Angle With Bent Dorsal Fin

[fm1978]

 

As a help to the OP, Sophie, how would you normally go about "guessing" the sex of your angels?
 
I've read a few bits n bobs on it and the best one seems to go something like this;
 
General body shape - Female: round; Male: angularHead shape - Female: flat, ski slope shaped; Male: forms a humpEye/Nose band - Female: flat, inline with forehead shape; Male: develops a ridge at maturityDorsals - Female: held slightly backward, in line with the forehead angle; Male: fully erect, forms almost a 90 degree angel with the head bumpVentrals - Female: tends to hold ventrals closer to the body; Male: held erect, forming a distinct angle with the bodyLateral line - Female: nose tends to be slightly elevated compared to the tail; Male: nose and tail are fairly horizontal
 
It's for those reason I originally said it could be female.
 
Any thoughts?

According to this it wouldn't be female but male as mine has an almost 90 degree bend. Right?
 

 
Well, it is very difficult to tell and is open for interpretation! It's not a fool proof guide, I'm afraid. If he/she is young, you've pretty much got no chance of sexing...

 

[Sophie]

Female

Male

These two are about a year old now - spawned 6 times. Spot the difference

 

[baker360360]

As a help to the OP, Sophie, how would you normally go about "guessing" the sex of your angels?
 I've read a few bits n bobs on it and the best one seems to go something like this;
 

General body shape - Female: round; Male: angularHead shape - Female: flat, ski slope shaped; Male: forms a humpEye/Nose band - Female: flat, inline with forehead shape; Male: develops a ridge at maturityDorsals - Female: held slightly backward, in line with the forehead angle; Male: fully erect, forms almost a 90 degree angel with the head bumpVentrals - Female: tends to hold ventrals closer to the body; Male: held erect, forming a distinct angle with the bodyLateral line - Female: nose tends to be slightly elevated compared to the tail; Male: nose and tail are fairly horizontal
 It's for those reason I originally said it could be female.
 Any thoughts?

According to this it wouldn't be female but male as mine has an almost 90 degree bend. Right?

 
Well, it is very difficult to tell and is open for interpretation! It's not a fool proof guide, I'm afraid. If he/she is young, you've pretty much got no chance of sexing...

I've had them about 3 months tops. I'd say they will almost double in size yet. Any ideas on how I can take a picture to represent size?

Female

Male

These two are about a year old now - spawned 6 times. The male has a slight hump much further back but hey I can't see any other differences.

Dorsal looks different

 

[Sophie]

Best bet is just try and measure

 

[fm1978]

Jeeso, that is quite difficult to tell with yours. The head bump is a strong indication on the male but apart from that, there's no huge difference in many of those other characteristics at all...
 
The boy has his dorsal ever-so-slightly more erect than the girly but even that could be tenuous and mood dependent.
 
OP, stick a ruler on the tank and when they swim by, take a pic! Hehe!

 

[Sophie]

This is my other Angel - hoping turns out male. This one is about 5 months so similar age to yours I reckon. I would say the male signs are promising, his attitude as well. I do find my male has a more aggressive nature. More testosterone!

 

[baker360360]

Jeeso, that is quite difficult to tell with yours. The head bump is a strong indication on the male but apart from that, there's no huge difference in many of those other characteristics at all...
 
The boy has his dorsal ever-so-slightly more erect than the girly but even that could be tenuous and mood dependent.
 
OP, stick a ruler on the tank and when they swim by, take a pic! Hehe!

That hard to do as they need to be right close the the glass lol. But with ruler on the glass when they are close I can see than they are about 2 1/2 inch from mouth to base of tail.

So where does this put them with size and age?

This is my other Angel - hoping turns out male. This one is about 5 months so similar age to yours I reckon. I would say the male signs are promising, his attitude as well. I do find my male has a more aggressive nature. More testosterone!

Wow what kind is this? It's well nice
Sorry I reckon 2 1/2 to 3 inch

 

[Sophie]

It's a lace/dark Angel. They're not easy to come by, I was very lucky. Apparently when bred they are much more sensitive as fry and are likely to die more so than other colour strains.

http/fins.actwin.com/articles/freshwaterangels.php

Something you might find interesting.

Hoping it's a boy then can try and pair with my female. Would make an interesting combo.

 

[fm1978]

That might be around half to just less than half the size - you could see them getting to 15cm/6". Not sure how that corresponds to age, I'm afraid. Sophie might know! 

 

[Sophie]

I have never looked into it I'm afraid. As I said, sexual maturity normally happens at about 6 months + depending on their health. I've read that the size is normally around 5 cm - but again this depends on diet. I feed mine a high protein diet and twice a day so they bulked out quickly. Have to have a good Google on it

 

[baker360360]

It's a lace/dark Angel. They're not easy to come by, I was very lucky. Apparently when bred they are much more sensitive as fry and are likely to die more so than other colour strains.
http/fins.actwin.com/articles/freshwaterangels.php
Something you might find interesting.
Hoping it's a boy then can try and pair with my female. Would make an interesting combo.

Lots of info there. 1 bit said "
Ideal Water Quality

Soft (0.6 to 1.2 dH), slightly acid (pH 6.5 to 6.9), successful breedings have occurred in pH 6.8.

Mine is ph 7.2 should be fine right?

 

[fm1978]

I'd take a wild guess based on other fish and say that their growth will be very quick, very young and slow down as they age. Perhaps they could reach 1/2 - 2/3 their full size in the first couple of years. With a lifespan of maybe 8 - 10 years, they probably don't do much more growing in the latter parts of it.
 
This is pure guess work, please don't hold me to it! Hehe!

 

[Sophie]

More than fine - my pH is 7.6 and very hard.