Understanding Angel fish actions

[Magnum Man]

I have the 2 Zebra lace angels, that used to live like buddies, or siblings, and now the dominant has the submissive hiding most of the time… I never witness pecking, or flying across the tank chasing… when feeding, they will eat 2 inches away from each other, just when the food is gone, the submissive wanders away…

I have 2 more in another tank the bigger I call “mutt” came from the pet store… I rarely buy fish from the pet store… the other smaller, was recently introduced, is supposed to be a blue diamond, these both act independently, but mutt protects the smaller diamond, when the earth eaters are scrapping, or occasionally the electric blue acaras are feeling their oats… this is a pretty high flow tank, and when I feed, food goes everywhere, so everyone gets plenty to eat, but mutt clears the center of the tank, except for diamond, so they can eat in peace…

I don’t know if mutt is being motherly, or looks at diamond as a potential suitor??? Or does diamond really run the show, and mutt is his muscle??? As I can’t sex them…

Right now, looking at the tank that has the zebra lace the prettiest fish is dominant, and the only angel I can see, without hunting for the other

Right now mutt and diamond are buddies… wondering where or when their relationship will change… the zebra lace have been together for around a year, before something changed… mutt and diamond have been together for a couple months…

 

[GaryE]

There are basics I've seen with angels.

Males hate males, but they only figure that out when they reach maturity. They shouldn't be kept together. They will intimidate and dominate if they don't actively murder.

Females will sometimes pair up, and even lay eggs together. The eggs are infertile, and many a new aquarist has developed ideas of how to tell which one is the male, when neither are.

Pairs will be chill together, once they've gone through all their initiation rites/fights. It doesn't mean they'll lay eggs. Conditions have to be right for them to do that. If they start, they often mess up the first spawning, and then become very good at fry care.

In larger groups, they form pecking orders. I've consistently seen the weakest fish as a probable male, and if it stays in there, it gets pecked to death. They aren't angelic unless you believe in wrathful gods of vengeance.

6-10 wild type angels moving through a tank together is one of the finest sights in the hobby.