Question
I have a 55 gal. freshwater tank with apporx. 25 fish in it. Two of my fish are large angles and today they began laying eggs on my filter tube. How do I help protect these eggs and keep the angles from harming my other fish? If the babies actually survive the hatching how do I help protect them from the other fish? I honestly had never known Angle fish to lay eggs in a community tank not meant for breeding.
Answer
Hi Aleece,
Its always so exciting when your fish lay eggs! Angels are known well for breeding in the community aquarium but unfortunately usually the parents cannot defend the eggs or fry well enough against a whole other community of fish. One thing you could try is to divide the tank with an aquarium divider. They sell these for your size tank at Wal-mart I believe and of course petstores.
To protect the eggs and fry from the suction of the filter tube, take a square sponge, similar to this for aquarium filters-
http://www.aquatichouse.com/FILTRATION%20MENU_files/ACFoam.gif
And cut a hole in the center in order to fit it over the strainer end of the filter tube. The filter will still work but wont harm the babies.
The parents will care for the eggs until they hatch (if fertilized properly) about 2-3 days later. They will usually hover on the spawning site and not swim around. The fry will look like a little quivering patch. The parents are usually very fierce when intruders come around. You will get your hand bitten! ;-)
Keep in mind the fry do not need to be fed whenever they first hatch. They have yolk reserves they feed off of and during this time they finish development.
After about 7 days the fry will have used up their yolk sac and will begin swimming around and looking for food.
Keep track of the days when the babies hatch and start a brine shrimp hatch about a day or so before they are due to become free-swimming. That way you have live food ready immediately. Brine shrimp are not difficult to hatch and most petstores sell kits and packages with the correct amount of salt already mixed with the eggs and all you do is add water into a fish-safe container (soda bottle works well) and add an airstone. Remember to strain the baby brine shrimp by draining them into a brine shrimp net held over a cup. I like to use a piece of airline tubing with a siphon started by first filling the tube up with running tap water and plugging one end, and only releasing it when the other end it is in the brine shrimp hatchery. After collecting the shrimp, take another cup with tank water in it and dip the net around a bit to rinse the salt off the brine shrimp. Then release the shrimp near the babies. Later, as they get older, they can eat powdered fry food such as Hikari's great brand as well as powdered high-quality flake food.
With the frequent feedings the babies need (6 small meals a day is best) water changes are very important. Otherwise the fry may grow up deformed or sickly. Daily water changes of 20-30% are best.
Its really wonderful and fascinating to watch a pair of angels raise their babies. But one thing I have found out when I raised several batches of fry with the parents, is that when the fry become around dime to nickel size, they will start nibbling on their parents' skin and fins. With a large brood of fry and their constant pecking, this can cause an astonishing amount of damage to the mother and father angels' fins and skin and making them miserable. At this time the young angels should be netted out gently into a grow-out tank (29-gallon tanks are a great size -- larger is always better) or the parents can be removed.
Angelfish are a joy to raise! I hope you get the chance to see a pair raise their own brood. If this hatch fails or the parents end up eating the eggs, don't worry. They will always lay again.
Best wishes and I hope this helps!
Karen~