Need Help-FW Angelfish Fry

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Boomerb

Registered Member
Mar 22, 2006
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Help! My fiance and I bought two freshwater angelfish about 9 months ago and they have been housed in a 10 gallon tank by themselves.
We did not know that we had a male and female until I came home one day to a tank full of angelfish fry.
Caught completely off-guard and uneducated, I quickly removed the parents and put them in a different tank.
We believe most of those fry were either sucked into the filter intake tube or down into the gravel. We replaced all of the water, vacummed the gravel extremely well and, after letting the tank cycle, we returned the parent angelfish. The water is as follows: pH 6.6, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5.0. We originally thought that our angels were fighting right before the 1st batch of fry appeared, so when they started charging after each other again, my fiance placed a filter media bag over the filter intake tube.
I have been checking that tank every single day for eggs, never finding any...until last night when I came home to find a bunch of fry swimming around again and a 'cluster' of them wiggling around on the decoration. I left the parents in the tank this time and watched them grab the falling fry and place them back on the decoration, all night.
Most of the information that I have been able to find on the internet says to remove the eggs from the tank before they become free swimming, but we have yet to see any eggs before they hatch!
Any help anyone can give regarding how to possibly keep any of these little guys would be appreciated!
 
Congrats. The advice you recieved was based on the fact that most angel fish are very bad parents. Some think this is a direct result of generation after generation of angelfish being artificially hatched (in order to increase the survival rate of the fry). Because of this angelfish don't get to "learn" how to be good parents when they themselves are fry. Kind of a self perpetuating cycle. In this regard your very luck, and I encourage you to let the angles raise their fry for at least a week. I know I would pay a little extra for angel fish that were not artificially raised. Usually they will eat the eggs before or soon after they hatch, so it sounds like your over the hump.

You will need to begin feeding the fry baby brine shrimp right away. They can be purchased frozen, or you can hatch them yourself (just google "hatching brine shrimp"). Live bbs if FAAARRRRR superior to frozen and will get you much better results (more survivors, faster growth) if your willing to invest the time, but there's a bit of a learning curve, so get some frozen for the mean time.

It's best to feed small amounts several times a day, but be careful not to add so much that your water quality suffers. Shut down the filter for half an hour or so during feeding (keep the bbs from being sucked into the filter). The only other thing you have to worry about is water changes. Most breeders will do 50-75% water changes several times a week. This keeps growth hormones and other DOCs (dissolved organic compounds) from inhibiting further growth of the fry. Good luck, and if things don't work out, don't sweat it. There will be another spawn soon enough...and another...and another....and another......

Ill also mention (since I'm sure others will as well) that a 10g is WOEFULLY undersized for a pair (or even one) angel. At maturity they will actually be taller than a 10g. If kept in a ten gallon, they will often become stunted and have a shorter body shape than they otherwise would. A 20g high tank is the min you should consider. If you transfer gravel and filter from an established tank you should not have to cycle the new tank at all as the beneficial bacteria that make a tank "cylced" are only present on surfaces (filter medium), and not in the water column. That means that you should NEVER clean filter media in chlorinated water (tap water) as this will kill the bacteria. Use old tank water instead, and if you change a large portion of the media (you should be able to re-use the same media several times before this is needed) it's a good idea to leave a little of the old media (just snip some off) in the filter to "seed" the new media.

Hope this isn't too much to digest. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Ohh yeah

WELCOME TO AQUARIA CENTRAL!
 
oh if u go to the articles section of this forum and click on the "A look at live foods" article u will find a detailed account of how to hatch live BBS by Raskolnikov (sp?).
 
Thank you very much!
The little guys are doing just fine. Eating well and the parents are still continuously rounding them up in one area. It has been pretty amusing to watch them chase their little babies all over the tank!
Your advice was very helpful!
 
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