Angelfish and pairing?

[Talvari]

I have three juvenile angelfish in a 46 gallon. The hope is that two of them pair off, or at least like each other. Those two will go to my 55 gallon, and the remaining third will stay in the 46.

Lately, my platinum blue is kind of being a bully. He picks on "Veil Tail 1" alot more than "Veil Tail 2" but I've noticed nips and watched him chase them both. The two Veil tails usually stick together, and I have only noticed a tiny bit of aggression between the two, and its usually only during feeding. Do you think Platinum and VT2 have paired off, that VT1 and VT2 have paired off, or are is this just normal behavior, and has nothing to do with pairing?

These are the Angels. Sorry about the blurry pics... they weren't being cooperative and its a cell phone camera.

Platinum Blue: "Blue"

Veil Tail 1: "Galen"

Veil Tail 2: -"Legan" The white spots are actually were some scales are missing. Blue is a jerk.

 

[absolutangel04]

IMO, its a bit hard to tell with angels because they courtship can be a bit violent sometimes. Lol. It sounds to me like the platinum and vt1 might be the same gender and that why the platinum is picking on vt1 more. Some angels are just bullies though, so its hard to say. Is the bullying bad, or just a little bickering. When my angels are courting, they don't chase. They will lip lock and face each other and sometimes seem to have showdowns, but they don't back each other into corners or anything. If vt1 and vt2 are together a lot, I think its more likely that they are forming a pair. As long as the bullying isn't too bad though, I would wait it out and see what happens. If it seems to be too stressful on the fish, I separate the veiltale pair from the platinum and see what happens. To some degree, its normal behavior and there is a chance all 3 are the same gender but the vts get along better.
Are they all the same size? There is also a chance the vts are both girls and the platinum is an overly zealous male. There are several options, thats why I would wait it out if possible. Let us know what you decide to do.

 

[Talvari]

Blue chases VT2 a lot around the tank. Blue will nip at the sides of VT2 and its fins, hence the missing scales. VT2 is pretty subservient. It will let Blue chase it around and doesnt really fight back... But as soon as Blue turns around, VT2 comes right back out and goes back to doing whatever.

They are all roughly the same size. The veil tales are nearly the exact same size, with Blue being a bit bigger.

It can't be too stressful on them since they are all eating well, swimming normal, etc.

 

[siva]

Personally, I disagree. About the stresful part. If one fish is doing damage to another fish, it's time for them to be seperated IMO. I keep various mixes of cichlids including angels, and while there may be some bickering here and there, if there are nipped fins or missing scales, I would not leave them in the same tank.

 

[absolutangel04]

OK, then I would let them figure it out for now. Like I said, if it gets too stressful, then you should intervene, but if you are able to just let them bicker a little bit, they will hopefully be able to figure it out amongst themselves. Since you have 3, if 2 are the same gender and 1 is different, they will likely make it fairly obvious if 2 pair and a 3rd one is left out. If they are all bickering equally, they may all be the same gender. Keep me updated. I am curious to see what will happen. I am thinking that either they are all the same gender and Blue is showing dominance over them, or else the vts are going to pair and Blue is trying to intervene. Its like a fishy soap opera.

EDIT: Whoopsies, I didn't notice you said a fish was missing scales. I was looking at the fins which look fine. Usually if mine bicker too much they would go for the fins. If Blue is biting scales off though, I would separate them.

 

[Talvari]

Haha, no joke. I've never had angels before... They are so full of personality!

 

[bob mccoy]

i have two mated pair of blues and one mean one so i took him out and put him in his own tank . 5 days ago i got him a orange back female and they have paired up and gave me eggs already. its typical for males to fight and show off but if damage occures i remove them right away. some times i put the mean one in what i call my time out tank for a week or so and then re introduce him to them agian and all works well .. goodluck

 

[Talvari]

I'm really bummed. I came home from work today to find the one angel who had been picked on, dead. I didn't think he was getting picked on THAT badly, or I would have moved him. He had a bunch of scales missing, and chunks taken out of his fins. The other two are swimming around constantly together, now.