On 11/21/10, Jeff Snyder quoted Carol Shenkenberger: Tank Maintenance   
   At Last.   
      
   CS> My angel fish are showing off to each other.  I don't know how to sex them,   
   CS> but it's looking like they are either gay, or a male and a female ;-)   
   CS>   
   CS> The 70gT tank is doing well as always and stable.  Minimal water changes   
   CS> needed and water crystal clear all the time.  I keep a low fish balance   
   CS> incase of power outages stopping the pumps but what I have is flashy enough   
   CS> for  us.             xxcarol --- SBBSecho 2.11-Win32  * Origin: SHENKS   
      
      
   Hello Carol. It's nice to see you posting here again.   
      
   Angel fish, eh?   
      
   Well, obviously, the easiest way to discover their genders is simply to wait   
   and see if anything serious develops -- i.e., spawning -- from their current   
   flirtations, or whatever it is that they are doing. You will know soon   
   enough, as they will begin to clean off a flat surface in your tank --   
   either a smooth, slightly incline rock, or a broad blade on a plant, or even   
   a glass pane -- in preparation for the actual spawning. And, of course, the   
   female will become quite plump before her ovipositor begins to protrude.   
      
   But, if you want to get on the more technical side of things, even though it   
   has been many years since I bred Angelfish, as I recall -- and while it is   
   difficult for the untrained eye -- the angle on the fish's ventral side,   
   right above the anal fin, while be different on males and females.   
      
   Angels make great parents. Unlike so many other fish, they normally do not   
   devour their own fry.   
      
   You really should have a large -- at least four feet -- tank for the purpose   
   of breeding a pair of Angels. Also, if you really want to encourage   
   spawning, you should drop the PH to about 6-7, maybe even lower.   
      
   I am saying all of this off the top of my head from breeding Angels years   
   ago, but I believe that the info is for the most part accurate.   
      
   These conditions pretty much apply to South American discus as well.   
      
   Power outages -- Oh gosh! My dread, as they are quite frequent here, lasting   
   anywhere from fifteen minutes to many hours, or even days, weeks and months   
   when a powerful typhoon strikes us.   
      
   As I've been saying in my posts here, my four-foot tank is majorly full of   
   these mbunas, so I do fear a major disaster if we experience a prolonged   
   power outage, in spite of having a few battery-operated pumps here.   
      
      
      
   Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23   
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