Breeding Angel Fish

M

mikekomm

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Oct 30, 2010
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I'm about to set up a 55 gallon tank to breed angelfish. I intend to buy 6-8 young fish and hope that they pair off and will lay eggs on some flat "movable" objects. My plan is to remove the objects with the eggs into a smaller 5-10 gallon tank and grow the babies in there. My plan is:

1. I was thinking about using an under gravel filter with powerheads to move and filter an adequate amount of water as well keep a sponge filter going. I intend to move the sponge filter into the 10 gallon tank with the eggs as well as some of the water from the 55 gallon tank.

2. I use R/O water in most of my other tanks. Am I better off using regular Los Angeles tap water (made safe for fish)?

3. I have a few planted tanks and am considering planting this tank as well. Will I have better results if the fish have plenty of plants to hide in and separate themselves when they pair off? Will the intense lighting needed for the plants hinder pairing off or egg laying.

4. I've read different articles about the best temperature for angelfish. I currently have them in one tank at 82F and another at 79F. They seem to do just fine in either environment.

I would appreciate any ideas, suggestions or strategies that others have used successfully.

Thanks in advance ...... Mike
 
be sure what ever you do you get the eggs out of the tank it you use a UGF because the fry can get sucked under the plate. I had that happen with cory fry.
 
Right now I have five mated pairs of angels and several singles. My recent experience is that no matter how many good egg locations you give to your angels they will breed where they want. I have a marble pair that likes an amazon sword (3-4 times) but have also laid on the HOB water intake, the back glass, the side glass, a rock, a plastic plant and once on a pot intended for my kribs that I was soaking in the tank while I cleaned the Krib tank. Once they lay, no other fish is safe in the tank. They have even chased swordtails right out of the tnak (55G). They have bred many times and have produced fry to the swimming stage twice but haven't had any live longer than ten days.

I expect young pairs to have unsuccessful layings at first and some never seem to get the hang of it. I had two big golds and he would eat the eggs as fast as she laid them. After several spawnings she died suddenly and he has bonded with a young marble female (2 spawnings so far but all eggs have fungused out) .On the other hand, my two smallest paired angels have several wrigglers two days old now and that is from their second laying.
 
I would definetly use multiple sponge filters in the 55 gallon if you plan on moving any # of them to a smaller fry grow out tank.

I also breed my angels pretty heavily and I always have used Detroit tap water for every batch of fry with great success.
You can use RO, but tap works just as well IMO (treated of course).

The plants are a great idea. Make sure to provide lots of cover, especially in the corners.
Amazon swords are a great choice.

I would scrap the undergravel filter for a HOB filter.
My angels seem to prefer to spawn there (on the intake) more than anywhere else.

As far as temp goes I keep the parents at 80F and the fry tank between 78 and 80F.

Do you use any medications in the fry tanks?
Methylene Blue is normally what I dose with prior to putting each batch of fry in.

I do daily 90% water changes on the fry.
I learned that if the water quality is poor while they are young (first month or so) that the ventral fins will not grow properly.

And as far as angels being unsuccessful the first few times, I disagree.
My Koi angels have been breeding every 2 weeks since April and the first batches were great!
Now this could vary from pair to pair, but mine were already parent raising them from the first batch.

I hope that this input helps.

Best of luck to you!
 
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