Help! Angelfish Laid Eggs, Now What?

Hello All,

55 gallon planted, freshwater tank.
5 angels, 7 diamond tetras, 7 cardinal tetras, albino bushy nose pleco

Two of my angels were teaming up today to beat up another angel
I separated the 2 bullies from the other fish in the tank with a tank divider and moved the injured angel to a 20 gallon "hospital"
However, when I got home this evening I saw that my pair had laid a bunch of eggs. So now I know why they were mean but I don't know what to do next.

I have no desire to breed the angelfish, but now I have eggs so what do I do? Should I move the injured angel back to the 55 gallon and put the parents-to-be (lol) and the eggs (they are on a leaf) in the 20 gallon?

Does the pair need to remain a pair, like should I see if the LFS will take them both back?

All five are about the size of a half dollar. I incorrectly assumed that they wouldn't breed until they were full-size. I won't make the mistake of assuming on that again!

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

No need to panic If you do not want babies nature will take its course, you would almost certainly need to intervene if you wanted to keep the babies by separating the parents and eggs from the others, and if you did that now they may spook and eat the eggs. Even when you do separate a pair is usually takes them a few tries to get it right and they will end up eating the eggs or wrigglers the first few times Just know they will be defensive of their eggs and may beat up your other fish. Likley however the smaller fish will eat those eggs once the lights go out

 

Thank you Bizarro252, I was definitely in panic mode! Thank you for your quick reply last night. It was very helpful and much appreciated.

 

You have an albino Bushy Nose in there. I call them the egg eaters. Mine love when the Angels spawn a fresh batch. If I don't want them he eats them. Since the angels can't really hurt him he just goes to town. After the first nip at him the Angels just give up and watch. That's my experience with them.

 

I put up a divider. It is seperating the 2 parent angelfish and eggs from all the other fish. Mainly because I don't want them to hurt anybody else. Should I just take the divider down? Will they place nice once the eggs are gone.

 

I put up a divider. It is seperating the 2 parent angelfish and eggs from all the other fish. Mainly because I don't want them to hurt anybody else. Should I just take the divider down? Will they place nice once the eggs are gone.

IME they will stop being aggressive shortly after their are no more eggs. My current pair has free swimming fry in with them and I had to resort to tongs the other day to get the prefilter off my HOB to clean it because they would not stop attacking my hand lol.

If they are not harming your other fish you can take it down, IME they will just guard the eggs, not actively fight others as long as they stay away.

 

I second the removal of the divider. You could always reach in and remove the leaf or whatever they put the eggs on. That's actually exactly what I do when they are in the tank I don't allow the fry in. But if I miss them the Pleco has his way. My breeding pairs become aggressive before during and after the spawn but instantly return to peaceful once I remove the eggs to raise.