Angelfish laying eggs
Amber, While I regretfully have been having computer problems (lock- ups) lately, resulting in my being too busy to do any posting/replying these last few days from my time being backed up through wasted efforts along these lines, please be aware that your present set up is not condusive to raising Angels and any faster response on my part would not have changed this.
With your Angelfish pair residing in a “semi-aggressive aquarium” community tank with “a few ‘passive’ fish as well,” this would preclude any possiblity of your raising any fry to even a juvenile stage even with the use of a divider (unless this were solid). The familiar and often-used “egg-crate” dividers would allow the free swimming of fry through them, only to be eaten by the other tank mates, and while the parents will endeavor to keep their fry gathered to the vicinity of the spawning site, over time especially as they get just a little older (by a week or so) these fry will explore and wander where they will and get picked off one by one by the other fish in short time.
You would need a solid partition, by as you’ve already seen, even this will not guarantee the potential fry’s safety when the parents decide to eat them as eggs. You cannot remove the eggs to the 10 gallon tank when you have a female Guppy there which will eat these eggs (or fry, if they hatch), nor could you expect the angelfish eggs/fry’s safety in the presence of Guppy fry — which are at least 5 times larger than Angel fry when they’re first born, and will make a meal of the Angel fry.
If you’re intent on having the parent Angels raise their fry, you may try keeping the eggs with them in hopes they’ll soon settle down to them raising them rather than eating them, which may take 4 to 5 tries or 15 to 20 tries (no way to know when they decide finally to promote a new generation). You would need to install a solid divider of opaque plastic, which will prevent adequate water circulation and proper filtration of the entire water column for the duration of time needed to rear the Angel fry to a size to where they won’t be eaten by the other tankmates before you can remove this divider — not the best situation in the tank’s normal maintenance requirements.
An opaque divider, as a clear section would allow for the fry’s viewing by the iother inhabitants, which would then be positioned up against it, trying to gain access to the breeding site, which would often be cause enough to cause the parents to eat their fry rather than (in their way of responding to this perceived threat) have the intruders devour them — the parents would have no idea that a clear divider would hold the other fish back. Still, not the best situation to raise Angel fry in, even with an opaque divider.
Best results are always had when removing the Angel pair to a spawning tank of their own, if you’re serious about raising their fry, and while this will remove any perceived threat (by other fish) to their spawn, as may have resulted in this last spawning, again there is no guarantee they will not continue to eat their eggs, at least not until they get the hang of how to raise them (if they want to). Many breeders who don’t want to trust the indecisiveness of their Angel pairs will remove the eggs to a separate rearing tank of their own (no Guppies or other fry in this tank), supplying the Angel pair with spawning slates to exchange when their spawns are deposited — rather than repeatedly clipping aquatic plant leaves until there is nothing left of the plant.
BTW, your grey with black stripes Angelfish (I presume you mean Silver w/black stripes) is the original wild type of color pattern. Ray
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
