New Old Guy

[RenoRon]

New to the forum, but not new in years. Have had tropical fish for my whole life (over 70 years), everything from one tank, to a whole basement full of tanks. Right now, I have two tanks, a 45 and a 92 bow front.

 

[Colin_T]

hi RenoRon and welcome to the forum

what sort of fish do you have in your tanks?

 

[jerryg]

New to the forum, but not new in years. Have had tropical fish for my whole life (over 70 years), everything from one tank, to a whole basement full of tanks. Right now, I have two tanks, a 45 and a 92 bow front.

Ron you and I have a few things in common tropical fish and age.I have 3 tanks a 10 g quarantine.29 and a 55.

 

[RenoRon]

hi RenoRon and welcome to the forum

what sort of fish do you have in your tanks?

the 92 gallon has one large silver veiltail angel, three small corydoras, four penguin tetras, one male and two female kribensis cichlids. My 45 has a mated pair of half black veiltail angels, who have spawned several times, but have eaten the eggs. I think part of the problem is, I have the tank in my office, and there is way too much light, so I get a lot of algae. I have covered most of the tank glass with heavy paper, so the fish are more or less isolated from view. When I feed them, they get very skittish. I also have in the back of my mind, that when I bred number of angels and kribensis in the past, I had to provide new rearing tanks for them, and that's how my my number of tanks rose to the point that it was a full time job maintaining them. The only fish store in the area who will buy fish will only do it as a credit, (so I can buy more from them). I would have loved to turn this into a little pocket-change source for my retirement years.

 

[Colin_T]

Sell surplus fish on social media or gumtree, craig's list, forums, etc. Alternatively find another shop that will pay you cash. The shops I sell to give 1/2 retail price in credit and 1/3 price in cash for small numbers 10-20 of each species. If I have several hundred fish to unload there is a shop that will take them all at once but they only do 1/4 price cash for large numbers. However, that is fine because it is easier to unload a heap of fish at one shop rather than travelling all over the countryside.

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Most new/ young prs of cichlids (including angelfish) eat their eggs the first few times they breed. If they are an established pr that has bred successfully in the past, then it is usually stress that causes them to eat the eggs or young.

Having the tank in the main living area can help relax fish because they get use to people moving around them all the time. Then they don't care if someone walks past the tank or comes over to feed them. If the tank is in a room where very few people go or spend time, you can tie some 10-12 inch long streamers/ ribbon to the front of a small fan and have that running randomly throughout the day. If it occellates (goes left to right and back again) that increases the effectiveness of it. Having a small television on in the room (no sound needed) can help as well. Basically you want to try and get things moving around the fish tank so the fish get use to movement around them. Then they calm down.

You can add some dither fish to the tank to help calm the angels down. The other fish will normally encourage the angels to guard their eggs and when they are busy chasing the other fish away from their eggs, they won't be thinking about eating the eggs.

One of the shops I worked in had an 80litre octagonal tank on the counter next to the checkout. It had a young pr of discus in it and they bred prolifically (and successfully reared every batch of young) for the entire time their tank was on the counter (about 1 year). The fish had people around them all the time and didn't care about people except that we fed them. In fact whenever someone went to the counter to pay for something, the fish would swim up to the surface begging for food. We had kids tapping the glass and sticking their faces up against the sides, the fish didn't care.

Make sure you feed the adults as much as they can eat, several times a day, when they have eggs and fry. A fish with a full belly will spend less time thinking about eating and the eggs / fry won't look as appetising.

 

[RenoRon]

Sell surplus fish on social media or gumtree, craig's list, forums, etc. Alternatively find another shop that will pay you cash. The shops I sell to give 1/2 retail price in credit and 1/3 price in cash for small numbers 10-20 of each species. If I have several hundred fish to unload there is a shop that will take them all at once but they only do 1/4 price cash for large numbers. However, that is fine because it is easier to unload a heap of fish at one shop rather than travelling all over the countryside.

-----------------------
Most new/ young prs of cichlids (including angelfish) eat their eggs the first few times they breed. If they are an established pr that has bred successfully in the past, then it is usually stress that causes them to eat the eggs or young.

Having the tank in the main living area can help relax fish because they get use to people moving around them all the time. Then they don't care if someone walks past the tank or comes over to feed them. If the tank is in a room where very few people go or spend time, you can tie some 10-12 inch long streamers/ ribbon to the front of a small fan and have that running randomly throughout the day. If it occellates (goes left to right and back again) that increases the effectiveness of it. Having a small television on in the room (no sound needed) can help as well. Basically you want to try and get things moving around the fish tank so the fish get use to movement around them. Then they calm down.

You can add some dither fish to the tank to help calm the angels down. The other fish will normally encourage the angels to guard their eggs and when they are busy chasing the other fish away from their eggs, they won't be thinking about eating the eggs.

One of the shops I worked in had an 80litre octagonal tank on the counter next to the checkout. It had a young pr of discus in it and they bred prolifically (and successfully reared every batch of young) for the entire time their tank was on the counter (about 1 year). The fish had people around them all the time and didn't care about people except that we fed them. In fact whenever someone went to the counter to pay for something, the fish would swim up to the surface begging for food. We had kids tapping the glass and sticking their faces up against the sides, the fish didn't care.

Make sure you feed the adults as much as they can eat, several times a day, when they have eggs and fry. A fish with a full belly will spend less time thinking about eating and the eggs / fry won't look as appetising.

Sell surplus fish on social media or gumtree, craig's list, forums, etc. Alternatively find another shop that will pay you cash. The shops I sell to give 1/2 retail price in credit and 1/3 price in cash for small numbers 10-20 of each species. If I have several hundred fish to unload there is a shop that will take them all at once but they only do 1/4 price cash for large numbers. However, that is fine because it is easier to unload a heap of fish at one shop rather than travelling all over the countryside.

-----------------------
Most new/ young prs of cichlids (including angelfish) eat their eggs the first few times they breed. If they are an established pr that has bred successfully in the past, then it is usually stress that causes them to eat the eggs or young.

Having the tank in the main living area can help relax fish because they get use to people moving around them all the time. Then they don't care if someone walks past the tank or comes over to feed them. If the tank is in a room where very few people go or spend time, you can tie some 10-12 inch long streamers/ ribbon to the front of a small fan and have that running randomly throughout the day. If it occellates (goes left to right and back again) that increases the effectiveness of it. Having a small television on in the room (no sound needed) can help as well. Basically you want to try and get things moving around the fish tank so the fish get use to movement around them. Then they calm down.

You can add some dither fish to the tank to help calm the angels down. The other fish will normally encourage the angels to guard their eggs and when they are busy chasing the other fish away from their eggs, they won't be thinking about eating the eggs.

One of the shops I worked in had an 80litre octagonal tank on the counter next to the checkout. It had a young pr of discus in it and they bred prolifically (and successfully reared every batch of young) for the entire time their tank was on the counter (about 1 year). The fish had people around them all the time and didn't care about people except that we fed them. In fact whenever someone went to the counter to pay for something, the fish would swim up to the surface begging for food. We had kids tapping the glass and sticking their faces up against the sides, the fish didn't care.

Make sure you feed the adults as much as they can eat, several times a day, when they have eggs and fry. A fish with a full belly will spend less time thinking about eating and the eggs / fry won't look as appetising.

Good ideas. I will add a few dither fish tp keep the angel parents occupied and protective.