Gamer

My two angels have laid eggs in my 55 gal community tank. I've bought a tank divider to seperate the angels from the rest of the fish and now they're all alone on one side (they're still cautious about the other fish getting though the divider but other than that, no problems).

They've laid them on my HOB biowheel filter so I'm wondering IF they hatched could the fry be small enough to be sucked into the filter? If so, what to do about that? I hear angels make excellent parents and they will move them around, but what to feed them? They will no doubt be too small to eat any of the food I have. I have flakes, pellats, bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp. No real plants for them to nip on. What do I need to buy?

FishKing

For the first part, yes they can be sucked into the filter. So I recomend you gravel vaccum the aquarium and turn off the filter. Or transfer them to a small cycled ten gallon breeder tank. I reccomend you feen them newly hatched brine shrimp, and my bigest reccomendation is you get some broad leaf and native plants to the angelfish because it will benifit you and the fish in every way. Angelfish will almost always chose a broad learf plant to breed on.Hope everything goes well.

Gamer

Thanks a bunch.

I'll get some broad leafs and newly hatched brine shrimp. Unfortunately, I don't have a breeder tank. I never intended for them to breed. All I can do is set one up for the future with a sponge filter. My plan is to try to move the serpaes, rasboras and cories to another cycled tank then when (if) the fry are born, move them to the side of tank divider that the filter is not on. If they're on the side where the filters not on, then they shouldn't get sucked up, unless they're so small that they can swim through the holes in my tank divider. Of course I shall leave the filter off as they start to hatch. They just laid them yesterday so it should be at least 2 days I'd think.

Does that sounds like an okay plan?

COBettaCouple

You can get really tiny-holed netting to wrap around the filter intake or even wrap filter sponge around it, if the fry are small enough but usually regular fish net netting can do the job of covering the intake safely.

Gamer

Thanks, I'll go out and buy a tiny holed fish net or I may even use a nylon sock.

Oh and by the way, they have hatched. The parents have moved them from the filter onto a piece of drift wood, there are TONS of them!

capekate

Hey Gamer! Congratulations to your Angel fish Mom and Dad...
Hope they grow out well for you....

~ kate

COBettaCouple

If this is their first batch, watch for signs of them getting things mixed up and deciding to eat the fry. Sometimes they can get 'confused' like that, but hopefully yours have the parenting instincts kicking in now.

Gamer

This is their first batch. I just covered the filter with a nylon sock and one of the parents bit me. And whenever one of them falls off the driftwood they seem to pick them up and put them back on. Are all of these things signs that their parenting instincts are indeed kicking in?

COBettaCouple

Yea, it sounds like they're going to be good parents. There's always a chance of them getting mixed up, but i'd say it's a VERY small chance or practically none with this pair.

Gamer

I just had the biggest scare and thought I was about to prove you wrong. I had left them alone for awhile and came back, they had vanished. At first I thought they had been eaten but after a few minutes of looking around, it appears the angel had just moved them. Do they move them frequently?

COBettaCouple

From what I hear, moving the fry around is common with them. Perhaps an instinct to protect the fry from predators.

corylover

congrats on the angel eggs. I'm hoping to get a new tank and some angels too.

Gamer

Everytime I go to do a water change, the parents nip at me. And they know me well as their source of food. I guess they're just being good parents.

I have a question on feeding now: I went out and bought baby brine shrimp and I'm just wondering when I feed it to them, couldn't the parents get caught up in a feeding frenzy and accidentally devour a few of their fry They are going to be free-swiming in a few days then I can feed them.

COBettaCouple

Yea, I hear the Angels can be big-time protective.

We had a pair of wild Mahachai Bettas eat half of their fry going after BBS before we realized what was going on. I'm not sure if the same would happen with Angel fry though.

Gamer

Okay, that helps a bit. I might have to seperate the parents from the fry as soon as they swim.

Gamer

Babies are still alive, I think either tomorrow or Thursday they should swim. I'm about to take pictures and put them on. I am also going to re-docorate the tank after they're done. I'm adding in many broad leaf plants and a piece of slate.

Shawnie

Congrats!! cant wait to see the pictures! I so love angels

Coryd55

On Dave's comment earlier. It is very common for them to move the fry and eggs. This is because of a natural instinct they have. The fish have an innate instinct that tells them to move the fry and eggs because if they stay in one place to long another fish will find them and eat them. Fish can be just as easily fooled as you and will think that the babies are no longer there and stop messing with the fish until they find them again which will most likely spur the angels to move the eggs/fry.

I would either get a 10-30 gallon tank for the fry or a home made breeder net or use the tank divider in a very small area(as long and the fry can't fit through the net) to seperate them from the rest of the tank. They will eat crushed flake and boiled egg yolk as well. BBS is a good source of food for the babyies but it is also good to vary the food source of all fish.

Good luck with your fry! Mine just laid about 100 eggs earlier today. The previous 5-6 batches have been eaten by angels or some other fish in the tank and I pulled the most recent ones from the parents so they would survive and they are doing great on BBS, crushed flake, and boiled egg yolk in a 10G.

Hope to see pictures soon!

Butterfly

Boiled egg yolk is really bad to pollute the tank so be sure to keep those water changes up
Carol

Shawnie

cant wait for pics either!

Gamer

I'll take a few shots this evening. Some of the fry are swimming now but the parents don't let them go very far, they keep catching them and spitting them back on the driftwood. Should I seperate them from the parents or will they eventually allow them to swim?

Butterfly

They are protecting them from other fish. In the wild there would be other fish very aggressively trying to have a snack, so this an inborn trait. Eventually they would just swim away. The problem with keeping them in a closed system(aquarium) the parents very frequently start looking at them as snacks about the third or fourth day so I personally would remove the parents or fry. It's much easier to provide clean conditions if the fry are in a bare bottom tank. The tank can be vacuumed and water changes done daily.
Carol

Gamer

Thanks a bunch! Within the next few days I will definately put them in a breeder net or I will use my tank divider and put the parents on one side. Problem is, they now nip at me anytime I go to do anything in their tank. This does not hurt but it stresses them out.

Butterfly

I had a black Lace pair that spawned for me who would attack my hands when working in the tanks. The male got to where he would hit so hard it hurt
Be careful with the breeder net if it is the kind with the plastic frame inside. Angel fry tend to get under the edges of the frame and get stuck.
Carol

Gamer

Thanks Butterfly. I am going to establish a bare bottom 10 gallon with a sponge filter but for now, and for this batch, a breeders net will have to suffice.

I am trying to take good shots of the fry but the camera can't pick them up. Most of them are bundled together it looks like a big brown fuzzy spot growing out of my driftwood.

Coryd55

I definitely say barebottom is the way to go on a fry tank. They are much much easier to clean. I wish I didn't have sand in mine.

Gamer

Thanks alot for all the tips guys. Eventually I will get myself 10 gal just for that, today I got a multi-purpose breeder that floats in the tank. I am going to feed them a few times a day but one thing that sucks with this breeder thing is the food they don't eat stays at the bottom.

I have pictures up in the photo section by the way. Although it's so hard to see them...they're SO little! lol