are my angels pairing up???

[dwk5270]

My two angels have been acting differently lately. They follow eachouther around and have "stand offs" with eachother. They flare their fins to eachother and occasionally lock lips.

 

[librarygirl]

Do you know for sure if one is male and one is female? They could be doing this to fight for dominance or they could be a breeding pair, it's hard to say.

 

[dwk5270]

No I do not know whicg sex they are

 

[dwk5270]

Which***

 

[librarygirl]

What size tank and what other fish are in there? If you can post some good side shots of each angel maybe someone can sex them for you.

 

[dwk5270]

Okay ill try. It's a thirty Gallon with three angels. Three emperor tetras, one cory cat and a Raphael catfish

 

[Rivercats]

If they are staying together are they beginning to show aggression towards the other one? Even bonded pairs will lip lock and test each other. If they are over 8 months of age they are old enough to spawn. The fact that they are staying together leans towards possible bonding, the next thing that might happen is the odd angel starts getting harassed. Although if you happened to have a male and two female sometimes you will luck out and the male forms a harem.

 

[dwk5270]

Yeah that's what I'm hoping happens.. they aren't constantly together and there is no aggression. But lately they have been doing the locking lips thing so that's what made me curious

 

[Rivercats]

If they are just lip locking ocassionally they are just testing each other, its a dominance thing and nothing to worry about.

 

[mohican]

If they are just lip locking ocassionally they are just testing each other, its a dominance thing and nothing to worry about.

I agree. Typically lip locking is a form of aggression and not breeding. My angels only lip lock to show dominance toward other fish. What is going on with the other angel while this is all going on? That one may be the female and the 2 males are showing off. This is just my experience.

 

[dwk5270]

The other one is kind of just off doing its own thing. The two that lip lock also occasionally chase eachother off shortly and then are fine