All out angelfish war in the tank!!!!

[jhd]

Yesterday a pair of angels laid eggs on giant val leaf. This is in the center of the tank. Today the other pair is just laying eggs in the same tank. The spot they choose is less than a foot away from the other cluster of eggs. There is a lot of chasing and display of aggression from both the guarding pair and the other laying eggs.
Are they going to kill each other?
All the other fish are in the corner of the tank, I guess they know they have to respect the angels.
What can I do to make the guarding pair to move the wigglers once they hatch? If I turn the light off for next 2 days, would it help to calm down the aggression? Or simply cut the leaf off and remove the eggs of the newly spawned pair? This is their first spawn. The guarding pair spawn before once, eggs were gone in 3 days. This time eggs do not disappear and all look fertile.
Need advice quick, I like the angels, long vail marble, took me over a year to get them to spawn 8O

 

[grimlock3000]

If they pair up, which they did, 6 is too many Angels for a 55g tank, simple as that.

 

[jhd]

Sorry guys, I updated my profile.
I have two pairs of angels.
trouble is they decided to lay eggs all at the same time and at the same spot (almost)
So now what? Should I interrupt the mating or let it be?

 

[BrianNY]

The likelihood is that you will lose this batch. The best thing you could is seperate the pairs and have 2 spawns in the near future.

 

[TankGirl]

I have had two spawning pairs of angels in a 55 (got 5 babies and wound up with 2 pairs, who knew?) and fortunately they chose completely opposite sides of the tank to spawn. This went on for a few months but eventually mayhem ensued and one of the females was killed, or at least injured beyond help, and then the leftover male would have been killed for being the "third wheel" so to speak if I had not removed him.

Angels are considered gentle, peaceful community aquarium fish, which is often the case, but once spawning comes into the picture they are not much different than any other cichlid.

To answer your question, yes, they will probably kill each other, unfortunately, or at least cause stress that will lead to death.

 

[krap101]

you could take the eggs out... maybe that'll do something but i doubt it. then they'll get mad at the other angels because they though they ate eachothers eggs and make it worse. maybe get a tank divider?

 

[rubysoho]

what about dividing the tank temporarily? Since you said it was in the middle and only a foot apart, maybe that could work?

 

[TankGirl]

Great idea, rubysoho - a tank divider would force them to choose separate spots for spawning and after that they might "take to their corners" so to speak and not get into trouble.

 

[jhd]

Well then, I will try to separate the two spawning places with some deep floating plants I can take from another tank. Plants have 7 inch long roots hanging down, that will separate the two eggs clusters.
I think I will remove one pair, I can not use divider permanently, since there are clown loaches there and they need room to swim.
So, if separation like this with the plants works, let it be, if not, I am going to remove one pair and put them in 29g,
Too bad, I will have to sell back to LFS ma pearls, angels will kill them in no time, as they tried already when they were with pearls in one tank when they were the size of the dimes.
Thanks for responses.

 

[cdawson]

you could take the eggs out... maybe that'll do something but i doubt it. then they'll get mad at the other angels because they though they ate eachothers eggs and make it worse. maybe get a tank divider?

A tank divider wouldn't work for the simple reason the angels can still see the other pair and still be spooked. When angels are spooked, angels eat their eggs.
Even a light timer turning off, or on can spook them into eating their eggs. If an angelfish feels at all threatened it would rather get the nutrition for themselves to provide nutrients for future spawns rather than allow someone else to eat their eggs.

 

[jhd]

Ok, the war is over.
The result is one stress female and one angry male attacking everybody. I had to sell back to lfs pearls and place the second pair of angels in my 29g with corys.
My take out of it: once angels pair up, plan to keep only one pair per tank unless you have like 90 g plus with the same set up at both ends of the tank, so that they spawn near the ends with as much space between pairs as possible, and heavy plants to separate the territories.

 

[fearlessfisch]

Wow, I just posted about this. I am giving away an angel right now because of this problem. A new tank would be the best solution, but I just can't do that right now. Good luck with yours....