Best Way To Breed Angels

[paul marshall]

hi, i have just got 34 angels about 2 months old and have them in a tank pairing off.
this is the first time i have tried breeding angels and would like to know whats the best way in getting them to pair off and what signs i should be looking for to know they have paired also what size water changes and how often?


regards paul

 

[kj23502]

Aren't angels South American cichlids?? Maybe you can have a mod move your topic

 

[kribensis12]

They wont pair till they are about 8-10 months old. Also, what size tank are they in? What are you feeding them? How often are you doing waterchanges? How long has the tank been set up? This needs to be in the NW section.

 

[paul marshall]

They wont pair till they are about 8-10 months old. Also, what size tank are they in? What are you feeding them? How often are you doing waterchanges? How long has the tank been set up? This needs to be in the NW section.

thay are in a 5'x2'x2' tank at the moment i am doing a 25% water change a week and they are on blood worm and beef heart.
the tank has been running for about 2 months prier to me putting them in. the angels themself are about 1" in size which i have been told are small for their age.

regards paul

 

[Colin_T]

If you want fish to grow fast I would recommend doing more water changes, perhaps 30-50% 2 or 3 times a week, or even every day if you can.

Feed them well on a variety of food but drop the beef heart. They grow rapidly on it but don't digest it properly and it can cause health issues in the long term. Feed them on fish, shrimp/ prawn, crab, mussel, or most other marine foods. Flake and pellet food is fine too. Feed them at least twice a day and try to keep them fat.
The more food you give them, the more water changes and gravel cleans you will have to do to keep the water clean.

Keep the temperature between 26-28C.

When they are at least 6 months old, but more likely 8-12months, two fish will start to hang out together. They might grab each other by the mouth and push each other back and forth. If they like each other then they will hang out in an area and chase all the other fish away from that spot. Shortly after this they usually lay some eggs. Then you have a pr and they should be moved to another tank.

 

[paul marshall]

cheers for that info colin i dont feed them beef heart much but they go nuts for bloodworm..lol they also eat flakes,i think i may sell them as they have square tips to the fins which i think is from too much interbreeding any ideas on what the signs are of this?if thats normal i will only be keeping 3 pairs hopefully if they pair

i only paid £10 uk for 35 but one died through stress

 

[Colin_T]

I think I may sell them as they have square tips to the fins which i think is from too much interbreeding any ideas on what the signs are of this? If that’s normal i will only be keeping 3 pairs hopefully if they pair

If you mean the ends of the fins are squared off like someone has cut them with a pr of scissors, that is pretty common in angelfish. Original angelfish don't have really long fancy fins, they had shorter fins. As for inbreeding, all angelfish, (except wild caught specimens) are seriously inbred. Quite often a pr of fancy angels will produce a batch of young but only a small percentage will look like the parents. The rest will be a mixture of normal silver striped fish and an assortment of other bits and pieces. Once you have bred several generations from a particular bloodline/ variety you will start to get higher numbers of young that look like the parents.

Just leave them all together until they pr up. Then pick out the prs you like and sell the rest.

 

[paul marshall]

yeah they do look cut, the thing is ive never been into fish untill this year when a friend gave me a 2 foot tank and now i cant get enough of them so i thought why not breed them as a hobby and started small with killies and now want to take it further and breed a number of differant types so i will see how the angels get on and if i can pull this off for a year get a garage and breed more

thanks for all the great advice
regards paul

 

[Tolak]

Squared or clipped fins are generally a sign of overcrowding with not enough water changes. Ammonia will generally do this.

For potential breeder size fish you will need 5 gallons per angel, you might be able to squeeze it down to 3.5-4 gallons per fish in a bare tank with large water changes every other day. Go easy on the heavy protein foods, as they get older the beefheart & bloodworms will tend to cause digestive issues. If you use beefheart go with a mix, I would be feeding some frozen or live brine shrimp a day after feeding the two foods you mentioned.

 

[paul marshall]

thanks for the info tolak much needed keep it coming im writing it all down so i dont miss anything out.

i have three 3 foot tanks waiting ready for when they pair up i want to keep 3 pairs.
i have only had the angels for about a week so any damage to the fins is not me the guy i got them off had about 200 in a 3 foot(they looked realy packed in tight) so thats probably why they look in bad shape, but as i said that are now only about 1 inch in size and 30 of them in a 5 foot tank will hopefully be ok till they pair up?

 

[Tolak]

That tank seems to be 150 gallons, by my best guesstimate. That's a hair under 5 gallons per fish, you should get more than 3 pairs out of 34 angels.

I would be doing more along the lines of 50% water changes weekly, twice weekly would be better. Keep the temperature at 82-84F, cooler water for the last 5 gallons or so.

 

[paul marshall]

That tank seems to be 150 gallons, by my best guesstimate. That's a hair under 5 gallons per fish, you should get more than 3 pairs out of 34 angels.

I would be doing more along the lines of 50% water changes weekly, twice weekly would be better. Keep the temperature at 82-84F, cooler water for the last 5 gallons or so.

ok i will be doing more changes in the future then, the temp is what i have it at anyway so thats fine.
i have noticed a few getting a bit pushy with each other but they dont seem do be causing any damage is this normal?

regards paul

 

[Tolak]

Totally normal, you're sure to be seeing more of it.