j_randall1702
Aquarium Advice Regular
How hard is it to sex and breed angel fish, and will a 29 gal be sufficent?
Sexing and breeding angelfish
- Thread starter j_randall1702
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
mattrox
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you have a breeding pair a 29 gal should do. They are not hard to breed, it is just hard to get a pair. It is best to get 6 juvelines to grow out and then let them pair up naturally. They can tell the difference between boy and girl before we notice.
TomK2
Aquarium Advice Addict
Angel sexing is difficult. I can't do it. I was trying the get six rule, but I had four juvenile and added two larger ones. Disaster. You must get them all at once.
Six is recommended because with two you have a 50% chance of them being the same sex, two males or two females. With three, that goes down to 25%, with four, 12.5%, with five 6.25%, and with six you have about a 97% probability of having at least one male and one female. If you ended up with 3 of each, then you have even a greater chance of two of them pairing up.
But six angels in a 29 gallon is too crowded if two breed, so you might need another place for the other four if you get a breeding pair, or a 20 gal breeding tank for the pair when spawning.
Like you, I would love to raise a batch of Angel fry. Someday, I hope.
Six is recommended because with two you have a 50% chance of them being the same sex, two males or two females. With three, that goes down to 25%, with four, 12.5%, with five 6.25%, and with six you have about a 97% probability of having at least one male and one female. If you ended up with 3 of each, then you have even a greater chance of two of them pairing up.
But six angels in a 29 gallon is too crowded if two breed, so you might need another place for the other four if you get a breeding pair, or a 20 gal breeding tank for the pair when spawning.
Like you, I would love to raise a batch of Angel fry. Someday, I hope.
mattrox
Aquarium Advice Addict
Spawning them is easy, with almost discus like pwc's and heavy feeding of high protein foods. I conditioned my last breeding pair on blackworms. They bred every two weeks. I was broke and a bit of a greenhorn and couldn't afford to set up properly for fry so they never grew up.
Rxblade123
Aquarium Advice Freak
How long does it take for angelfish abit bigger than quarter size to get to spawning age/size?
mattrox
Aquarium Advice Addict
9 months to a year IME depending on conditions.
Rxblade123
Aquarium Advice Freak
Wow......
BillD
Aquarium Advice Addict
I once bought 6 pearlscales, and got 6 males. When they get old enough that you can see their breeding tubes, they are easier to sex; the males is pointy, and the females is blunt. It is not size, but age that determines sexual maturity. usually by 9 months they are sexually mature. At that age they can be quite large if they were raised in optimum conditions, or not if they weren't
gheitman
Aquarium Advice Addict
If you are successful in breeding angelfish be prepared to get multiple tanks soon as they are very prolific.
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
Anyone hear of sexing angelfish by forehead shape? The fellow at the LFS claimed that a rounded forehead gives about an 80% chance that it's a male, a flat slope from nose to dorsal fin is most likely to be female. He says this characteristic gets stronger as the angelfish gets bigger. Anyone have confirmed pairs so that can confirm/deny this trend?
Jchillin
Aquarium Advice Addict
That distinction usually only forms after they reach maturity, not before. So, if you have a fairly mature group, you can use that as a tool.
For example, my angels are over a year old. None of them displayed the above characteristics. Because the mated pair went after the other one, I assumed the other was a male and put him into the 30 gal. Last weekend he decided to lay eggs.
For example, my angels are over a year old. None of them displayed the above characteristics. Because the mated pair went after the other one, I assumed the other was a male and put him into the 30 gal. Last weekend he decided to lay eggs.
dskidmore
Aquarium Advice Addict
He was using this technique to sex quarter sized fish. So he was just completly guessing at that age?
