my algae eaters

Question
Hi there,
I recently bought 2 eaters and wondering how to determine the sex of them. and also how do they breed? are they live barers or do they lay eggs? I have a 40 gallon tank with a variety of fresh water fish. Also the angel fish i have ,How do you know thier sex also?
thank you in advance .

Answer
Hi Jean
What kind of algae eaters?  Plecos, oto cats, chinese algae eaters, siamese algae eaters?  Lots of algae eaters out there :)  They all lay eggs.  

As for angels, it's hard to sex them.  If you know what to look for and what you're doing, you can look at their vent.  The best way is to purchase about 8 of them when they're young/small, and let them pair up on their own.  But this is no guarantee either, males can pair up with males, and females with females if they all happen to be the same sex.  You really just need to wait for the female to lay eggs, and the male will guard their territory.  Sorry, some fish are just difficult.....

Let me know on the algae eater though.  Like I said, there's a bunch of different kinds.  

Christy