Angels laid eggs

[Sissy]

I wasn't prepared for this . . . while cleaning my tanks (two day project), I noticed some eggs on a plant leaf.  Since two angels were guarding it, I assumed it was theirs.  I have a six angels and a number of other community fish in the tank and was worried that they might get eaten.  I decided to move the leaf out of the 55 gallon.  

Lots of questions.

How do you know when the angels are done laying the eggs and fertilizing?  There was only about 60 eggs.  I heard that normal ranges from 100 - 500.   With this being their first batch I was not sure if the low number is typical.  I moved the leaf to a one gallon tank.  I used water from another tank that is always stable in reading.  Is this ok or should I have used the water from the tank they were layed in?  I have added a little anti fungal.  The leaf is clipped upside down with a air hitting a corner of the leaf.

Is there anything else that I should be doing?  I have not setup a filter in the tank yet.  Should I do so now or wait until they hatch?  At what point should I move them from the one gallon to a larger tank?  Of course this assumes that they survive.

[Ellen]

Re: Angels layed eggs

I've never actually bred them, but I've been reading up on it because mine are almost that age. It sounds like you're doing alot of things like the successful breeders do.    

Lots of people put the eggs (and whatever they're on) in a one gallon jar like you did. A good trick they have is to put the one gallon tank inside a ten gallon tank full of water. The ten gallon should have a heater (<--solution to stable temp in such a small space) and when they are free-swimming, you can tip the jar they're in into the ten gallon until they need to be moved for more grow out space. The ten gallon can also have a filter (I would use a sponge filter), but some people just do water changes everyday. If any of the eggs turn white, you should remove them. If all the eggs turn white, they probably weren't fertilized.

You should also change the water out in the gallon tank every day. They will need baby brine shrimp when they free-swim.

If you don't have success this time, you will probably have another chance in about a week. If you have a pair, you might want to consider getting them a tank of their own; they could turn on all of their tankmates.

A good website with lots and lots of information and lots and lots of nice people is www.angelfish.net. I was going to give you some links, but I think they're all so helpful!    If you go there and browse around some, you will probably find the answers to these and many many more questions, maybe some you haven't thought of yet.

HTH,
Ellen

[Obed]

Re: Angels layed eggs

Ellen has given a pretty good overview of how lots of folks hatch out their eggs. I will send you an IM with my phone number so if you have any specific questions you can give me a call after working hours.

[Tiapan]

Re: Angels layed eggs

congrats on the breeding, its always exciting when you know yur fish got lucky.

[Sissy]

Re: Angels laid eggs

Darn . . . the angels laid more eggs.  I lost the first batch.  Only about 50% got to wiggler stage.  I lost those to fungus a few days latter.  I was so crushed that I was a terrible fish parent.  

I was going to setup a tank for them to raise their own young but the used tank I got had a number of leaks.  Now I have to deal with another batch of angel eggs.  If I leave them in the tank the other community fish will eat the eggs or wigglers.

Obed, I might be trying to get a hold of you to get expert advise.

[Obed]

Re: Angels laid eggs

no problem, call when you get ready. Your going to have to eventually get more tank space, you will need grow out room for the fry once you get past the hatching out issues. If you live in Houston, the water supply is tougher to be successful with your hatching from late june until october, the city adds so much crap to the water to combat the extra bacteria potential caused by the hot weather, so having problems this time of year is not unusual.

[Sissy]

Re: Angels laid eggs

I waited too long last night in retrieving the leaf.  I was setting up the one and ten gallon tank, came back for the leaf and the eggs were eaten.  I do not think it was the parents since I saw them earlier gently moving some of the eggs around.

This weekend I will be setting up #19, a 30 gallon tank for this pair of angels, and #20, a 40 gallon tank to thin out show of my other angel tanks.  I think I am at my limit with my family on tanks in the house, twenty is just too much.  I still have a number of grow out tanks available but not setup yet.  Two one gallons for hatching, one five gallon, and three 10 gallons.  Not quite sure where I'll place these when needed.

As for water, on weekends, I send my husband for five or six trips to fill up 3 gallon containers with drinking water.  We get it from the Culligan dispensers at Krogers, Randalls, HEB or WalMart.  I am not sure as to the quality but we use to drink the water ourselves.   I know that I need to setup some sort of filtering on our tap water to eliminate these trips (and to ensure the continuation of marital status).  If anyone has advise on this (the water part) I would appreciate it.