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Hello everyone,

I have a 30 gallon tall tank that houses two adult, freshwater Angelfish. I bought them separately and the only reason I picked the two that I did is because they seemed healthy and were very pretty. A couple months after housing the two of them together I quickly found out that they were a male and female and decided to become a breeding pair.

I never really encouraged breeding because I had no idea what I was doing. I would just let them lay their eggs every 3 weeks or so, watch the fry for about a week until they "disappeared".

They have been breeding very prolifically for about 6 months up until about 6-8 weeks ago. I added a common pleco to the tank that I got from my parents' because they were getting rid of their tank at home. Ever since I added the pleco they haven't been laying eggs. Which isn't a big deal but now momma looks pretty sick.

Her abdomen is swollen like she is gravid and her papilla has been visible for the past month or so. I've tried googling with no luck. Is it possible for a fish to retain her eggs and refuse to lay them? If so, is this fatal? I imagine it was the water change and the addition of the pleco that upset her because she hasn't laid any eggs since.

I have also considered dropsy, but her scales aren't protruding and she is eating/relieving herself just fine.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to any advice you all may have!

Hello and welcome to FP

I used to own angels and still have an interest in them so I also tried googling for ya. Same results as you. Hopefully someone will be along soon that has ran into this problem either with angels, or other egglayers.

I've never heard of an angel holding eggs like that, but I know livebearers often hold fry longer if they don't feel safe. I wouldn't rule it out.

Measure these, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate.

A common pleco not the best choice for a 30g. It will grow quite large and the angels are going to be cramped, not to mention it makes alot of waste. A bristlenose pleco would 'fit' alot better as they max out at 4-5 inches. I wonder if the pleco wasn't itself sick, but a carrier of something like a bacterial infection or parasite. Did your parents have some fish die just prior to deciding to get rid of their tank ?

The Amazon Nut...