First spawn

[Ghostknife]

My Angelfish have spawned for the first time! Whoo hoo.
Thought they had an unhealthy liking to the plastic tubing of my filter, they must have prepping the area as that is where they laid them, on the the filter tube. There are some quite white eggs, the rest are translucent. Kinda excited for them, and would love to be able to get a few to live, but I have an inkling the Pakistani Loaches will have something to say about that.
Will try and get a pic for you.

thumbs2:

[Jaster]

Thats great! Congrats! Kepp us posted and get some pics!! thumbs2:

[Ghostknife]

Hope this pic came out okay!
You can make out the Eggs, and one of the parents. Surprisingly they survived over night and everything.

Does anyone know why some are white, the rest translucent?

[thatcichlidguy]

The white eggs are infertile, and naturally wont hatch. No big deal.If the eggs continue to turn white then likely the whole batch will be lost. It happens . Since this is their first spawn I wouldn't expect much since cichlids can take several spawns to get things right. Do you know for sure that you have a male and a female? Sometimes two females will act like a pair and go through the motions of spawning and lay infertile eggs. Not saying that's your situation , just a thought.

[iZinedane]

congrats on the spawn :22:

[Shelz]

:19: Congrats on the spawn...I hope you end up with a few fry out of it.if not you might have better luck the next go-round..good luck

[Ghostknife]

The white eggs are infertile, and naturally wont hatch. No big deal.If the eggs continue to turn white then likely the whole batch will be lost. It happens . Since this is their first spawn I wouldn't expect much since cichlids can take several spawns to get things right. Do you know for sure that you have a male and a female? Sometimes two females will act like a pair and go through the motions of spawning and lay infertile eggs. Not saying that's your situation , just a thought.

Hmm?? That scenario never crossed my mind. I have no idea how to tell the males from the females in respect of Angelfish. Interesting bit of info though. So the white ones are bad eh!? Well, there are more translucent then there are white ones, at the minute at least. I suppose I will have to wait to see the little fish wriggle around to tell whats what. Unless of course you have any ideas on telling the diff.

Thanks for that 'thatcichlidguy'.

[Ghostknife]

Update, I see wrigglers! Whoo!!!:goldfish: :fish:

[Northernguy]

Congrats on the fry!thumbs2:

[Sharon]

Babies!!! Exciting news!!!thumbs2:

[Ghostknife]

Babies!!! Exciting news!!!thumbs2:


Yeah, shame I just spotted the parents eating the hatchlings! oh dear, and i have just ordered a hatchery for them. Eggs/ Basket come to mind!

[thatcichlidguy]

Great news!

Sexing Angels is best done just prior to the actual spawn. Their reproductive organs are extended and it's very easy to tell them apart. Males have a more pointed organ, females blunt or rounded . That's pretty generic I know , but that's really all you need to sex them. Next spawn (three to four weeks from now) you'll know what to look for. When you notice them cleaning a site ,that's the time to start looking. For now have fun with your new babies. Just keep an eye on the parents if it's a community tank since they'll become very aggressive to their tankmates especially once the fry are free swimming.

[thatcichlidguy]

Oops guess I didn't get that posted quick enough. They may not be eating them . Often they will move fry once they are hatched to hide them , however they may well be eating them . That's not uncommon for first time parents. Watch to see if they're spitting them out somewhere. if they're not then yup the fry are toast. Good news is that your fish will spawn again in a few weeks.

[Ghostknife]

Funny thing, I saw some being spat out at latching onto the tube again! Thought they would be allgone tonight, but not to be! Getting excited now! Hope my hatching tank arrives in time to grab em out!

[Shelz]

Ohhh how cool is that......I hope you can get them out in time...

[Ghostknife]

Okay, some good and bad news.
Bad news: Fry have all been eaten,
Good news: I am a wiser man, kinda..

At what stage should I grab the wrigglers and chuck em in the hatchery? I tried to grab a few, killing one, and the rest were just sticking to the piping. They didn't want to let go. Is there a trick I can use to get them off that and into the hatchery?
Just so you know, they got to about 5 days, had big black dots for eyes, and the head and abdominal, although not the correct shape for an angel were definitely visable. also still had the tadpole tail thingy.

Any ideas to save the next spawn?

[Wetpets]

Yep... remove the eggs!

A bit inconvenient that they's chosen the tibe though... Do you have a spare that you could replace when you move the next spawn across?

PS: Don't forget the baby brine shrimp....!

[Ghostknife]

So are yousaying I can remove them once the eggs are fertilised?

[thatcichlidguy]

You can do that but the parents have to spawn somewhere that makes their removal convinient . Otherwise leave them untill the fry are free swimming since the fact that they are literally attached to something makes it difficult to remove them before then if they spawn on something like the glass or a lift tube.

Sorry to hear about the fry, it happens though . Now that the parents have spawned they will do so again and you will probably have better luck since the more they spawn the better they will be at raising their brood.

[Wetpets]

So are yousaying I can remove them once the eggs are fertilised?

Yes. I raise my Angels artificially... A piece of slate or clean roof tile (terracotta, not painted) seems to be a favourite site for all my angels. Tilt it at about 60 degrees from the floor (almost upright)... when they lay simply move the slate with attached eggs over to a hatching tank.

I use and anti-fungal and airstone (bubbling up past the eggs on the slate) which makes a good a combo as the parents cleaning / fanning eggs.

Good Luck with the next spawn - should be in less than two weeks for a mature pair (I have a pair that's spawned three times in 15 days!)