Can you tell the sex?

[Lisa's Angels]

Here are pictures. One is of the whole tank. It looks so bare, but my plants didn't survive the move last September and I can't find any decent plants locally. The others are of my angels. Can you tell what sex each is? They've been really working on cleaning the heater off, which is what my last pair did before they bred. But I'm not good at sexing them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/Cuzko1pig/blackangel2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/Cuzko1pig/whiteangel2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/Cuzko1pig/whiteangel1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/Cuzko1pig/blackangel3.jpg

[Lisa's Angels]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/Cuzko1pig/fishtank.jpg

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Well, there are about as many ideas of how to sex them as there are ideas about how to sex Discus, unfortunately none of them are 100% reliable. The easiest and most sure way to sex them is to watch them as they spawn and observe the spawning tubes. On males the spawning tube will be slightly tapered at the end and the female's will not be tapered at all.

[Lisa's Angels]

They've been showing spawning behavior for the past month, but I haven't seen their tubes yet. I'm thinking I may have two of the same sex, but I wanted to see if someone could tell from pictures. I would have a hard time choosing which one to try to trade in for a different one.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Well, the thing with angels is that they will "spawn" even if there are 2 females. The eggs that are layed will just not be viable eggs, but they will go through all the motions.

[Lisa's Angels]

Oh, I love your avatar! I had a saltwater tank and my favorite fish was my fox face rabbit fish.

I guess I'll hang tight with them.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Thanks. I rather like him too. :)

[Lisa's Angels]

I got the tank for that fish. He was at the pet store I used to work at and nobody wanted him, so I set my tank up for him. His name was Buddy and he let me pet the top of his head when I fed him.

[mitcore]

you can tell sex easily if you know where to look
hi i'm mitcore as you see from sig i breed angels

now the black is female and the white looks to be male, but the white one is not side on properly for me to tell for sure, post a pic up again of that fish and i will tell you

[Lisa's Angels]

I'll try to get more pictures of the white one tomorrow. The white one wouldn't cooperate yesterday when I took the first ones.

[Lisa's Angels]

Here's two better (I hope!) pictures of the white angel.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/Cuzko1pig/whiteangel1-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v322/Cuzko1pig/whiteangel2-1.jpg

[mitcore]

congrats you have a male, they are hopefully a pair

[Lisa's Angels]

Thanks! I hope this pair bonds. They seem pretty scatterbrained right now. Easily distracted from their cleaning patrol. The black one is more diligent. The white one is more likely to go wonder off.

[forrestcook]

now that you've worked your angel sexing voodoo, care to tell us what you're looking at?

[Billythefish]

As far as i know you cant tell the sex of angels until thay are mateing and at that time the male thingy will be slitely bigger than the females. Infact the only real way is to see who lays the eggs. Sorry thats the best i can offer!

[NickFish]

The female usually has a small breeding tube that the male does not.
Or at least, that's what I look for in sexing angels.

[Lady Hobbs]

Yes, you will need to see the breeding tubes to be positive but their behavior will also help you figure it out. The female is larger and the smaller one will follow the female around constantly. You do not want them spawning on that heater. The heat from it will kill the eggs. I'd lay that heater down sideways so they don't use it. You can leave a piece of PVC pipe, slate, a large leafed plant, etc for them to use.

In all my males, they had a more pointie nose so we all kind of think we can recognize males from females but in different ways. I think it's more getting to know your own fish.

[Lisa's Angels]

There's pieces of slate in the tank. Is laying the heater touching the gravel safe? It didn't come with suction cups to hold it in one spot.

I've had people tell me that if the back fin angles down like an "F" then it's female but if it has a bigger angle, then it's male.

I've also heard that if you look at the fish head on, if you go from eye to "chin" (for lack of a better word) then to the other eye, if it's "U" shaped then it's female but if it's "V" shaped it's male.

But I doubt it's accurate so I don't go by that at all.

[Billythefish]

I got myself a proven pair of angels and the breder told me that the only way he knows of sexing em is by puting 6 randam angels in a tank and then wait to see a pair that always stays together then he breeds em and he told hes had 100% results with this method

[mitcore]

vodoo hey LOL

i have always been able to tell the sex by the very front of the angel and have never been wrong yet

now that i have said that, it is easy to tell sex by looking in the right spot and it helps alot if the angel is not small or a baby,

now under the mouth at the very front of the angel to the long flowing fins under the angel ( sorry dont know the name of the long dangling fins)
is where you look for the sexing of the fish

the female is round in this area and the male is straight,
the female tend to be a bit smaller in size to the male

the reason your female is cleaning more is that she wants to lay eggs, your male will eventually click to this and will follow her lead,
i suggest covering the tank, it will help you have them lay and hopefully not eat the eggs, they feel safer if they cant see out and no one can see in, trust me this works well,

hopefully my vodoo has helped you