eggs possible. They wind up gone shortly after they are placed.

So, my questions are:
1) Does my assessment of 2 females and a male/female pair seem reasonable?
2) How stressful will it be for the pairs if I swapped tanks? That is, give those that I believe actually are a pair a chance in the 29.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[rich311k]

It sounds to me like you could be right. I don't think it would be very stressful at all to switch the pairs. They will settle right back down. The tetras in the 29 may cause you some problems, you might consider taking them out as well. Chances are you will need to remove the eggs and hatch them artifically. Most tank raised angels are not very good parents.

 

[justrelax]

just curious cp, how long have you had your angels? what kind of behaviors did you see that cued you to seperate them?

 

[cplawrence]

rich311k--thanks for the feedback; I will try moving them and see how they do.

justrelax--I've had the angels for close to a year now, but they were separated about last Christmas. The fish that paired up were doing a bit of sparring and would lock jaws. At the same time, they started to get fairly aggressive to the other angels. Luckily, the two remaining ones paired up in the 29 (although, it seems like their both females...), so there have not been any more aggression problems recently.

Keeping angels yourself?

 

[justrelax]

yeah, i currently have four in my 55. got them about three months ago and am very anxious for them to pair off. they seem to hang out in pairs for the last month and have all had pretty large growth spurts, too, but i haven't seen any other behavior changes yet.