FAQ INDEX
How can I tell the males from the females?
THE
ONLY SURE WAY is to watch spawning: the female lays eggs and the male fertilizes
them. Before spawning, a small pink protrusion or papilla will appear. This pencil point
size organ is located between the ventral and anal fins. The papilla on the female is
larger than on the male, more blunt. The female will show a distinct bulge in this area
when she is gravid. As she makes a spawning pass, she will leave a track of eggs evenly
spaced in a line. The male will follow in another pass, touching each egg with his
papilla. He many continue making passes for a day or so, for good measure.
Some say that males grow faster, that mature males have a more robust body and a more
rounded crown, and that females may have a straighter line from the base of the dorsal
fin to their lips. I can't confirm this -- brothers and sisters often seem identical in
shape and size.
Males tend to be more territorial. If there are several healthy males in a tank with a
gravid female, they'll all show papilla and try to establish territory. Watch them
closely and remove the less dominant males and any extra females. Spurned males will want
to dash in and eat the eggs... or sneak over in the early morning for a caviar breakfast.
It's a good idea to take pictures or better, a video of the tank before you remove the
extras. Make notes on stripe patterns or other distinctive markings to help you select
the males after the papilla disappear. Fish that look healthy and didn't develop papilla,
and were not aggressive are probably females. If there are no males in the tank, another
female may make spawning passes... but all the eggs will turn white within 36 hours.
Topic: Spawning obversations:
Author: Ed Pitts
Email: jpittssr@cnesco.com
Date: 16 Aug 1999
Time: 17:28:11
Remote Name: 98cdc9d4.ipt.aol.com
Remote User:
Comments
This is my first attempt to spawn Angelfish and was not sure that I had a
breeding pair altough that is what the dealer told me. This is a pair of
blacks. I had just moved the pair into a 29 gal tank with a few plants and
raised the temp to 82F. yesterday I noticed one of the pair kept picking at a
broad leaf on one of the plants about 8 in above the bottom of the tank. Soon
the other one started showing some interest in the leaf. At this time I could
not tell which was the female. The one that started cleaning the leaf did have
a papilla extending about 1/4 inch while the other one barely was showing
anything. At 2:00 pm today I came to check on them and was very disapointed to
see the female laying eggs and the male following right behind her eating them
as fast as she could lay them. He still did not have any papilla showing.
After watching this for a few min I decided that maybe I would have better
luck next time. I came back at 3:30 pm and found the female still laying eggs
but this time the male had an extended papilla and was doing his fatherly duty
and making passes over the eggs. As several people have pointed out there is a
small difference in the papilla of the male and female. Hers is about 1/4 inch
long and rather flat across the end while his is now about the same length but
more pointed. It is now 4:30 pm and both parents seem to be standing guard.
Topic: White Eggs ?
Author:
Email: Tarzan295@aol.com
Date: 21 Aug 1999
Time: 10:19:02
Remote Name: 24.atlanta-38.ga.dial-access.att.net
Remote User:
Comments
My Angels laid eggs, on an Amazon plant and in two days they all turned
white. The next day they were all gone. They are in a 40 Gal. tank buy
themselves. Only one fish had a papilla. Do both the male and female have a
papilla?
Yes, they both show papilla. Your eggs were
most likely infertile, though either bacteria or fungus can attack and kill
eggs. Live eggs are clear, slightly yellow.
You may have two females, though sometimes a
sympathetic female will develop a papilla and even make spawning passes! Or
your male could be too young, too old, not in prime health, inexperienced,
whatever.
If you have a good breeding male, he will help
clean the spawning site. He will develop a papilla smaller and more pointed
than the female's. He will follow each pass the female makes, and continue
for several hours after she's finished.
Another breeder reported that she observed the
male following the female and eating the eggs, but within an hour had
developed a papilla and was fertilizing eggs! Takes them some time to catch
on, I guess. My German Blue male ate the first 2 spawns, but is now a very
good dad.
You might improve fertilization success by
reducing water flow.
If your tank has gravel or anything but sponge
filters, free-swimming fry will not survive. You'll have to remove the eggs
and hatch them in a 5 or 10 gallon tank.Try putting in a couple of
3x10" slates, and perhaps move or block off access to the Amazon sword
plant.
Take heart, your female will probably try
again in a couple of weeks.
Bill Dawes
Webmaster
Topic: sexuall behaviour in angels....
Author: Paula Bjorkqvist
Email: izzella@epsilon.telenordia.se
Remote User:
Date: 20 Nov 1999
Time: 16:29:26
Comments
We have two angel fish. A marbled and a silver. We moved them from a 70 öitre tank to a 150 litre tank, with lots of plants. They seem very happy, although now, after 3 days, they have started to bite (staying attached) to each others mouths. Are thy fighting or is this a breeding pair???? I hope you can help us.....we are worried that they are being vicious to each other.....thank you...Paula Björkqvist.....Sweden
Topic: TELL ME MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Author: ME ME ME
Email: catz11@bellatlantic.net
Remote User:
Date: 21 Feb 2000
Time: 17:20:29
Comments
UM how old they have to be before the males can fetilize the eggs????????????????????/
Topic: 2 sets of eggs
Author: Bessy
Email: bessa@aol.com
Remote User:
Date: 25 Mar 2000
Time: 21:01:39
Comments
I have 2 sets of eggs,,,one set is in a track on the back wall of the tank,,,and another is in a patch on a rock,,,,that just happened in the last few days,,,, I can see that the parents are utilising half of the tank and not allawing any other fish to come close,,, I only have 2 angel fish together with other kind of fish,,, the patch that is on the rock seem to have some kind of mash holding them together they seem to be moving,,,the ones on the wall dont have the same appearance,,,,, this is the first time I experiance something like that,,,, I have the tank for about 6years,,, I just got the angel fish about 2months ago,,,, and dont know what to do,,, should I just watch them grow or what,,, I was doing some reading about moving the eggs,,, but I have no idea how I would do that without distroying them,, can you please help
Topic: Males and Females
Author: Kelly Jones
Email: Don't have one
Remote User:
Date: 14 Apr 2001
Time: 20:12:55
Comments
I Had two anlglefish. A male and a Female. They alswaly had eggs but the female would eate them as soon as my dad fed them. A couple weeks later she died, so we got another anglefish. This one hasn't matured yet. I am hoping that is a female so they can have babies. Can you tell a what a baby angle fish is?
