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Jim Anderson · February 18th 06, 08:44 PM posted to rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc

In article ,
says...
"Rick" wrote in message
...
I just walked in the other room and saw 2 angels acting strange so I
watched them for awhile, seems they're laying eggs. They swim up to my
filter pick-up tube and a small "tube'" comes out of the under side of the
Angels and they swim slowly up the pick-up and deposit eggs (I think). I
don't want to disturb them and turn the lights on, so I really can't tell
what's going on. Are these females laying eggs, or are these males
fertilizing eggs already there?? I don't want to scare them with the
lights, so I can't really tell for sure. I have 2 other Angels in the tank
also, but they are staying on the other side of the tank just kinda
floating around (I know that's what they do

), but more so than usual.
Are they part of it, or are they just smart enough to stay clear? I,ve had
eggs in there before, but never saw it happening. I'm not at all interested
in raising fry, just wondering since I saw it.
Thanks, Rick

The two by the tube are a pair, as they have paired off away from the other
two (unless you were unlucky enough to have 4 females ;~).

The female has a thicker shorter ovipositor (the official name for that new
body part 'egg-depositor').

If you have ever had the eggs hatch, then you know there is a male. If they
were all females, the unfertilized eggs would disintegrate fairly quickly.

Angels are notorious for laying their eggs in spots which are difficult to
move (side of the tank, filter plumbing etc). Next time, put a long thin
piece of slate in there against the glass. They like that, and it makes it
easier to manage the fry, if (when ;~) you do change your mind.

When mine mated, the female would deposit a line of eggs on a large leaf
while the male watched very closely or chased other fish away. As soon
as the female finished the single line of eggs, the male would swim
along the same way as the female and fertilize them while the female
watched closely or chased the other fish away. Then they stared over
again with another line of eggs next to the first until the female had
deposited all of her eggs. The first few matings resulted in a small
oval egg group of 50-75 eggs. The grouping got allot bigger then maybe
tripled. Once they started mating, mine would lay eggs about every two
weeks. No deaths to tank mates occurred, just lots of torn fins and
hiding tetra fish.

I had to remove the two other angels in my 55usg as the mating pair
would gang-up on them, especially the other male, his pectoral and tail
fins were just bloody stumps. But he recovered.

--
Jim Anderson
( 8(|) To eMail me, just pull "my_finger"