Angel Eggs??

[lyquidphyre]

In my boyfriends tank he has one angel, 2 kissing gourami, a blue gourami and a dwarf gourami.

One day there are what seem to be eggs on the side of the glass and the angel seem to be protecting them.

How did this happen? Doesn't the male need to fertilize the eggs? Is she always going to have eggs but no babies?

[lyquidphyre]

.....anyone?

[Endgame319]

I'm not sure about angel breeding, but they're most likely angel eggs because gouramis use bubble nests. I've never heard of a female laying eggs without a male before, but since they weren't fertilized they definately wont hatch. Since the female is obviously ready to breed, why doesn't he get a male partner for him. (may be difficult as angels are impossible to sex)

[poikilotherm]

As Endgame surmised, these are almost certainly angel eggs. Does the angel have a visible papilla (egg-laying tube)? If so, that clears that one up. She may also have developed an orange coloration on her "forehead", or at least mine did. Some female angels will spawn by themselves or with other females if they're ready and no males are around. The eggs will be infertile, and will turn opaque white within 2 days.

If you want to breed angels, having a broody female is key- she will likely pair fairly easily with any male. If you want to do this, I would recommend getting a breeding tank (10-20 gallons should be OK), and figure out the return policy of your [acronym:228a4c6295="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:228a4c6295]. What I would do (others may differ) is get two angels from the store, and put all 3 together in the breeding tank. If two of them pair up and start picking on the other one, quickly sell the poor "third wheel" back to the store. This will have about a 3 in 4 chance of working. The offspring should generally look like one or other parent rather than a mix (or at least mine did...)

Angels are generally good parents, and it's quite an experience having babies and watching them. Talk to your [acronym:228a4c6295="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:228a4c6295] about specifics (food/filtration/spawning substrate/medication), or ask here- it can be sad if none of your wigglers make it to adulthood.

Good luck if you decide to do it. Otherwise, don't worry about it. The only possible concern is that fungus can grow on infertile eggs, but I don't know if there's any danger to the fish.

[lyquidphyre]

Well the eggs were gone yesterday morning. We don't want to breed angels (not not at least) but we just wanted to double check that those were in fact eggs and that they weren't going to hatch because there was no male in the tank.

Thanks for the wonderful information =o)