fighting angels?

[gladys45]

i have 3 angel fish, 2 are marble angels (4"/2"), 1 black stripe (2"). my 2 marble fish are locking lips and the smaller has barged the larger ones side, and my black one has a piece missing on his/her? tail, the smaller marble has red cheeks, the other has not. (always has since i got him/her? .they have been living together ok for 3 weeks til today! the smaller marble has a great personality and is very inquisative, he/she is always making me laugh with its funky swimming on its side and dancing at food time! are they fighting or mating/pairing up? but the smaller appears to be the aggresive one :14:

[squirt_12]

well i believe that locking the lips mean that they are pairing up and ready to spawn but i am not sure. Someone else will give you more info.

[crackatinny]

Aggression in angels is common, it could be a combination of pairing off and fighting over it.

Do a search of the threads, Lady Hobbs often has problems with waring angels, and has a few threads about it.

[Lady Hobbs]

If you see a couple angels that appear to be together most of the time without fighting, those are probably a pair. Those two would be better off moving them into another tank to spend their lives and letting them spawn right where they are. The only ones I have that lock lips are two males fighting for a female or dominance over the tank.

You could also move the one lone angel into another tank but the spawning pair will still get pretty sassy with everything else in the tank each time they spawn and the whole time they are preparing to spawn. They just do so much better being alone with a mate.

My 3 smallest angels are also very sassy and will chase others twice her size. Yes.....all 3 of my smallest are females.

Angels should have at least 10 gallons each.....more is better.

[gladys45]

i have been reading through lady hobbs threads with great interest and they have been helpful, the smaller of my marble angel spends most of its time on its own, the larger spends most of its time near the smaller black one, so i am thinking the black one could be the female? i will watch them more closely over the next few days to be sure, i have noticed the smaller marbles stripes have dulled, good job i have a new 260l tank coming!

[CAF]

Locking lips is part of the courting ritual between male/female pairs or female/female pairs... The only I found to tell which type it is, is to place the pair in a seperate tank (they will beat up everyone else) and see if the spawn is viable. If there are no males in the tank, the dominant female will act as a male, trying to inseminate the eggs, even though she has the wrong equipment. If the eggs stay clear, you have a male/female pair, if the eggs turn white, most likely you have a female/female pair and you will get another spawn from the other member of the pair who acted as the male.

Good luck!

[gladys45]

i think they are both males or both females as they dont appear to be pairing up, the larger angel has taken charge and wount let the slightly smaller one near him/her or eat til the larger one has eaten and even then if he/she sees her she/he will chase/butt him/her away, the smaller one just hides in the plants now,

[gladys45]

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/oksmartiepants/049.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff42/oksmartiepants/050.jpg
photo 1 is of the territorial angel who now chases/bops all the fish out of his/her territory (which is the right side of the tank), now do i move one of the angels or should i leave well alone (none has been injured)