I have two adult angel fish one is black and silver and one is pure yellow. They will lock lips and push each other and they twitch. I came home from work today and their lips are swollen and their fins are torn. I was doing some research online and it mentioned they do this when their fighting and when their mating. Well how do i know which it is? They are hurting each other but i don't want to seperate them if their trying to mate.
2007-06-28 11:35:16 · 7 answers · asked by ♥ purrlvr ♥ 6 in Pets ➔ Fish
It sounds to me like you have to males, as someone says they usually pair off and in breeding both male and femail become aggressive, however its unusual for females to fight on there own, and i've known females to lay eggs together and act as a pair.
You will either need to remove one of them before they kill each other,
Or buy a bigger tank so they've space to co-habitat without meeting to often, and add some more to share the squabbling around.
AJ
2007-06-28 11:46:10 · answer #1 · answered by andyjh_uk 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's pairing behavior if they fight a litle then seem to stick together for a while. It's territorial aggression if they fight and one or the other retreats to a far end of the tank, behind cover, or tries to stay at the surface.
Pairs do tussle from time to time, and ripped fins and such do occur. On occasion more serious injuries happen, anyone keeping cichlids should have a divider handy.
I have 5 pairs atm, each pair is in their own 20 gallon tank. I have 700+ gallons between 20 tanks mainly dedicated to angel breeding. Two angels get along fine if they are a pair, 3 is the worst number to keep together. You have a 75% chance of getting a pair with 3, and the odd fish out is going to get severely beaten. You have a 50% chance of pairing with two angels.
Best bet is getting a divider.
2007-06-28 17:44:03 · answer #2 · answered by Tolak 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
well the problem here is that you have a pair- regardless of what their sexes are you CAN NOT have two angels in the same tank! You can have one, or three or more- (IE, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc) NEVER put two angels together. They will fight as you are experiencing now. Either separate them immediately or get another buddy for them. They are not trying to mate. They will not mate if there are only two in a tank anyway. They need to be solo or in schools. BTW angels are in the chilid family and may be aggressive, they do possess many of the chilid characteristics. any ?'s send me a message
2007-06-28 14:18:25 · answer #3 · answered by faithie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It can be really hard to tell, but if you look in the pic below closely, you can see that some of the angels in this pic have a straight line in their profile from the start of the dorsal fin to the tip of the mouth. The others have what looks kind of like a hump that make their mouth look more like a beak. These are the differences in sex that are the most easy to see. Compare this to the angels that you have and see if you have one of each or two of one. I have bred some angels that can be really aggressive toward one another and they often will make really good parents so it may be good just to see.
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwangelfish&1183240801
2007-06-28 12:29:51 · answer #4 · answered by midraj 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i would separate them for now. if you establish a well planted tank (artificial is fine) it should make them behave better. they need things they can think of as their territory.
another thing you can do if you have the space is add more -- usually agression drops if there are in a shoal.
2007-06-28 11:48:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no they are fighting! angels pair off and once they are a pair they do not fight each other only other angels or maybe other fish...
2007-06-28 11:40:53 · answer #6 · answered by kell kell 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Are you even sure they are different genders? From experience, if you don't seperate them, you will come home to 1 or both dead.
2007-06-28 11:39:16 · answer #7 · answered by lil momma 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋