There is a Tawdry Affair in My Tank

The characters are my three angelfish, from here on called Koi, Silver, and Blue. The time is 10 o'clock last night.

Koi is pugilant, but I didn't think much of it because no one seems hurt or particularly cowed by their aggression. Overall I'm not that worried about it-- it's more aggression than I'm used to from my community tanks, but after lots of reading it seems it's just expected from these guys, and the only real concern is when they seriously injure each other. Last night I kept catching flashes of motion out of my eye: Koi and Blue are fighting furiously, locking jaws and twisting together in the water like gladiators. Blue looks egg-heavy and Silver has his business out, so I figure they're ready to spawn again. Silver's chasing all the other fish away.

Except Koi. Silver would nip at Koi, but it's nothing like the drag-out fights with Blue.

Silver and Blue were, once, a pair. But right before my eyes, Koi and Silver cleaned a leaf together. When Blue approached, only Koi chased her away, Silver was ambivalent. He wouldn't let any tetras or mollies near, but a rival angel? He didn't care. To make matters more confusing, Silver would also nip at Koi but not with the aggression of a paired angel fending off an interloper.

I wanted to separate out the troublemaker to let the pair spawn unmolested, or remove the pair, but I honestly didn't know who was who. Koi also had her business out, so now I had sexed all my fish.

Right before my eyes, Koi starts laying eggs on the leaf and Silver fertilizes them. "You two-timing jerk!" I'm shocked, because angels are supposed to be monogamous-- and Silver and Blue made a much prettier pair.

Blue shuffled around in the corner looking sad, her fins tattered from her battles with Koi.

Then! AND THEN Blue darts in and eats the eggs. Silver half-heartedly nudges her away and Koi looks on without charging her. Within moments all the eggs are gone and I'm wondering where the hell Koi's aggression went the one time it mattered.

Silver returns to cleaning his leaf and attending to Blue. Finally Blue goes back to the filter intake tube, despite the now pristine leaf that Silver has prepared. Everyone is looking tattered and banged up, but it's mostly cosmetic.

I guess it really is time to try adding more angels and breaking up this dysfunctional love triangle.