Adding Male Angelfish to Tank with Established Female

[ianeberle]

I have a 36 gallon freshwater community tank with one angelfish. Lately, the angelfish has been laying eggs on the filter intake tube and by the looks of her bulging sides, she's been gravid for about a month straight now.

I've been in contact with an angelfish breeder who is looking to sell me a male angelfish about the same size as my female. The angel will be doing 2-3 shipping from California to Florida, so the breeder said the fish is going to be pretty angry when he gets here. However, he said I should drip acclimate him for 4 hours or so and he will calm down.

The problem I am having is that I have had my female since her body was the size of a U.S. quarter. I've had her for about 8 months now and I'm afraid she's too established in the tank to add a male safely.

Does anyone have any pointers for me? I really want my female to be able to have babies!

 

[snoopy65]

Rearrange your tank so that it looks new to her too. Add him with lights out. Keep a close watch and divide the tank if it gets too nasty. They are going to argue and bicker which is normal.

 

[ianeberle]

How should I rearrange it? The things I currently have in there (a big rock, a piece of Malaysian driftwood, and a PVC tunnel) can really only be configured one way.

Should I buy some new pieces of driftwood or something and add them right before I put the new angel in?

Also, should I have the tank heavily planted? There's probably 10 or so plants in there now, but it's far from heavily planted. Would adding more plants right before I get the angel be enough to confuse my current female angel?

 

[bob mccoy]

as a breeder of angels i add fish together all the time. get a few fake tall plants and add them in there. that way you can remove them. angels feel more secure in a tank with tall plants because that's where they stay in the wild. as stated above lights off when adding him. the drip acclimating is correct also. it will take them possibly a month to hit it off and maybe not even that long. as long as the nipping and chasing is not causing any damage there is no reason to divide them in the tank. angelfish are normally chasing and nipping and lip locking when pairing up. pm me if i can help more

 

[ianeberle]

as a breeder of angels i add fish together all the time. get a few fake tall plants and add them in there. that way you can remove them. angels feel more secure in a tank with tall plants because that's where they stay in the wild. as stated above lights off when adding him. the drip acclimating is correct also. it will take them possibly a month to hit it off and maybe not even that long. as long as the nipping and chasing is not causing any damage there is no reason to divide them in the tank. angelfish are normally chasing and nipping and lip locking when pairing up. pm me if i can help more

Thanks for the info! I am going to freak out when I see them chasing each other, but I have to keep reminding myself: this is only natural. This is what nature does.

Either way, it freaks me out

That's why I want to be so cautious with this.

 

[bob mccoy]

your welcome ask me any time