Pairing Angel Fish?

Hello fellow fish lovers...I have a new 45 gallon tank and I'm in the process of cycling the tank. This is nearly achieved and the first inhabitants will be my full grown angels. My problem is that they were all in one tank previously and paired two males and two females. They pretty much stayed together in pairs in separate parts of the tank. One female died and the lone male became very aggressive...to the point where he ripped the females lip apart. I moved him to another tank and she is pretty much healed. The Angels available to purchase are small immature babies. I need a female to pair with the lone male so I can put them back together in the new 45. If I put a small female with the large male will they pair as she grows. These are the scalare Angels that are commonly available at my LFS. He has a huge selection of fish but only small scalare. Does anyone know the answer to my question?

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Mature angels are difficult to sex just by looking at them, smaller angels are impossible. How does this aggressive male act towards any non-angel tankmates, especially mid level dwelling fish? If he's pretty cool with them you could get a group if small immature angels, he generally won't mess with them until they mature, then you'll see some pairing off. If he pairs with a female great, if another pair forms from the new group once they spawn you'll know who the female is.

 

Adult angels are very hard to sex. Juveniles are even harder. Your best bet would be to buy 4 or 5 juvis and put them with your adult male and see what happens. If the male does not attack the juvis, when they mature and if there is a female, they may pair up. Even if you do get a few females, your male may not be interested in them. But remember that with a group of juvis, you will probably have them pair up with each other too.

 

He is not aggressive in the community 29 I had to move him to after he injured the paired female. I have been able to sex them by their tubes shape when they spawn. The tank he is in has mostly large south American tetras, a couple bristle nose Plecos and a few platties. He seems to keep to himself but is quickly taking ownership of the tank...no aggressive behavior whatsoever.

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be careful .......... I breed angels and have had many problems doing so ...... in my experience they will choose there own partners and when they do pair the rest will be attacked so have a breeding tank ready to quickly remove them when they pair .......or when they pick an area in the tank and start cleaning it, myself I work out which is male very quickly ....there are a few ways to tell males have a large bump on there head females are straight the dorsal fin in a male is always straight up females at an angle .........males are more aggressive .........breeding tubes on a male is small and narrow a female females is short and fat ...you will learn to reas the different sexes within time hope this helps

 

Until it's tubes down time there's no way to be sure which is male & female. Two females have been known to pair, on occasion you'll get a trio, most often 1m 2f.

You at least need a divider handy, if not, as mentioned, another tank. I've had pairs take up less than a foot of a 55 gallon tank, others who chase everyone to the far end of where they plan on spawning. I've had to slide cardboard between pair's tanks, they'll spar from tank to tank bashing themselves stupid on the glass. I've also had mellow pairs, at one time I had 2 pairs & 3 unpaired angels in a 65.