Anglefish Mating Problem?

Hi

I have two adult Angel Fish in a community tank that have been laying eggs a number of times but have always eaten them after a couple of days. I have suspected that they are in fact two females as they both seem quite gravid at the time and I cant confirm if any of the eggs are fertilized.

Today though, some more eggs have appeared on an Amazon Sword leaf but they seem to be having a big fight about it. They keep squaring up to each other with twitching fin like displays and then biting and just going for each other; they even went into some sort of kissing lock (fight) at one stage.

Just checked again and they are now in the middle of the tank again fin twitching and squaring up eye to eye. One is also puffing up some throat gill tissue that I suspect is some form of aggression

I'm worried about what might result and any advice would be much appreciated.

I suspect the advice will be to separate them but I only have one tank and it would be such a shame to have to return one to an aquarium store; they are both so beautiful.

TIA Mal

Perhaps you could remove the leaf with the eggs, since that seems to be the bone of contention. If you want to hatch them, put them in a breeding trap in a spot with good water flow to keep them from fungusing.

While we all know that two is a pair, can you look at them side on, and determine if they are in fact a pair. Look from the snout up to the first fin, is the body line a gentle curve, or is there a corner // bump near the top of the curve [male] As for the agro, providing there of equal size, and one does not prevent the other from eating, they will get over it, it happens a lot with Angels, normally for no reason. bassett

When angelfish are ready to spawn, they deploy their spawning tubes, which are just behind their ventral fins. Then and only then, it's fairly easy to distinguish gender. The twitching and lip locking are part of the mating ritual. The whole thing can get pretty violent. If one of the angelfish is being hurt, they need to be temporarily separated. As for the eggs, the fertile ones are a translucent amber, and if you look through a good magnifying glass, you will see movement when the eggs are about two days old. Infertile eggs develop a white fungus.

Most angelfish keepers wind up with several aquariums, because spawning pairs need their own space, as do their fry. If you want more aquariums and money is an issue, try cruising the yard sales.

If you can get a side on picture of both fish, we'd be able to tell you if the tubes are showing, whether you have a pair or 2 females...

I see this question was posted over seven months ago..so hard to say what has taken place by now..but..
As stated..the only real way to determine the sex of an Angelfish is when their tubes are down & they are about to spawn. The males tube looks like the thin point of a pencil..while the females is more blunt..like the eraser.
Angelfish are cichlids..cichlids are aggressive. If you do not want fighting to continue ( and it most likely will)..you have to seperate them.
You can either place them in seperate tanks..or place a divider between them.
Fry will not survive in a community tank. You don't say the size of this tank..or how many fish...but it could be that they BOTH have chosen this section for spawning & could possibly fight to the death to defend it.
As far as fry surviving in a community tank..highly unlikely. The parents will most likely "always" eat the eggs thinking they are keeping them "safe" ..or other fish will eat them.
Placing angelfish eggs in a net does not work. Requirements for hatching Angelfish eggs are a bit different than other cichlids.
I have a post in the forum explaining the how to's of Breeding Angelfish.. if you care to check it out.
Or..just click here...
http://www.myaquariumclub.com/breeding-angelfish-the- how-to-s-6775.html