Sudden Angel Aggression

[CRAIG1591]

Hey Guys,
I have had 2 angelfish for about a year now in my planted community tank.
As of late the 2 of them have gone from getting along fine to locking lips with each other.
Angel A is the biggest and keeps forcing Angel B into hiding around the back of the tank.

Here's a few pics of each of them. (Sorry about the quality)

Angel A:

Angel B:

 

[Tropicalfishking]

Well, you see the tube poking out of angelfish A. that looks like the papilla of a female angelfish! And on Angelfish B the papilla looks like it could be a male... See how on angelfish A the papilla (Breeding tube) is quite thick and not pointy? and how on the male it is thin and very pointy? I would say that the lip locking is breeding behavior, they do this when they start to "bond" testing one another for strength to pass onto there young. I would say that with in the week you should see them cleaning an area to lay there eggs on.

What size tank are they in?
What are you feeding?
Tank mates?
How long have you had them?

 

[CRAIG1591]

What size tank are they in?
40G planted community
What are you feeding?
NLS grow pellets and NLS flakes
Tank mates?
3x bronze cory's
10x neon tetra
6x zebra danio
6x white cloud mountain minnows
2x SAE
How long have you had them?
At least 12 months, probably closer to 18 months

 

[Tropicalfishking]

Well, they are in a big enough tank which is good! Sounds like they are being fed the right foods! If they do end up breeding I don't expect them to make it past free swimming because of the tetras and danios. The SAE, is that a siamese algae eater? If yes they could possible eat the eggs, but I don't know if your intentions are to breed them... or just breeding for fun!

How is the aggression today? Still lip locking? Are either of them seriously injured?

I looks like those two angelfish are smokey leopards, I had one once last year that I tried to get to pair off but it didn't. They are cool looking fish!

 

[CRAIG1591]

Well, they are in a big enough tank which is good! Sounds like they are being fed the right foods! If they do end up breeding I don't expect them to make it past free swimming because of the tetras and danios. The SAE, is that a siamese algae eater? If yes they could possible eat the eggs, but I don't know if your intentions are to breed them... or just breeding for fun!

How is the aggression today? Still lip locking? Are either of them seriously injured?

I looks like those two angelfish are smokey leopards, I had one once last year that I tried to get to pair off but it didn't. They are cool looking fish!

Thanks for the reply.
I am fairly certain I have a male and female.
Came home yesterday about 4 o'clock and they had laid eggs on the filter intake pipe.
There was about 1/2 of the 6 inch pipe covered in eggs.
Turned the lights on this morning and the eggs were gone.
They were a brownish colour so I assume they were fertile?

Aggression is all but gone, they are swimming around the tank together.

 

[Tropicalfishking]

Don't worry, my angelfish pair ate there first spawn, (lately they have been eating all of them...) but after a couple they should get it right!

Brown/Grey eggs are fertile, and White eggs are unfertile.

When I breed my angelfish they lay there eggs on a terroccatta pot and that works well. I would put somekind of spawning surface in the tank, like a piece of slate or a terroccatta pot.