Angelfish Spawning

[Cberry]

Hello Everyone,

Well the new angelfish (only about 10 days in the tank) laid some eggs.  They are being pretty protective of their area but I have 6 other angels with them.  If I use a tank divider will it help the fry to hatch and survive?  How long does it take before the fry hatch?  Any other advice would be greatly appreciated as this is our first time other than mollies.

It's a 55 gallon tank parents planted on the leaf of an Amazon Sword plant.

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

I couldnt get my angels to parent raise, they would either eat them after a couple of days of wiggling, or one of the community fish would have a snack in the night.

Do you have a spare 10gallon you can set up with a sponge filter?
Also buy some methylene blue and dose the tank per the instructions on the bottle. it should be 1 teaspoon/ 10 gallons.

The eggs hatch in 2-3 days. white/dark yellow eggs wont hatch, only the clear eggs will.

You need to get a brine shrimp hatchery set up, you'll have to start feeding around day 6-7 after hatching.

How big are your angels? and what type are the parents?

[Cberry]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

I can probably make an extra 10 g available.  Do I wait for them to hatch or remove the leaf now?  

The parents are both Koi one is about 5"  the other 2"

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

 Do I wait for them to hatch or remove the leaf now?  

I personally would remove the leaf to the 10 gallon tonight (How long ago did they lay?) Attach the leaf to a stone/rock.

Use water from your 55 to fill the 10.

I use a 10-20 gallon filter (walmart $10) and cover the inlet with a carwashing sponge. The methylene blue kills off your beneficial bacteria so using a seeded filter is pointless. Once the eggs hatch, start doing small water changes everyother day.


These eggs may or maynot hatch, regardless of whether you leave them in the 55 or transfer them to the 10.

[Cberry]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

will do thanks

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

Congratulations

After they are free swimming you can do a partial water change to get rid of the blue & add a few snails  & java moss to produce infusoria for the fry.

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

Forgot to mention the methylene blue will dye the silicone blue. Leave the tank barebottom and you'll need another heater.

I alternated feeding brineshrimp and hikari first bites. I hadnt thought about Infusoria or greenwater.

[fishysue]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

See post below

[fishysue]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

Congratulations on the Angels spawning.  It's always a thrill when they spawn.  After you move the leaf to the ten gallon, keep an eye on it and remove any eggs that turn white (fungus).  A toothpick works pretty good at knocking the bad eggs off the leaf.  Within about 3 days after the eggs were laid, depending on the temperature of the water, you will get wigglers.  They will feed off of their egg yolks (round little bellies) for another 4-6 days.  The wigglers have little sticky pads on the tops of they heads and will stick to the leaf or the bottom or sides of the tank at first.  After 4-6 days, they will then start free swimming.   A good batch of eggs will produce 200+ fry.

Once they are free swimming, then you need to feed them well with brineshimp, vinegar eels or microworms.  Infusioria might be big enough but the fry will be too big to take advantage of green water.  A little bit of Java Moss will provide them with tidbits and a place to hide but not enough to keep them fed well.  I use freshly hatched brineshimp about 3 to 4 times a day to start with.  Their bellies will be bulging pink with the brineshimp if everything goes well.  After you start feeding them do a waterchange at least once a day with aged aquarium water from another tank.  After about a week or so,  you can start feeding them finely powdered dry flake for one feeding a day until they get used to it.

If you go with the brineshimp, here is a tip.  I use two, two liter bottles (coke etc) with the bases you can buy for raising the brineshimp.  You will also need small air pump.  I harvest a bottle once a day, using a mesh coffee filter that you can buy at a grocery store.  They are fine enough to filter the brine shrimp.  Put the filter into the mouth of a container large enough to hold the water from the two liter bottle.  Then drain the two liter bottle through the filter into the large container.  The bottle's worth of brine shrimp then goes into a smaller plastic container with the tapwater I use to rinse the brineshrimp out of the filter.  The smaller container goes into the frige after the first feeding.  This will keep the brineshrimp alive for a few days.  I use a large eye dropper to take a portion out to feed the fry about three or four times a day. I restart the bottle after it's harvested, then harvest the other the next day.  It takes about 36 to 48 hours for the brineshrimp to hatch once started.  This method works well for me as it cuts down on the time I am dealing with harvesting and restarting brineshrimp bottles to once a day, maybe 10 minutes total time, excluding the time it takes for the bottle to drain.

[fishlady]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

wow .....after reading about the angels laying eggs and all you have to do for them to assure their survival i am hoping that my angels are gay...i am not sure i could stand that much stress to take care of the babies....oh my goodness.....but we do have 3 angels and if by chance any ever do lay eggs....i'm calling you guys immediately...i can tell you that much.....
congratulations on your eggs....i can't wait to see them ....how exciting....i bet the girls are going nutz.....way cool.....


fishlady......

[Cberry]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.  Before I went to bed the fish were still laying eggs.  I thought I would pull the leaf this morning rather than disturbing them last night.  I guess I should have done it last night because there are no eggs left this morning.  Hopefully they will try again.  If they do, I know what to do now.  Thanks for all the info.

[szidlon]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

Believe me, they will try, and try, and try and try.  Once a pair gets into the swing of things they can spawn every two weeks, whether you want them to or not, 8O .

You will have plenty more opportunties to pull the eggs.   This will give you time to firm up your strategy for the next spawn and have everything ready.  There are plenty of folks here that have great ideas on how to raise and care for angelfish and as you have seen, are very willing to share their experiences and offer excellent advice.

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

Are you sure they were still laying/fertilizing?

They will make passes over the eggs aerating the eggs, and that looks a lot like theyre still laying.

What part of town do you live?

[Cberry]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

I'm in the Willowbrook/Cypress area.

I'm not sure if they were still laying last night or not, but they are for sure gone now.  It looked as if they were still laying last night because one of them would go along the leaf a few times and then the other would go over and that would continue as long as I was there.

[blacksmith37]

Re: Angelfish Spawning

I suggest pouring your self a drink; and sitdown and decide if: you really want to be in the fish breeding business ?
I have angels in 2 nursing home tanks and 4 tanks at home ; I have this many angels because I did not  think about the question before I raised a few batches. I usually have a batch of eggs or wigglers someplace; all are community tank so free swimmers don't have a chance. I still have a difficult time letting nature take its course. But , I am (trying) not to be in the fish business.