Hi All New To This Forem

[azulfire24]

hi all, i usually post in the betta forem as i breed bettas, however my mom came home with a present for my daughter, 2 baby angelfish, at the moment they are in a ten gal-us standard, i borrowed a mature filter from another tank and have them in it, temp 82, ph 7.5, < standard for my area> well planted on the sides and back. food is the tropical fish food with the angelfish on the frount. i know they will need a bigger tank as they grow, at the moment they are quarter sized and smaller, i want to get them a 20 tall or a 29. any info or what not i can do in the meantime, ive kept fish for a long time, but never angels ,, and i was told they are very delicate? any advice would be most appreciated. thanks

 

[Tolak]

Well from your experiences breeding bettas, are bettas a delicate species? Having never bred bettas I can pretty much assume they are delicate when poorly bred, the same applies to angels. Sensible breeding practices make for strong healthy fish.

You have the right idea with the warmer temp, your pH is fine. Get some frozen or live brine shrimp, feed a few times weekly, go easy on bloodworms, no more than once weekly. If you have a source of live blackworms feed these every other day, alternate them with the brine shrimp. The rest of the feedings should be a good tropical flake food.

If you are breeding bettas you have a handle on water changes & tank cleanliness, apply the same to the angels. With two at quarter body size in a 10 gallon I would be doing 30% to 50% water changes weekly. Keeping the tank lights dimmed, and feeding lightly the first few days will help them settle in. By the body size they are probably around 3-4 months, you have a couple of months before you will need a larger tank.

As with bettas, two fish together can get aggressive, this will happen starting at closer to 7 months of age, the behavior is similar to bettas, with charging, chasing, & nipping. At this point you may get lucky and have two fish that get along well, or you may have an aggressive tank of mayhem. This is something you have to deal with if & when it occurs.

 

[Ripley]

I don't find them too delicate really. They do prefer lower pH, but I'm they will do fine in 7.5 as they probably were not kept in the best conditions in the LFS. You are right about them needing a larger tank, so I guess my only advice would be, feed them lots of good food ( like frozen or live stuff, I'm sure you have some on hand as you breed bettas ) and do frequent water changes until you can get them in a larger tank. Angles are really nice fish and fun to raise, hope you have a good experience.

 

[azulfire24]

ok thanks alot. in general bettas can be sickly and delicate, anyone seen walmart bettas lately,or they can be allright, depends on where you buy them from, however, i have found that any fish i bred personaly is much much hardier thatn a store bought fish. i think it is mostly storage shipping and moving stress that gets them. so i will definatly have to get them in a bigger tank then, my sister has a 29 , with guppies mollies and platies, and we did discuss trading fish if i cant get my hands on a bigger tank, her taking the angels and me gettin her mollies. the angels are both small one is slightly bigger then a quarter and is black and white, not sure is it is a black lace or a marble, and the other is smaller little bigger then a nickle and glodish yellow, they seem to be geting on all right, they are very spooked atm and are hiding togather behind a plant, i hope they will be ok, havent wanted any food yet, but i think they are just very stressed right now, will it take more then a few days for them to be ok? thanks for all the info oh how do you tell sexes? will 2 boys fight? or 2 girls get on ok? or what happends if i have one of each? will they just have babies later? and at what age would they be old enough to breed at?

 

[Tolak]

Generally it takes a few days for them to settle in, depending on the breeding behind them. Once they do settle in feed lightly, flakes are a good start, for about 5-7 days. You can't sex angels until they are actively spawning, generally two males will fight, two females are less prone to this. Just because you have one of each sex does not mean they will pair, or even get along. Pairs often show some aggression when pairing, and some times out of nowhere a previously compatable pair will go at it, sometimes with serious damage resulting.

You should start to see some pairing behavior/aggression starting at about 7 months of age, angels will pair as young as 7 months, it is usually closer to 9 months.