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Excited Angel?

NC10

NC10

Member
Joined
20 Nov 2013
Messages
566
Location
Sheffield
First off, sorry for the pics. I grabbed these quickly just as I fed them before lights out. Even by my standards, these are shocking :lol:

Basic story, I was "playing" with them just before feeding and lights out, when I noticed for the first time 2 of the angels were covered in blue. At least their fins were and their cheeks. The pictures don't really show it like it was, but it was amazing really. Imagine neon tetras or the blue you get on rams and it was that sort of thing.

I wouldn't normally start a thread on something so trivial, but in all my years of keeping various angels and seeing them in shops, online etc I've never seen them go like this. I can only guess they were happy or excited, but a more scientific reason would be welcomed :D

I'll see what happens tomorrow and try and get some half decent pics.

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I've had a look this morning and they're still blue. Looks really nice, just weird how it's come on so suddenly.

The lights aren't on yet, this is just the camera flash. I'll try and get some good ones this evening. Don't hold your breath though :D

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Looks a lot like juvenile fish, maturing.
I've bred different colour-varieties of Pterophyllum (angels) for 30+ years now - and this strong colouration (incl. brighter red eyes)often appear when the fish become sexually mature. Often strongest on the males......but some females get strong colours too.
A lot of breeders have worked on specially tbe blue colours for several years now, so we will se more fish with more blue colouration in the trade.
- so, with a lttle luck, you will have a breeding pair soon................:thumbup:[DOUBLEPOST=1402521034][/DOUBLEPOST]P.S. your fish is a "zebra", a colour variety often showing very good blue/green colour (if this mean anything to you *ss*), and the colour is dominant genetically, to standard striped ones and golden ones. Black or half dose black (called smokey) can be croseed into it and appear visually in offsprin.
 
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Cheers Mick.Dk.

I made my mind up a while ago that one of them was a male and the other was female, so fingers crossed, I'm really liking these :D I may be wrong though, I'm no expert. The one I think is the male is a lot stockier than the other, with a more bumpy head if you know what I mean. I suppose I won't know until if or when they do actually pair up.

They've both had the red eyes since I got them so I can rule that out of it just being maturing. Up to now nothing has changed from how their eyes have always been. I found it weird how they both chose to show blue on the same night at the same time. I pay a lot of attention to all the fish, so would have easily noticed if they'd done it on different days for example.

The one I think of as the male has always showed slightly redder/brighter eyes and blacker stripes than the one I believe to be the female. He's no doubt the ring leader anyway. Looking back, I wish I'd have got 5 of the same. We originally bought 5, only 2 of them being striped. The others looked stunning as youngsters, glittery for want of a better word, but are turning quite drab in their old age, whereas these are getting better by the day. I'm pretty sure they were all from the same parents though. We've had the Angels around 6/7 weeks now, not sure if this ties in with maturity or not? Obviously bought as tiny little youngsters.

I took a load of photos tonight, but haven't had chance to get them on the comp yet. Who knows what they'll turn out like lol. I also did a bit of filming as well, so if all else fails I should be able to get a half decent screenshot at least :hungover:
 
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Very nice mate. It's really hard to show exactly how they are in real life though isn't it, people are wondering what all the fuss is about, I believe you anyway :D

As far as angels go, mine get on pretty well, so no real aggression or noticeable colour change. They all know where they stand with each other so they've given up trying by the looks of it.
 
Hi Andy
Your fish was either German blue or Philipine blue (which may actually be the same thing). Notice the "standad" amount of stripes - compared to the extra stripes on the Zebra.
 
Hi NC
Yep - it's good practice to buy at least 5-6 juvenile fish of same type, if you want a chance of pairing angels. They choose their partner, so more individuels than that, to choose from, make better and more reliable pairs.
Maturity of angelfish depends a lot of what and how heavy they're fed - and they do have a "teenage", where they're not yet able to breed, but are displaying behaviour of pairing out - often engaging in different "relationships", before settling on one partner.
Beeing faithfull for life, though, is a myth. It can happen, but equally often, they change partner inbetween breeding sessions.
- really interesting fish, with attitude and behaviour that can be great fun to "decode". You can allmost learn "angel-ish" language, by stydying them interact, since they are very communicative in body-posture and fin-movements.
 
Cheers Mick,

I didn't buy a group to specifically breed, but just because of how I always thought angels should live, in a shoal. As always though, they soon separate into their own little groups. The two striped have been a pair from the start, not that I'm saying they're a "real" pair, just that they've always stuck together. The others just randomly wandering around the tank.

Up until around 2 weeks ago (when I bought the Discus) it was the usual diet of flake and pellets. I made a beefheart recipe up for the discus which all my fish seem to love so have just stuck with it. I throw flake and pellets in now maybe once or twice a week. As the Discus are still young I'm feeding 5 times per day. Add into this that I've cranked the temperature up slightly and I may have unwittingly induced puberty :D

I do hope they keep these colours though. They look amazing anyway, but seeing the blue when they turn and in the right position is pretty good :thumbup:
 
You are so right !!! This is actually one of my favourite colour-strains in angelfish.
 
Confirmed breeding pair :thumbup:

They've laid around 5 times up to now I think it is, They don't normally make it past 2 days though before they've all been eaten. I can't raise any at the moment but a nice little project when I find some time.
 
Congratulations.........you're in for a very interesting behaviour, when you get the time to let them go all the way.
- a first advice: raise the temp. in the tank to 29-30 celcius, as soon as the eggs are laid. This will increase survival of the babies on their first week ( when they are still not swimming free) dramatically.
- and do some research. There are plenty of help on the net........
It's really not that difficult !!
 
Cheers Ben & Mick.

I'm running just under 28 now so no problem upping the temp to 29, although I do have a couple of spare 50cm cubes I was thinking I could move them to. I think they'd appreciate their own space, plus another excuse for an extra tank. Won't be any time in the near future though but I'll update when I do. Cheers Mick.

I knew I'd taken a picture as well. I've given up apologising for my poor phone camera pics though :D

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