what is the prue-mating ritual of angelfish? Does the male or the female agressively nip the other?

Question

I have a marble angel and I believe a male. The large marble with veil fins (I think it is a male) is agressive to the gold female? Is this a courtship ritual before spawning? Is it safe to leave them together? How long will it take before laying eggs? Please help! Also, the large marble has lip fibroma? I wonder if they will sucessfully spawn with this condition. Please help! Thanks.

Answer 1

Angelfish sexes can not be told until breeding. I have a marble angelfish myself and i have no idea what its sex is.


aggressive behavior is the first tip-off. Juveniles will spar a bit from 3 months on, but serious courting rituals begin at 8-12 months, when females begin to get gravid. Look for bulging bellies. Pairs will begin posturing, flash fins, sometimes lock jaws and twist. When they're satisfied, they'll select a spawning site and start cleaning.

Sometimes a larger fish may damage the other's mouth. I had a black male that blinded one and killed another female before a large, tougher female took charge. Aggressive youngsters may learn some manners if kept in a tank with 6 or 8 others, especially if there's a large docile grownup present. Watch them closely during courtship, and place an injured fish behind a plastic partition to give it a chance to heal. Some fancy strains are overly aggressive, or just bad parents, and cannot raise the fry themselves; you'll have to remove the fry to perpetuate these varieties. In nature, spawning fish will drive others away. In our small tanks, they may kill others.

Answer 2

Yes, there is a certain amount of aggression as they court and prepare to mate, usually in the form of liplocking, chasing, and nipping. Unfortunately this behaviour is not far off from territorial disputes between non-paired fish.

You don't need to worry much as long as neither fish is getting injured and neither is showing high stress or sitting at the water trying futilely to get away. They should be seperated if this is happening. If they are mating you should see eggs shortly.