Need some reassurance

Good morning! I have 2 Koi Angelfish in a tall 30 gallon. Water is great. They just laid their 5th batch of eggs. I am letting the parents figure it out. I accidentally got a male and female and had no intentions of breeding. However the process has been fun to watch! We are on day 4 of the process. Lots of wigglers today! Last night the female was brutally attacking the male. (He ate a few of the wigglers she had been moving all day) the non stop attacking left him with swollen gills and breathing hard. I very unexpectedly rescued him from her last night. I was confident I could put him in my 75 gallon because I knew the water perimeters were the exact same. He seemed like nothing happened and actually looks bigger just in the short 12 hours lol. His gills are not as swollen this morning. Mom is actively still moving and caring for the wigglers and does not seem phased at all at the male leaving. I guess I just need someone with some angelfish knowledge to reassure me. I felt it was the only option in the moment to save him. I also have a question about the wigglers. They are in a 30 gallon with a sponge filter and are safe. However I am leaving out of town Friday. They became wigglers yesterday so I assume will be free swimming Saturday? I can change the water Friday morning before I leave and then will return late Monday. Should I have my husband attempt to feed the free swimmers on Monday morning or do you think starting them on baby food Tuesday morning would be sufficient? I know they don’t need to be fed until a few days after free swimming so besides no water changes sat, sun and Monday I was thinking the timing might actually work out. desperate for some advice and reassurance thx

 

I had a similar outcome with a pair of angels. Moving him was definitely the right thing to do to keep the peace and save him from being injured badly. Other options would be to use a divider or remove the eggs altogether, but breeding time definitely brings out some serious aggression in angels. Your fry should be fine without feeding by the time you get home. If they are free swimming by then, probably will only have been a day maybe two at most, so they'll be fine. Congrats on the new babies! And enjoy the whole process, it's a pretty cool thing to watch.

 

Thank you so much for taking time to reply! They both seem extremely happy! I will hope for the best! I will post a pic if they are swimming when I return!

 

Ya, contrary to popular believe, angelfish do not pair up for life. They do end up getting sick of each other and can sometimes get extremely violent with their partner. Removing him was absolutely the right choice. Are you sure the male even ate any fry? He may have been trying to help move them. They can hold the babies in their mouths for quite some time. I have watched and waited before. Lol The female may have been beating him up for no good reason at all.

As for feeding the babies, they are typically not ready to eat until they are free swimming for about 24 hours. If your eggs hatched Tuesday, they will start free swimming around Sunday. It takes about 5 days for them to start free swimming. With that being said, you return Monday night and that should time out well.

I have had not had luck using dry food with angelfish fry. I highly recommend you purchase some brine shrimp eggs and some aquarium salt and hatch some brine shrimp to feed them. It is much cleaner and the survival rate will be much higher. Look up DIY brine shrimp hatcheries on youtube. Its really simple. If your husband starts it up on Sunday morning, the baby brine shrimp eggs should be hatched by Monday evening so you can feed them the baby brine shrimp. That is assuming you are able to find the eggs locally and not need to have them shipped. Angelfish fry are kind of dumb. They need to see movement from their food to be enticed to eat it. So dry foods often go untouched. Making for a big mess.

Best of luck!!!!

 

Thank you! You are absolutely right, the male is actually a very good dad. I have watched him and he had caught a baby and was trying his best to return it to the plant where mom wanted them but mom thought he was trying to eat the other babies. I figured explaining that in the previous post would not effect if I should of moved him. I think I was quick to move him just for the reason that he was actually doing an amazing job! Fanning the eggs etc. ....... so I have made it back in town. Cleaned the tank, sucked about 10 free swimmers up and had to move them back to the tank . Mom is hiding them in the gravel. Maybe 20 free swimmers but so far they are staying well hidden so not much fun to watch yet. Have you ever seen a mom take food to her fry? I have never read anything about that. Actually when they were still feeding on the yolk she was taking food to them and spitting it out at them. It was very sweet although I assumed pointless. Hopefully I can post some pics soon!

 

You did make the right choice. It doesn't matter WHY mom was attacking him. He needed to be removed for his own well being. Too much stress can cause major issues. Even if no damage is caused.