Angels Have Spawned All Over My Filter Outlet Pipe!

[Phishy25]

Two of my angels have obviously paired up in my large community tank and this morning I have found 100's of eggs all over the eheim outlet filter pipe. They are quite high up, but eventually when they hatch they are going to get sucked right into my external filter! The angels are doing a grand job of protecting them and look very happy indeed with their eggs.

This is my first experience of this. Do I let nature take it's course or do I move them? I'm not sure if that is even possible because i cannot remove the filter pipe! Will I damage the eggs if I try and remove them? What is the best way? I haven't got anything set up so would need to buy a fry tank. I was thinking of maybe putting in a partition and covering the filter pipe somehow? I'm pretty pleased that my tank is healthy enough for them to breed and I would love to see them hatch, but I don't want to upset the fish.

Advise please

 

[raptorrex]

Two of my angels have obviously paired up in my large community tank and this morning I have found 100's of eggs all over the eheim outlet filter pipe. They are quite high up, but eventually when they hatch they are going to get sucked right into my external filter! The angels are doing a grand job of protecting them and look very happy indeed with their eggs.

This is my first experience of this. Do I let nature take it's course or do I move them? I'm not sure if that is even possible because i cannot remove the filter pipe! Will I damage the eggs if I try and remove them? What is the best way? I haven't got anything set up so would need to buy a fry tank. I was thinking of maybe putting in a partition and covering the filter pipe somehow? I'm pretty pleased that my tank is healthy enough for them to breed and I would love to see them hatch, but I don't want to upset the fish.

Advise please

this can be hit and miss, for the eggs. if the eggs are white. they are none fertilised or dead. if they are a beige colour, take then out and put them in a small tank, with a large airstone and anti fungal meds. no need to filter yet, but I'd use tank water.

 

[Phishy25]

There are about 7 white eggs and the other million look transparent. Do they not need to stay with their parents?

 

[raptorrex]

There are about 7 white eggs and the other million look transparent. Do they not need to stay with their parents?

not if there are no"egg" predictors in the "egg tank", no. effectively, you will become their protector.

 

[Phishy25]

Thanks for the advise. Do I just scrape off the eggs from the tube? Then do i just place them in the new tank? Do they need to sit on anything If I partitioned off that end of the community tank and left their parents in, will they eat them eventually? I'm just worried about removing the eggs and destroying them.

 

[raptorrex]

Thanks for the advise. Do I just scrape off the eggs from the tube? Then do i just place them in the new tank? Do they need to sit on anything If I partitioned off that end of the community tank and left their parents in, will they eat them eventually? I'm just worried about removing the eggs and destroying them.

ahh, that's the tricky bit. ideally you would remove the tube they are stuck too. but i realise that may be a problem. apart from that, you could, carefully, scrape them off with a credit card (i knew those thing were of some use. lol) for the future, it many be worth, strategically, placing some slate, for them to lay on.

you could leave them in the tank. but i found they were eaten by the parents. i assume it was because they were under threat from the other tank occupants. I was also informed that Angels can "take some time" to get it right, on their own.

 

[timmer21]

I would not try seperating (dividing tank) into two as likely to stress out your angles then they will most likely eat the eggs. Maybe when eggs are wrigleing you could cover in let with a spounge for few days to give fry a better chance. Buty this time i would let nature take its course. And next time cover inlet pipe with slate so when they spawn the eggs are on the slate not the pipe. But remember to wash slate.
If you do set up a fry tank remember to use your tank water at first. and that fry will grow very quickley and soon you will have hundreds of inch sized angle to find a tank for.

 

[Athena]

You could try moving them with the use of a turkey baster but there's no guarantee that the eggs won't get damaged, whatever method you use.

It's a bit of an unusual place for them to lay eggs - are there no good nesting areas within your tank for them? I mean, caves/hidey holes/areas sheltered by lots of plants with something flat they can lay their eggs on (e.g. slate or just leave a tiny section of the tank without substrate)?

As you have a mated pair then it's very likely that you will get further batches of eggs from them, so I wouldn't panic too much over these ones. They get better with their parenting methods over the course of time, so the first few spawns might not come to anything, but they will become more experienced as time goes by, so you'll see fry soon enough.

As with most cichlids, the fry do fare better with the rearing of the parents in the first couple of weeks, so it's always best to just let them get on with it themselves with as little interference/stress as possible. Once the fry are free-swimming you can then move them over to a separate fry tank if you want to rear them - but only do so if you know that you can rehome the fry when they are bigger otherwise you'll be over-run with Angels, LOL.

Regards, Athena

 

[raptorrex]

It's a bit of an unusual place for them to lay eggs - are there no good nesting areas within your tank for them? I mean, caves/hidey holes/areas sheltered by lots of plants with something flat they can lay their eggs on (e.g. slate or just leave a tiny section of the tank without substrate)?



Regards, Athena

oddly, its the only place i have ever seen them. unless you add somewhere for them to lay, like the slate i mentioned. seems, to me, to be a very common place, if you take the reports on different forums, as well as mine.its a place if higher water flow.