Sexing angels

[Tlc]

Please help me If you can these 2 angels have pushed away my other 2. the silver with stripes if I am right is female her papilla was wide and long but the (male marble) never shows his papilla? The one with stripes also chases away the other fish at times. The marble hides most of the time behind a nice piece of wood and seems to be the one that is sgetting fatter. The marble also hasn't eaten for a few days it did eat a few spinach bites last night but that's it no BS or BW or flakes. I have attached pics of the 2 other angels they pushed away the white and black

 

[Tlc]

Here's 1 more of my marble. There are only 4 total 1 white, 1 black, 1 marble, 1 with stripes. Sorry for addition of pictures

 

[biss444]

its really hard to tell without seing the tube up close, sometimes one is ready but the other is not, also a tell tale sign is the fish mouthing a rock or plant to clean off to get ready,

 

[Tlc]

Would that be why the other one isn't eating? Is that normal? Maybe constipation? Anyone have ideas

 

[biss444]

not sure about the no eating, my angels usually get more spunky and aggressive , when they get ready and sometimes get a little aggressive with each other, when i get my pairs ready for breeding i feed them with frozen bloodworms and they devour it.

 

[Tlc]

Yes he loved bloodworms and I've tried giving him those and he won't eat anything. His belly looks a bit swollen so I'm wondering if he is constipated or parasite or something

 

[biss444]

yeah that is a hard call could be either,do you add any salt to your tank. also check your ph, i tried to keep my ph around 6.8

 

[Tlc]

My ph is 7-7.5 but y other angel does just fine and he was ok. I wonder I or has something to do with lie bearers in te tank?

 

[biss444]

if your ph is 7.5 thats high for angels. not saying that that is the problem but it certainly doesnt help,

 

[Jesselav1233]

Sounds like your angel is sick you should quarantine it ASAP. That ph should be fine for angels so that shouldn't be the problem as long as they were acclimated properly. If his stomach is swollen maybe just fast him a few days keep his lights off to help him stay calm and add some salt to the water if you didn't when u changed the water? What's ammonia, nitrite, nitrates at? If its a parasite it'll prob be contagious so hopefully you have a hospital tank and a spare filter an heater? Also what temp is your angel tank at? I always bring the heat up slowly if they aren't feeling good I've seen it snap fish right out of it? They seem to like it warm 80-82ish if they don't feel good.

 

[biss444]

good idea to remove him to a sick tank, but that ph is to high, even though they seem to adapt to it .the fish will not thrive in the long run, ive bred angels and other cichlids for 20 years believe me it makes a difference,also water changes are very important.

 

[biss444]

you should go online if your not sure about ph and other things .angels are very hardy, but if you want to improve your chances of breeding you have to make them happy, ph of 6.8 is about the best it gets for breeding, if you do lower it you must do it very slowly over a few days

 

[Tlc]

Yes I've had angels many times before as well and never seen anything like it. I have a 25 gallon setup and running which I was going to place him into but he fights with the other 2 angels I had to put in there. There temp is at 81 as I know they like warmer waters. The other fish has a bump on its lip as well I treated the tank with melafix in hopes of making them feel better. I believe it's Capillaria or something like that from having guppies in the tank I just got to find out how to treat a fish that won't eat. It swims like there is nothing wrong but also hides a lot too

 

[Tlc]

My other fish would they be ok with a ph that low though? I'm not really trying to breed I had 4 and ended up with these 2 pushing away everyone else. Oh my amm 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate was 0 I do a 10-15% water change every 2-3 days I know how they like clean water

 

[Tlc]

Would you say he is bloated?

 

[biss444]

i doubt that the guppies are the problem unless you just introduced it to the tank and it was a carrier.i'm leaning to a internal parisite but not sure, it would help, can't hurt to raise temp a little do a water change, how long has it been since he ate,

 

[biss444]

i would create some airiation also if you don't have it yet, one other thing in breeding fish, i had at one time 25 tanks running at once and all my tanks had sponge filters, they are fry friendly. i usully had two per tank and i would weekly clean just one of them and alternate each week, that way you get good bacteria build up in one of the sponges at all times.

 

[biss444]

most fish will do well at a 7.0 thats nutrual. you shouldnt have a problem there

 

[biss444]

one thing though if you decide or they do breed, your other fish would be chased and sometimes killed ,especially in a small tank, they get very eggressive, they would attach my hand if i had to do any maintenance,lol

 

[Tlc]

Since I moved them from the 25 to the 55 gallon 5 days ago. I put 2 more angels with them as I moved (all from 1 litter) they were all fine. That night my original 2 started going after the new 2. So I put the other 2 back into my 25. The next day they started showing signs like my org female had a bump on her lip some of her poop is clear , the Marble stopped eating and the lil black 1 has some scales missing and what looks like fin rot. Currently I'm running my 25 with the 2 new angels in it with melafix to help him heal