Angel fish

Hey very cool LanceP - Now you leave them - in about 3 days you will see they become wrigglers but will still be on the mopani - in about 6 days they will become free swimming babies - Hopefully the parents will be able to keep a few alive..
Dont try and take them out of the tank - if you disturb the pair now you may interrupt the couple and they may never spawn again. If you leave them and the eggs get eaten ( by the angels or other fish ) all is still good. Let them spawn again. They should spawn every 7-21 days.
After about 5 spawns I would then move them to a breeding tank.

BTW in my second reply I swapped male and female around - The male has the cone shaped tube and the female the pipe shaped one..

 

Thanks Zafgak, this is very cool. The female is still laying the eggs. I guesstimate about 140 eggs so far! Is the male supposed to be fertilising the eggs as the female lays them, or will he only do his end of the deal after she's done. At the moment, he's not doing anything.

How long is the breeding season? Surely they won't spawn every 7-21 days forever?

 

The male usually follows behind the female fertilising the eggs straight away. If they are in a community tank then he may go fertilise a little after the female (sometimes after she has laid approximately three rows). Check to see whether their breeding tubes are out and make sure you have a male and female there. The females breeding tube is alot bigger and fatter than the males. The males comes to a point almost.

Don't be upset if they eat their eggs within a day of laying.....some angels take quite a bit of time before they realise that if they eat their eggs there won't be any offspring . If they do manage to resist the urge to eat their eggs and the eggs hatch - keep a watch out because the parents will move the wrigglers around the tank all the time.

Every pair of breeding angels I have spawn an average every 7-9 days as long as they are not with their babies.

 

Thanks Veegal, It appears to be 1 female, and 1 male. The female's ovipositor is quite obvious, where's the male's organ is more of a little bump.

My angel doesn't lay the eggs in rows...she just dumps them all over the place. within a 8 square cm area.

I won't be upset if they chow the eggs. The other fish will surely have a go at them

 

I went to have a look at what was happening 20 minutes after the lights went out and found all the eggs gone. I guess angels do not see well in the dark, and thus could not protect its eggs. Shame, I feel so sorry for the Angel coz she spent several hours laying those eggs and protecting them, and then they were all gone within 20 minutes.

Should I have left the lights on?

 

I usually leave a small night light on in the room when my Angels have spawned, even if they are not in a community tank. I'd let them spawn once more in the community tank and then move them to their own tank. They will sometimes eat their own eggs if they cannot protect them as they would rather have the protein than let the other fish benefit from it I guess

They'll probably lay again soon though - in a week or two if mine are anything to go by.

 

Pity - but be consoled by the fact that unless they are wild angels - it can take up to 7 spwans or more before thay learn not to eat the eggs... - at least you know they are a pair and will spawn again soon

 

It's all good. I'll leave a light on next time. Assuming that one day the babies do survive...what do I do with them? Give them to a LPS? I would assume that I cannot keep them all together coz they're all brothers and sisters?

 

Yip sell them to you LFS or swop for store credit

 

You keep the ones you like and offer the others for sale here