angel breeding behaviour qusetion

[mitcore]

My hopeful male and female angels have been cleaning and pushing a leaf down,

does this mean they are going to spawn?
and what do i do about tank cleaning if they are?

thanks

[nanaglen2001]

Yes they are planning to spawn.

Can you explain what yo mean by cleaning the tank? Just a water change with a bit of plant pruning, or some other more extended actions like gravel cleaning and redecorating.

Are very careful done water change will do no harm. But that should be about all, as long as the fry is very small.

[mitcore]

general cleaning
eg water and glass cleaning, clean my internal filter
can i do this?
i am a bit worried as they are in a 55lt hex tank and it gets a bit dirty quicker then my other tanks
i really dont want to upset them though any ideas on what i can do

thanks

[Fishalicious]

Congrats ;) They are getting ready to spawn... I would do as little as possible once the eggs are there with cleaning but I think you will find that going anywhere near the water quite a task.... angelfish can be fierce with eggs & babies - I have been bitten many times :hmm3grin2orange:

[mitcore]

thanks so does that mean i leave the tank as is
with no cleaning?
wont i get ammonia and nitirites if i do and kill the eggs and fry anyway?
please help
i have never had angels breed before
this is def a first

[Fishalicious]

I couldn't clean the tank even if I wanted to when my angels spawn... only thing possible for me was a water change making sure the water doesn't go below the height of the eggs but seeing they sometimes spawn really high up I had to leave even that...

The eggs hatch quickly so it is not like you are leaving the tank for weeks without being cleaned ...

[mitcore]

how long does it take for them to lay and hatch?

also onse they hatch when is the recommended time before i can clean the tank etc

thanks

[nanaglen2001]

Careful water change as I mentioned is possible, the but the leaf with the egges has to stay under water.

Afterwards when the fry is swimming free, you might be able to clean the internal filter.

It depends on the water temperature, the warmer the water, the faster the fry will be hatched (??), its about 4-6 days.

Then the parents will glue the fry onto the leaf, again about 3, maybe 4 days.

After that, very tiny fry will be swimming under the surface between leafs. How long the parents will care...everything between one week to 10 weeks.

If this is the first time your Angels spawn, its very likely the parents will eat the eggs. But dont worry, when Cichlids start spawning, they will do it again and again and again.

With an 55 gal. tank I would advice a canister filter: first, you wont have to clean it so often as an internal filter, and then if you clean it, the action wont bother the animals.

[mitcore]

thanks heaps
that some great info
i will look into the external i have been meaning to up grade for awhile
it is good to get great advice,
thanks for the heads up about them eating them
at least now i wont be to upset

thanks again

[Lady Hobbs]

They continue with this leaf cleaning thing for usually a few days. If you need to do any tank maintenance, now would be the time to do it.

To successful rear angels, the breeding pair should go in another tank and then removed when they lay eggs but you can do that for other spawns as they will continue spawning now every 3 weeks. They will probably eat the eggs. Angels aren't very good parents.

[nanaglen2001]

Hobbs you exactly explained why most Angels are lousy parents. The same goes for most of the Apistogramas.

The eggs are taken away from the parents, and raised in a separate tank.

Cichlids are "intelligent" fish, the partly learn their behaviour from their parents, and if the parents are missing, guess what? One has to take away the eggs from the parents to prevent them from being eaten. Kind of vicious circle.

I guess my Sajicas and Meekis grew up in a more natural way, cause THEY know how to deal with eggs and fry.

[Lady Hobbs]

I must have had 40 spawns from my angels and they were left with the eggs each time because I didn't want the fry. It worked everytime. They ate every spawn even at the wiggler stage.

They are such pretty fish. It's a shame they aren't very nice.

[mitcore]

thanks again
all the info helps me understand

[Algenco]

the other side of the coin: Put them in a tank by themselves, disturb them as little as possible and they do very well at raising.
I have a pair that raised the very first clutch, ate the second (after a move) and raised the third. 80-100 each time.
I could have taken the eggs and hatched 5-8 times that many, but I didn't want them all.

[mitcore]

wow that is heaps
and they raised them on their own
how long did it take?

[KazAngel]

Hey I have been trying to breed my angels for about 3-4 months now every time they eat them and my angels are spawning ever 1 1/2 weeks. I now have a breeding tank set up but that didn't work either the eggs died. Could some one post me a pic of thier breeding tank set up so I could see one please I think it might be a big help.

[Algenco]

I've used tanks from 10-50 gal. The key is that they be undisturbed. Feed 2x daily, drop in the food and get away.
Place the tanks in a quiet area with little traffic
I turn the tank so that you look through the end and paint the other 3 sides black. Small light or none at all

WC 1x week

Don't give up, I have a pair that ate the first 3 spawns and has taken good care of the last 2.

I have another pair that has spawned in an overstocked community tank, the eggs should hatch tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how things go

[KazAngel]

Hey thanks alot Algenco I did just what you said and they hatched!!! They are now swimming all over the tank!! My other two angels decided to breed for their first time too a couple of days after. They managed to hatch their first lot in the community tank!! What should I feed them I don't have access to baby brine shrimp I am giving them flake food that has been crushed to a powder at the moment not sure if that is the best substitute for brine though?