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Breeding Angelfish

by Bruce K

I am by no means an expert in breeding Angelfish, but I have done it successfully a few times. This page is a general guideline on the successes and failures that I have had when trying to breed Angelfish. Hopefully the information that I provide on this page will help newbies who are interested in breeding Angelfish. Please take note that breeding Angelfish can be very time consuming and costly.

The first step is to ensure that you have the appropriate environment for your Angelfish that will somewhat "stimulate" their desire to breed. This is my current tank environment:

• 33 gallon tank
• Underground filter and Fluval filter
• Clean ceramic pot (for the Angelfish to hopefully lay their eggs on
• Live plants (for the Angelfish to hopefully lay their eggs on), preferrable Amazon Swords as they have large broad leaves, although live plants are not absolutely necessary
• A clean spawning slate, if you can find one
• Water temperature is just under 80 F

Most sites that I have read say that you should have about 6 Angelfish in order to successfully weed out at least one breeding pair. This seems to be the right number, as I have 6 Angelfish with one obvious breeding pair. The larger the tank the better. I am limited to a 33 gallon tank so that's what I have to work with. From what I have read, a general rule of thumb is 1 Angelfish to 5 gallons of tank space. Typically breeding season ranges from February to July, although, I have had my Angelfish breed in October once. I guess the tank environment was right for them.

How do you know you have a breeding pair?

You will begin to notice that the Angelfish start flashing their fins, darting at each other, and even occassionally locking lips. This is a typically sign of a male Angelfish trying to court a female Angelfish. They will begin attacking each other and you may even see some cuts appear as a result of the courtship. If the courtship gets too intense and one of the Angelfish is getting severely hurt, it would be best to separate them. Once the courtship is over, the Angelfish will become territorial, flashing their fins at other fish as they come near the area they wish to spawn. As the time nears to spawning, the pair will begin cleaning the area that they wish to lay the eggs. You'll notice that the male does a majority of the cleaning by picking at the area. Just before the female is about to lay her eggs, she will start cleaning more of the area as well.

How do you know which is the male and which is the female?

During the breeding period, you will notice a pink coloured tube extending from the female Angelfish that will get larger and larger, eventually becoming almost dark pink/purple in colour when it is time for her to lay her eggs. I would guess that the length of the tube is about 2 mm just before she starts laying her eggs. The male will have a thin, pencil like tip extending from him that will be white in colour.

This page is reserved for my Angelfish page. To be contInued once more content becomes available.

If anyone has any content that they would like to contribute, please contact me.

Thanks.