Angelfish Sexing

[LordOfTheFish]

     Hi! I am thinking about introducing a second angelfish to my aquarium and so therefor must know the sex of the one I already have. He/she is about 4 inches tall and I've had him/her since just after Christmas. Sometimes I see him chasing other fish around and I assume that he is chasing other fish out of his territory (which, fyi, is the right side of the tank). If that IS his territory, does that mean he is a male? Also, would it be smart to add more angels to the tank if he does have a territory? Thanks!
     BTW, here's a picture of him to help with sexing

 

[fluttermoth]

There is only one way of sexing angels positively, and that's to see their breeding tubes.

It would be very risky to add another angel, even if you did get the opposite sex to yours; angels are very picky about their mates, and two random angels are unlikely to get on.

If your tank is large enough, you could take your current fish out, rearrange everything in the tank (to break up any territories), then add your angel, plus six or seven young ones. In a large group, your big angel shouldn't be able to pick on any one of the smaller ones; but you'd have to watch them.

Eventually, you'll probably get some fish pair up; you'll almost certainly have to rehome the unpaired fish at that point though.

It's a handsome fish; very similar to my angel; a definite male, who we introduced to my mum's definite female, in a tank new to them both. He promptly chased her under the heater, and didn't let her out for an hour, at which point we took her out, as she was looking quite fed up of the whole thing! He spent the next two days cleaning a slate with his breeding tube out 

  

 

[LordOfTheFish]

If your tank is large enough, you could take your current fish out, rearrange everything in the tank (to break up any territories), then add your angel, plus six or seven young ones. In a large group, your big angel shouldn't be able to pick on any one of the smaller ones; but you'd have to watch them.

 Would I keep all those? My tank is only 60 gallons and I do NOT have enough room for that many adult angels. What would I do with the extras? Also, would my larger angel pair up with a smaller one?
 
Also, when would you be able to see the breeding tube? Would he just bet aroused by something and have it come out, or what?
 
Thanks for your help!

 

[Akasha72]

I'm agreeing with fluttermoth, it's unlikely to work. I originally had 4 young angels, it turned out I had 3 females and one male. I got lucky and got the pairing that I wanted and so have a pair of smokey blushing angels. After they laid the first batch of eggs I decided I would move my pair into a tank on their own to breed in peace. But after about 3 months of being in this tank alone it was obvious it wasn't working. My male became depressed and would just eat any eggs the female laid rather than fertilize them. I decided in the end to move them both back to the main 4ft community tank which still contained the two spare females.
 
When it came round to putting the two smokies back one of the two spare females went mental. It was terrifying to watch. She was intent on murdering my smokies. In the end I had to bag her and the other spare female and ring my lfs in state of shock. I'd heard and read about angelfish aggression but this was the first time I'd witnessed it with my own eyes.
 
As fluttermoth said, angels are territorial and will defend it aggressively. They are quite happy to kill another angel attempting to enter their territory. Adding angels can only work when they are babies and before territory has been established. Once they are adult sized adding further angels in incredibly risky and I wouldn't recommend it
 
Hope that helps 

 

[LordOfTheFish]

As fluttermoth said, angels are territorial and will defend it aggressively. They are quite happy to kill another angel attempting to enter their territory. Adding angels can only work when they are babies and before territory has been established. Once they are adult sized adding further angels in incredibly risky and I wouldn't recommend it
 
Hope that helps 

I will just stick with my one angel then. Thank you both for all you help!

 

[Akasha72]

for the record ... my guess would be that the fish in the photo is a male. It's not always 100% accurate but I've learned a way of sexing from the shape of the head. The fish in the picture has a male head shape and looks to have a small nuchal hump which may develop further as he matures

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Not 100% sure, but it looks like that fish may have its tube out a bit. Its hard to tell as the picture is not clear enough. Look about 75% of the way back from the ventral fins towards the tail. You will see a white blob. That may very well be the tube. It is only out partly.
 
If it helps, here is an old pic I took of a male dd black angel with its tube out. Males have more pointed tubes and female's are more rounded/blunt.

 
You can find more pics of both sexes on Google Images by searching for "angelfish breeding tubes."

 

[Akasha72]

Not 100% sure, but it looks like that fish may have its tube out a bit. Its hard to tell as the picture is not clear enough. Look about 75% of the way back from the ventral fins towards the tail. You will see a white blob. That may very well be the tube. It is only out partly.
 
If it helps, here is an old pic I took of a male dd black angel with its tube out. Males have more pointed tubes and female's are more rounded/blunt.

 
You can find more pics of both sexes on Google Images by searching for "angelfish breeding tubes."

 
I thought the same at first TTA but when I clicked on the picture to enlarge it what I thought was a tube looked to be something in the background instead.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

It could be not a tube, but it also could be one. The picture is not clear enough as I noted. LOTF is there in person and should be able to tell which it is

 

[Akasha72]

agreed

 

[Bumbawya]

sexing Angles can be rather tricky. The female tends to be rounder and the male tends to have a higher forehead than the female. If you  put another angel in the tank there is a possibility that like people they may not like each other causing a serious disturbance in the tank. I tend to get 6 to 8 juveniles put them together and look for the pairings.