I noticed this morning that one of my Angelfish was acting kind of strange around some plant leaves.Well tonight what I was thinking turned out to be true! I have a pair.Momma laid eggs all over a fake plant that's in the tank,and Daddy attacked my hand when I tried to turn the leaf over to see if my suspicions were true! My questions are......1) There are two way smaller angelfish in that tank-as long as they stay away from the plant,will they be safe? 2) what's the percent of eggs hatching on the first spawn?Any idea? 3) How long does it take for them to hatch,and do the parents care for them like other cichlids do?Or will they eat them when they hatch? Only other fish in there are Pleco's.

oooooh, congrats devs!!!

As its the first spawn dont hold out much hope of them being successful with them, but its brilliant watching them though.
the plecs in the tank will eat the eggs, so you will either have to move the plecs or take your chances but the eggs wont last long with them there. The angels themselves will take about a foot around themselves and chase anything that goes near. The other two angels will learn to steer clear of them.
The thing with angels is, if theres no male then two females will pair up.
After a day some or all the eggs may turn white, these are the unfertilized ones and the parents will eat those. My own angels had about 80% that went white on the first spawn and then the male decided he would like some caviar
It takes about 72 hours for them to hatch i think, but another 5 days until free swimming.
The angels will look after the young but like i said they arent great as parents and it may take a few spawns for them to learn to get it right.
good luck with them Devs
Oh, and if the spawn fails then they can spawn again a month later!!

2 females,huh? hahahahaa.Didn't think about that! Well,if it is a pair,I wouldn't really mind if the eggs were not all fertile.Do you think I should add some meth blue to keep them from getting fungus? I didn't really think I had a pair although these two are the bigger fish & have always hung out,I can't say that I noticed any mating rituals going on.Although most of the time I have, is water changing,and a look or two at the Goldie/Snail tanks. if two females do pair up,will they both be agressive around the nest? I fed them tonite,and the one I thought to be female ran running,the other(I was thinking male) stayed right there at that nest site watching my every move! Is it usually the male that does the nest guarding,or do they both contribute to that? Thanks Sandy!

As theres more than two in the tank then i would think you have a pair.
I didnt add any meth blue as i wasnt keen on loads of babies.
They will take turns guarding the nest and they may even fight among themselves which is normal.
As for breeding behaviour the male usually swims in front of the female and puffs out the loose skin around his gills and under his jaw. I have heard my male click as he shows off to her, its his head i think he moves.
They do lock jaws and *test* each other too.
Afraid i dont know what the ritual if any would be between two females though i suppose there may be a dominant one.Another way to tell the sex is by the shape of the breeding tubes. The female has a shorter more rounded tube and the male is longer and more tapered. The female is also more rounded and the male has a more pinched look around his belly.