Mystery of the Strange Growth

[Mrs D]

Hmmm. I got some angelfish about 6 weeks ago and had them in a holding/quarantine while I decided what on earth to do with my impulse buy. I recently changed around most of my tanks and upgraded to a 5ft and got rid of some others. The angels were put into a 4ft tetra tank as I knew they had to mature and I wasn't sure if I would keep all of them, or even keep them at all as I had never had angels before.

Came home tonight and did the rounds and found a strange growth in the tetra tank. Evidence below:

Exhibit A
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h101/MrsDragon_2006/IMGP7594.jpg

Exhibit B
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h101/MrsDragon_2006/IMGP7595.jpg

Exhibit C
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h101/MrsDragon_2006/IMGP7596.jpg

Final Proof
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h101/MrsDragon_2006/IMGP7597.jpg

What do I do now? I thought it would be another 6-12 months before they bred - they are only about 6cm body size, nose to tail start. How do I tell which one is male and which is female? Obviously if I get wrigglers, I know I have a pair.

[Mr Wild]

Looks to me like the more pearl scaled angel (2nd pic) is the female in a tetra tank I doubt the pair will have much chance at raising them but hey its good practise!

[BobbyBruce]

Agree,

Exhibit A being the male. Depending how good they are at guarding you may raise some. Unlike discus once the fry are free swimming you can net some out and raise them on BBS and fry food.

Regards,

Bob

[Merrilyn]

If you have the room, and really want to raise the fry, you can remove the leaf with eggs to a separate tank and attempt to raise the fry on their own.

The eggs don't need the parents present to hatch. You can keep the eggs fungus free by adding some methylene blue to the water and place an airstone near (but not on) the eggs to simulate the parents fanning.

It's a lot of fun, and I can give you more details if you want to try.