Angels Mate for Life

I mentioned in yesterday's post that angelfish can live to be ten years old and when they mate, they mate for life.

I have a silver angel named John McFish who is about two years old. When he was younger, he had a smoky leopard mate named Christie McFish. They laid eggs a number of times but they never managed to hatch. I even moved them to a tank of their own, where they laid eggs on an old filter intake (shown at right) but they were never successful at hatching them.

One day I found the smoky leopard had passed away. There were no signs of illness so her death is a mystery. I moved John McFish to the community tank and I introduced several females. One attempted to entice him several times, cleaning an intake or amazon leaves whenever he came into her vicinity. This was a clear signal that she wanted to mate with him.

But John McFish was never interested. He stopped eating for awhile after Christy passed away, but eventually got past his depression. But he's never wanted another mate. I suppose he is still in love with his sexy smoky leopard.