sexing an angel fish

red devil · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Posts: 237

I am going to start to try breed angel fish and i only have a tank big enough for about 2 ive read some info on sexing them and the book said theres really no way you can so i was wondering if any of you know.

tski22 · Member Joined: 21 Nov 2004 Posts: 197

From what Ive heard as well there isnt a way. The only way Ive ever heard is buying a pre sexed pair, OR buying a small group of juvies and letting them form pairs, which IMO wouldnt really work to well in your situation because angels arent a very fish to breed so it might be hard. Not really to sure hope this helps. -tl

OneWolvesDream · Super Senior Member Joined: 10 Apr 2004 Posts: 1175

It is possible to find out the gender of the angel, just you need to have the right timing, last i heard and believe is that you can only sex them around mating time, the females nose area will be dented in where as the males will have more of a bump.

kc5gvn · Moderator Joined: 15 Mar 2004 Posts: 1147

Hi red devil, pretty much what OneWolvesDream said. I was thinking it was the male that had the dip but it's been just over 20 years since I bred Angelfish. In any case one will have a slight dip just above the eyes and the other will arc straight from the mouth back to the dorsal fin. The dip is always there, not just a mating time, but is extremely hard to tell on Angels less than 2 inches in body length. Angelfish are the most fascinating fish to breed. You can have the male in another tank in another room and when you put him in to fertilize the females eggs he will follow the exact same pattern that she laid them and fertilize every single egg in the exact same order that it was laid.

red devil · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2004 Posts: 237

well ive had an angel fish for 7 years that i know is a female because shes laid eggs severl times without a mate to fertilize them so thancks for the help and i will see if i can try and find a male thats ready to breed at my lfs.