Angelfish Mating Ritual?
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Fishdude3233
Aquarium Advice Addict
it may be two makes locking lips
Im sorry i dont understand?
Fishdude3233
Aquarium Advice Addict
male angelfish will lock lips to fight for a female. do a youtube search of it. to me they both look like males, but Andy is the real angelfish master around. 
male angelfish will lock lips to fight for a female. do a youtube search of it. to me they both look like males, but Andy is the real angelfish master around.
Im pretty sure 2 males dont lock lips its a male and a female and im pretty sure one is a male and one is a female
Fishdude3233
Aquarium Advice Addict
Pretty sure it's two males. I have some mbuna and the males lock lips. It's a contest to win a female
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I think your mixing it up I'm pretty sure when the lock lips it shows they are getting ready to mate I think and I can tell that 1 is male and one is female
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Fishdude3233
Aquarium Advice Addict
Idk maybe I am. But I'm almost positive that I'm not. Op I'd google it.
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Luananeko
Aquarium Advice Addict
I haven't bred Angels personally, but Angels will lip lock either as a mating display OR a dominance struggle. Without a video it's hard to say which is the case, as it looks a little different in either case. Mating behavior will involve more shimmying, while aggression behavior will involve far more biting and attacking each other once they break apart. If you're absolutely certain you have a male and a female, then it may be mating behavior, but could still be dominance if the female doesn't want to accept the male's advances. If they are indeed both male, it's definitely dominance (either vying for territory, or for the attention of a female).
This page may help you tell:
How to Tell the Gender of an Angelfish: 4 Steps (with Pictures)
This page may help you tell:
How to Tell the Gender of an Angelfish: 4 Steps (with Pictures)
Thanks for that and yeh I'm pretty sure mine are male and female and I have seen shimmying I don't think they are fighting for territory as they all swim everywhere around the tank
I do have a video to show but I don't know how to upload it :/ do you know how?
Also thanks for the link i'll check it out now
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Luananeko
Aquarium Advice Addict
Thanks for that and yeh I'm pretty sure mine are male and female and I have seen shimmying I don't think they are fighting for territory as they all swim everywhere around the tank
I do have a video to show but I don't know how to upload it :/ do you know how?
Also thanks for the link i'll check it out now
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It's been a while since I uploaded video, but I think if you put it on youtube and link it here the forum is smart enough to embed it in the post. Worst case, people can follow the link to the youtube video.
Fishdude3233
Aquarium Advice Addict
yes you have to upload to youtube and then link it.
Luananeko
Aquarium Advice Addict
thanks alot for the article seems very interesting going to put the angelfish in a separate tank together once the mollies have released their fry
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
There is a thread that might help you called wigglers at last!!!! http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f82/wigglers-at-last-237956.html
This is an ongoing discussion by both professional and hobbyist Angel breeder and just about everything you need to know on the subject has been discussed in it already.
As for your fish in the pic, the first question needs to be "Are there more Angels in tank besides just these 2 Angelfish?" If there are, this could very well be 2 males fighting for breeding rights to a female in the tank. This can be a brutal fighting leaving one or both males with dents and dings. You will notice the fish not only lip locking but also going after other parts of the body. That's usually a clue as to their intentions. If there aren't others, the fighting should be short lived as usually there is submission rather quickly by the weaker fish if it's 2 males PLUS, since there is no female there to fight over, there is no "kingdom" for them to fight about.
If this is a male and female,( I'm not sure based on this pic alone) Lip locking will last a bit longer as the male is looking for the female to submit. There may be some tail nipping but body blows do not regularly happen as when they are fighting. There is a test I find very useful in sexing larger Angels. Before you feed the fish their first meal of the day, look down at them from above the tank so that you are looking straight down the fish. A male will look like a straight line from top to bottom. A female, gravid with eggs, will have a slight bulge in her abdomen and will clearly look different than the male. Again, this must be done before the fish eat because a belly full of food looks the same on a male and a female.
As for loading videos, use the "go advanced" tab to make a post and below the posting area, there will be a section titled" Additional options". In the "attach files" section, there will be a button "manage attachments" that you click on. This will bring up a separate window where you will have the option to load your videos. This is how I do mine. It goes directly from my computer to this site. No Utube or any other sites necessary
Hope this helps
This is an ongoing discussion by both professional and hobbyist Angel breeder and just about everything you need to know on the subject has been discussed in it already.
As for your fish in the pic, the first question needs to be "Are there more Angels in tank besides just these 2 Angelfish?" If there are, this could very well be 2 males fighting for breeding rights to a female in the tank. This can be a brutal fighting leaving one or both males with dents and dings. You will notice the fish not only lip locking but also going after other parts of the body. That's usually a clue as to their intentions. If there aren't others, the fighting should be short lived as usually there is submission rather quickly by the weaker fish if it's 2 males PLUS, since there is no female there to fight over, there is no "kingdom" for them to fight about.
If this is a male and female,( I'm not sure based on this pic alone) Lip locking will last a bit longer as the male is looking for the female to submit. There may be some tail nipping but body blows do not regularly happen as when they are fighting. There is a test I find very useful in sexing larger Angels. Before you feed the fish their first meal of the day, look down at them from above the tank so that you are looking straight down the fish. A male will look like a straight line from top to bottom. A female, gravid with eggs, will have a slight bulge in her abdomen and will clearly look different than the male. Again, this must be done before the fish eat because a belly full of food looks the same on a male and a female.
As for loading videos, use the "go advanced" tab to make a post and below the posting area, there will be a section titled" Additional options". In the "attach files" section, there will be a button "manage attachments" that you click on. This will bring up a separate window where you will have the option to load your videos. This is how I do mine. It goes directly from my computer to this site. No Utube or any other sites necessary
Hope this helps
There is a thread that might help you called wigglers at last!!!! http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f82/wigglers-at-last-237956.html
This is an ongoing discussion by both professional and hobbyist Angel breeder and just about everything you need to know on the subject has been discussed in it already.
As for your fish in the pic, the first question needs to be "Are there more Angels in tank besides just these 2 Angelfish?" If there are, this could very well be 2 males fighting for breeding rights to a female in the tank. This can be a brutal fighting leaving one or both males with dents and dings. You will notice the fish not only lip locking but also going after other parts of the body. That's usually a clue as to their intentions. If there aren't others, the fighting should be short lived as usually there is submission rather quickly by the weaker fish if it's 2 males PLUS, since there is no female there to fight over, there is no "kingdom" for them to fight about.
If this is a male and female,( I'm not sure based on this pic alone) Lip locking will last a bit longer as the male is looking for the female to submit. There may be some tail nipping but body blows do not regularly happen as when they are fighting. There is a test I find very useful in sexing larger Angels. Before you feed the fish their first meal of the day, look down at them from above the tank so that you are looking straight down the fish. A male will look like a straight line from top to bottom. A female, gravid with eggs, will have a slight bulge in her abdomen and will clearly look different than the male. Again, this must be done before the fish eat because a belly full of food looks the same on a male and a female.
As for loading videos, use the "go advanced" tab to make a post and below the posting area, there will be a section titled" Additional options". In the "attach files" section, there will be a button "manage attachments" that you click on. This will bring up a separate window where you will have the option to load your videos. This is how I do mine. It goes directly from my computer to this site. No Utube or any other sites necessary
Hope this helps
Yes i have more than 2 angels in the tank i have 3 there are pretty much the same size which i bought together and then a few weeks ago i bought another 3 angels but are much smaller to the ones
I cant tell if they are fighting for females or if they are breeding...
i havent seen them lock lips and stay there for a while but i have seen them kind of like kissing it other on the lips and shimming and kind of doing this dance :s
I checked their bodies like you said before feeding them and i saw 1 of them has a bulge in its stomach and the other angel just a bit i dunno if thats eggs or if they are eating on other things in the tank :S Also like you said the male is very slim and i dont see no bulges so im guessing that is the male
As for the video i have uploaded it so check it out and let me know what you think. What one of the angel fish is doing in the video they both do it to each other so i dont know what to think of that
I appreciate your help and advice and will be looking forward to hearing from you again thanks again
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Okay, so here's a next step: Option #1) You can separate the 2 fish into a tank by themselves or use a divider in your tank and see if they spawn. Option #2) The video looks more like they are fighting than pre spawn "dancing" so the next test requires you to observe the fish from a distance. What you should see is the Male chasing all the other Angels away from the female but not touching the female. The posturing is insignificant at this point. This should be an all out attack on the intruders. If you see this, I strongly suggest you move either the pair or the rest of the Angels.
Keep in mind that Angelfish are Cichlids and have no problem beating the "snot" out of a rival. If they start really getting physical, I would move the suspected pair immediately to restore harmony in your main tank.
The other thing to watch for is if all the fish are just beating on each other. If this is happening, there's a good chance you are going to have to "thin the herd" because you have multiple males vying for top position. You can try puting more decor in the tank to create separate little habitats within the tank for each male or you need to separate the larger fish from each other or they may really do some damage to each other.
Hope this helps
Keep in mind that Angelfish are Cichlids and have no problem beating the "snot" out of a rival. If they start really getting physical, I would move the suspected pair immediately to restore harmony in your main tank.
The other thing to watch for is if all the fish are just beating on each other. If this is happening, there's a good chance you are going to have to "thin the herd" because you have multiple males vying for top position. You can try puting more decor in the tank to create separate little habitats within the tank for each male or you need to separate the larger fish from each other or they may really do some damage to each other.
Hope this helps
Luananeko
Aquarium Advice Addict
Agreed with above. The video doesn't seem to include any of the mating posturing at all, just normal tiffs to determine their pecking orders. Pretty tame looking from the short bit the video shows.
