Male dominators...the angelfish story...

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.

Asher

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 9, 2006
Messages
45
Location
GP, OR
Ok, so this is my first time posting a topic. I've been doing tanks on and off since 7th grade (about 10 years) and I've had my main 55gal for about 7 months now. It's been my first "larger fish only" tank. I love it. So...

I purchased 2 large angelfish (7 inches top-to-bottom) from the same tank at my LFS about 4 months ago. I was told they had been tank mates for a while and got along fine. I put them in my tank (aclimating such large fish is crazy...I hope I never have to flush these guys...I don't think they'd fit...lol). Anyway, I put them in my tank and they did pretty well and you could tell that one was a little more of an aggressor than the other.

Well, about a month later I found and purchased another large angel (about 5.5 inches top-to-bottom) and put it in the tank. Within the next few days I noticed that the two larger ones were becoming a bit more agressive towards each other, but have never picked on the new angel.

They have all been in the tank together (along with several other fish) for about 3 months now. The newer angel still is never picked on and switches between the two large angels as far as hovering right by them goes. The two large ones are still nippy with each other and quarrel, but it never looks life-threatening. Question is...

Could the two larger ones be males and the new one be a female which is why it never gets picked on? That would possibly explain why they got a little more quarrelsome when the new angel was added. OR...could the new angel still just be a male, but since its not as large it doesn't get picked on because it's no threat? Anyway, this is alot of rambling, but I was curious what everyone thought...
 
Welcome to the world of cichlids. Angels are commonly thought to be quite peaceful. That's usually true. That is until other angels are around. When breeding time rolls around they can be decididly mean to each other.

It's not possible to sex angels until they actually spawn. The other weird thing is that females can be just as aggressive as males. I'd go out on limb and say you've got two and one of each sex. Which sex is anyones guess.
 
I have to agree. I had three that grew up together as best pals...until two of them paired up and viciously attacked one. I was lucky that I had another tank to put the "outsider" in. To my surprise several months later, all three turned out to be females.

And you are correct. You cannot flush an adult angel.
 
Here is a (bad) pic of the angels. The dark one is the main agressor, the striped one is who he picks on and the one at the bottom is the small one...
 

Attachments

  • dsc04091_314.jpg
    dsc04091_314.jpg
    99.3 KB · Views: 31
Back
Top Bottom