Angels in community tank

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#1
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#1
Some of you here know that I had breeding angelfish in my community tank, and I managed to raise some of the fry in a 5g tank. I did sell some of the offspring, but kept four. Meanwhile, my parent angels, still in the community tank, were spawning pretty much every ten days, but I wasn't saving the eggs/wrigglers as I had no other tank for them. They were like lovers, always together. In the last couple of months, the male's growth really outpaced that of the female, and the spawning started to be less regular; I also noticed that the male was being really aggressive towards the female, and she was basically swimming away from his attentions.
After private consultation with my sensei OrangeCones, I came to the realization that this breeding pair was not going to be okay long-term; plus, the male was becoming quite aggressive with the rest of the tankmates.
So I was planning on rehoming the male angel yesterday, but I could see that he had finally convinced his lady to breed. So I let them spawn together one last time. Here are pics of them:
 

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lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#3
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#3
Continued post: Today, my male went to my lfs, and I put two of my juvies into the community tank. The existing angel (their mother!) wasn't pleased at first, and chased them around quite a bit. But after a couple of hours, and lots of nice food treats to distract her, she seems to be settling down about the intrusion of new angels. She is still taking a run at them now and then, but I'm hoping that they will settle okay. Here are pics of my juvies from a month ago, two of whom, of course, are a bit bigger and in my community tank:
 

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lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#5
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#5
bassbonediva said:
They're beautiful, laura!
Click to expand...
Thanks Paige! It was hard to part with any of them - about five months ago I had to rehome the other breeding pair which was hard, but necessary; and I've been loathe to part with either of this pair - the male was so stunning.

Update: the established angel is still being really pissy, but the two smaller angels are holding their own. They seem kinda overwhelmed/thrilled about all the new space to swim in, though, and hanging together, as though a major adventure might befall them at any time. Like, OMG, what do YOU think is behind that leaf???
No, you go first.
No way, this was your stupid idea, YOU go first. . . .
No, you, c'mon, you hatched before me.
Okay, fine, I'll go. But it's probably just a platy . . . .
There's platies in here? Yeah, and now you're going to tell me this pond also has pearl gouramis, hahahaha.

To be continued . . . . .
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#6
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#6
ROFL! Laura, that was so adorable! That's kind of how my two male rams were in the 29gal (before the mouse killed them). They followed each other EVERYWHERE and the smaller one was always hiding behind the bigger one. lol

Are you going to replace the male you are rehoming?
 

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#8
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#8
Sigh. Mum's still being pissy, especially to the one with the mutant double dorsal fin.

You were always an ugly child.
But mum, you told me I was special . . . .
I lied.
B-b-b-but . . . .
I finally divorce your boor of a father, and now I have you two brats move back in????
 

B

blue_ram

Large Fish
#10
Jun 21, 2008
516
0
0
Florida
#10
Rearrange the tank and lower the temps a few degrees to 75-76. The angels will grow slower in the colder water and give the other angel time to catch up. They will also live longer, but may be more prone to disease.
 

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#11
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#11
The problem right now is immediate: the existing angel (Mum) is NOT happy about sharing the tank with two new angels - they aren't that much smaller than her, just clearly, well, the new guys, and she is enjoying being the dominant one now that her bully male partner is gone. The young'uns are just being harrassed right now, not 'hurt', but I know how quickly things can escalate, and I'm getting concerned: should I wait a few more days, to see if things settle, or plan that either Mum or the young'uns need to find new homes?
Maybe rearranging plants would be of immediate help, as blue_ram suggests?
 

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#12
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#12
Well, I rearranged the tank a bit. In less than a week, one of my two juvies has started showing a bit of the gorgeous golden hue his parents had, and is kinda getting along with the older one. My mutant juvie is still getting harrassed occasionally.

Hey bro.
Hey.
You look . . . bigger. Been working out?
Yeah, I guess.
And, did you - colour your hair?
So what?
Well you don't have to get all defensive, it's just, like, you're changing.
Why don't you back to the sissy tank if you can't handle this, mutant.
Hey! That's not nice - speaking of which, have you seen Mum lately?
Yeah, we were hanging a while ago.
Really??? Think she'd want to see me?
Nope. She's still pissed.
Sigh. How's she doing?
She's cool. Actually, she's kinda hot . . . .
Aw, gross.
 

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#13
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#13
So yesterday I moved another juvie from the breeding tank (about one inch in length in body size - so maybe not really a juvie, dunno ;) ) into the community tank, thinking that if there were four angels it might help with the aggression - one of the juvies is kinda looking at the existing female with, ummm, 'interest'. Seems like the balance of four angels is better - the big girl was chasing all three, each of the the three were chasing each other, but looks like they are settling in now. Will post in angelfish-voices at some point later ;)
But that left my small angel juvie all alone in the 5g. She (he? who knows,) doesn't respond to me lifting the lid to give her food, freaks out like never before when I put the small siphon in to clean the tank, and quite frankly, seems depressed. I don't want to anthropomorphize too much, but I wonder if she really is lonely? She's still way smaller than the other lil' angels, and I think she'd be picked on very badly in the big tank.
The 39g is now working with the angels - but what do I do about wee angel Slow-Grow?
My lfs had some scarlet badis that I'd love to have if they were larger, but they were tiny wee things, too small right now to live in my 39g with the big angel et. al. Thoughts on buying a couple tiny badis to keep company with the wee angel until both are big enough to go to the 39g? Other ideas on whether my single wee angel needs company, and good companions?
 

bassbonediva

bassbonediva

Superstar Fish
#15
Oct 15, 2009
2,010
0
0
Northern Arizona
#15
How tiny is tiny for the badis? Because they only get to be 1" long as adults. If they're close to 1", I think they'd be fine with the little angel since they're mainly bottom-dwelling fish (which is why I wanted them for my 18gal).

I laughed out loud at the dialogue between the two angel brothers. ROFL! I think I missed something, though...how is the one juvie "mutant"?
 

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#16
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#16
bassbonediva said:
How tiny is tiny for the badis? Because they only get to be 1" long as adults. If they're close to 1", I think they'd be fine with the little angel since they're mainly bottom-dwelling fish (which is why I wanted them for my 18gal).

I laughed out loud at the dialogue between the two angel brothers. ROFL! I think I missed something, though...how is the one juvie "mutant"?
Click to expand...
The badis were 1/2" max. The small angel is about nickel-sized in body.

My one juvie is a mutant because he has a double dorsal fin. :)

I'll get some new pics up.
 

lauraf

lauraf

Superstar Fish
#20
Jan 1, 2010
2,181
0
0
Vancouver, British Columbia
#20
Okay, okay! Sorry guys, these pics aren't great. Hubby was watching TV and reading and wouldn't let me turn all the lights off, plus we just put a huge bronze sculpture right at the angle that used to work for the one setting on my camera that I used previously for kinda okay pics.
I also had a hard time getting all four together in the same frame. But you should be able to make out that mum is the one with lots of golden colouring, whereas the others are still mostly milky-white, and mutant-dude is shown in profile in the first pic. Last one is just as everyone is being fed for the evening.
I'll try to take better pics when I have more time to fuss, but you guys are so piggy!;)
 

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