Angelfish Breeding
Last Updated on Saturday, 09 October 2010 10:40 Written by Brilliant Friday, 09 July 2010 17:27
A few months ago I purchased a group of "wild angels". The color and shape was impressive but their size made me doubt the wild aspect. As the fish grew old I began to see a large amount of spotting in the alpha pair. Red eyes all around. The subtle blue coloring was remarkable. After a little searching around I found that some angels are bred for their blue color but generally speaking angels lose their spots and color after a few generations in captivity.
The fish grew quickly over the months. I was fortunate enough to have two pairs out of five fish. Out of five fish an absolutely beautiful spotted pair and another pair which were excellent examples of wild Peruvian scalare. The fish that did not pair was large and stunning. This was the first time natural selection did not mesh with my opinion.
The spotted pair spawned first. I never saw the second pair spawn. They held their ground towards the back of the tank but were not dominant.
A few months passed and I walked in to find the alpha male? on the ground dead. He/she appeared to be kicked out of the tank. I gather the larger unpaired fish had enough. I lost my favorite pair. I learned from this experience that you should separate angels when pairs form if the tank is not large enough. In my case a 4x2x2 90g planted tank was not big enough for two fish that did not want to be near each other. This is also the case with other cichlids.
The larger unpaired fish had taken the tank but not a mate. Instead the remaining spotted fish from alpha pair had broken up the second pair. A new pair was formed.
A month or so later the new pair spawned. The eggs were laid on a sword leaf. A day or two later the parents had moved their wigglers to another leaf. Now the eyes and vertebrae were beginning to form and you could see a noticeable difference in egg sack.
After that the transforming eggs lost their tackiness and parents moved to micro sword plant stuck in the vals at the top of the tank. It looked like a small bees nest. One parent scouts the tank for loose fry and the other guards the brood. The parents surround the brood keeping them in a tight bunch.
Two days later the egg sack is visible. I began feeding the fry which was the wrong thing to do. The parents were a bit skittish and seemed to be eating the fry with their food. I could be wrong it also looks like they eat them when the collect them and spit them back into the tight mass. I also noticed an unusual strike when I put my hand over the water to feed. I am not sure if they were giving me a warning or trying to get food. I will work on feeding the parents away from the mass of young and then feeding the babies second. This way the hungry parents get their fill first and less disruption to the mass of fry.
The parents moved the fry to the corner of the aquarium the next day. Then to the other corner and eventually back to the middle where they were playing cattle dog keeping the free swimmers within range. It is clear now the parents are attacking me when I put my hand close to the tank. They are very protective of their young.
A few days later the tacky wiggling young become free swimming fry. At this stage the egg sack is almost exhausted and will begin eating food within a day or two. I began feeding as soon as the pink sack was nearly gone.
My pair spawned about five times before they got it down.
The freeswimming fry will crowd the parents in a tight cloud. The parents will gather any stray fry from the tight bunch. This is where nature takes its course. Fry with good instinct are alive and well protected by the parents others are taken out by school of tetras lurking in the echinodorus abyss.
Feeding the fry was a bit of a challenge. The parents literally jump out of the tank to fend me off. I had to get a little creative. Using an air tube works out. Becareful not to inject your brood with foul saltwater from brine shrimp hatchery...always rinse first.
Angelfish are capable of taking care of their own young. Artificially raising your angelfish will take the wild instinct out of your fish. It is important to keep the young with the parents. An unsuccessful pair is exactly what it is meant to be.
Please follow the discussion on this page.