Amgelfish Eggs!

[matt295]

my dad is a biology teacher in NY and has a 50 gallon tank and he said that he might have a sponge filter that would work. i have lost my hope with this batch though. for the next batch, would you recommend pulling the eggs or leaving them in the community tank?

 

[Tolak]

I would pull them, angel spawns rarely make it to the freeswimming stage in a community tank. Due to the inbreeding done to get the various color & fin phenotypes of todays tank bred angels much of the parenting instinct has been bred out. A pair that raises a spawn in a tank by themselves is a fairly rare occurance, in a community tank it is almost unheard of.

Angels spawn on the average every 7 to 14 days. If you let the sponge filter run in your main tank for a week it will have enough nitrifying bacteria to sustain a fry tank.

 

[matt295]

ok thanks. when i see the eggs, should i wait a little just to make sure the male fertilizes them or no?

 

[Tolak]

I would. Often one of the pair will stay near the eggs once they are done, fanning them, while the other will do a perimeter patrol of sorts, keeping other fish away.

 

[matt295]

yeah, when i first saw the eggs sunday the angelfish were guarding them and all the neon tetras were on the other side bunched together. so when i see the eggs i should wait about a day or two?

 

[matt295]

okay, well the first batch of eggs got a fungus and died. For a couple weeks, i noticed that my angel was full of eggs and i was waiting for her to lay them. Of course, she didnt. yesterday, i moved her into a 20 gallon with the male. the tank is full of plants and rocks so it would be a nice tank for just the 2 angels. After i got home from school today, there were eggs on the side of the filter. Luckily, the filter current isnt directly on them. I am going to leave the angels in there with them and see what happens. When should i expect the eggs to hatch since i know exactly when it happened this time?

 

[Straydum]

an overhead filter? you might wanna put in some sponge on the filter intake hole to prevent the eggs or fry for that matter from being sucked in, or even better fit in a sponge filter. the eggs, if fertilised would hatch in at most around 2 days or so (15-60 hours). by day 2 you should already see the fry. increasing the temperature by alittle has been said to shorten hatching time but how true is this i'm not too sure

 

[matt295]

well i think these eggs are unfetilized because about 10 or so have turned white. i was going to take out the parents soon so the fry had more survival rate. is there any chance that some of the eggs are fertilized?

 

[matt295]

ok well now it seems as though only a few of the eggs were unfertilized. last night, the eggs started moving fast and today i can see their eyes and tails. when should i expect them to become free swimming? thanks

 

[matt295]

okay so today i bought some frozen bbs which i will feed the fry. i have two questions though

1) will an airstone be okay for the fry?
2) How much frozen bbs should i feed them a day? they come in square cubes about .5 inches by .5 inches.