Possible to pair immature angels?

[LukFox]

This has been troubling me for the past couple weeks. I bought two small (2.5") regal angelfish a bit over a month ago with hopes to pair them, but now I'm wondering if it is possible at this size. Most pairs I've seen have included at least one mature specimen. Therefore I wonder that if both fish are sexually immature, is it even possible for them to see each other as potential mates instead of competition? I worry I may end up waiting a long time for this pair to happen if not.

 

[tcmfish]

You will wait a long time no matter what, but I think it is possible. There is only one way to find out though, try.. Not much has been done with pairing larger angels.

 

[LukFox]

Yeah, I just worry I might be looking at aggression for a year+ with them at this size, with no hope of settling down until later. I hope they can consider each other as something other than rivals until they're mature. I'll see soon enough for myself I suppose if no one has experience pairing two young angels.

 

[tcmfish]

They are fighting? For how long?

 

[LukFox]

They fight whenever food touches the water. I have them separated most of the time, but more recently I've been removing the eggcrate to see how they're doing. They're pretty fine with just some initial displaying when there's no food. With food they really rip into each other and mess each others fins up. It was really bad this most recent time which is mostly the reason for this thread. Damage on the two fish included a shredded anal fin, half of a ventral fin taken off, and some pectoral fin damage. It was pretty fierce considering they are pretty peaceful otherwise, and it wasn't stopping. That's when I separated them again... I think the longest I've had them together was a few hours at a single time. I haven't trusted them enough to stay together unsupervised yet. They've been in visual contact ever since I got them, which is why this ongoing aggression is a bit concerning to me. I was hoping by now they'd be a little more used to each other, but I could just be impatient...