Breeding pair of Angels

[garyr]

Apparently I have a breeding pair of angels. It wasn't intentional. I just picked out two I liked and apparently they like each other too. So, now I have a bunch of fuzz with tails on a broad leaf in the tank. They didn't start out on the broad leaf, though. The eggs were originally laid on an intake tube, then moved to the leaf. The only other fish in my 55 gallon tank is another angelfish. That wasn't planned either. It just worked out that way. The breeding pair stay on their end of the tank and the other angel stays on it's end of the tank. My question is this. What's going to happen now? I would like to have a couple more angelfish in the tank, but I don't have room for more than that. The only other tank I have is a 10 gal qt tank and I don't have room for another large tank. Will the other angel eat the young when they begin to swim about the tank? Will the breeding pair continue to breed? Since this is the first time it has happened, it's interesting, but I'm really not interested in raising angelfish.

[Rocky06fx4]

The Babies will probably get eatin if you dont seperate them. Plus it's hard to sell them if thats what your thinking, I have trouble getting fish stores to take my fish.

You have some healthy angelfish if they're breeding. Sounds to me like 3 years for the how long will they be laying eggs question.

Breeding

P. scalare is relatively easy to breed in the aquarium, although one of the results of generations of inbreeding is that many breeds have almost completely lost their rearing instincts resulting in the tendency of the parents to eat their young. In addition, it is very difficult to accurately identify the gender of any individual until they are nearly ready to breed.

Angelfish pairs form long-term relationships where each individual will protect the other from threats and potential suitors. Upon the death or removal of one of the mated pair, some breeders have experienced a total refusal of the other mate to pair up with any other angelfish; others have had more success with subsequent mates. Both parents care for the young.

Depending upon aquarium conditions, P. scalare reaches sexual maturity at the age of six to twelve months or more. In situations where the eggs are removed from the aquarium immediately after spawning, the pair is capable of spawning every seven to ten days. Around the age of approximately three years, spawning frequency will decrease and eventually cease.

When the pair is ready to spawn, they will choose an appropriate medium upon which to lay the eggs and spend one to two days picking off detritus and algae from the surface. This medium may be a broad-leaf plant in the aquarium, a flat surface such as a piece of slate placed vertically in the aquarium, a length of pipe, or even the glass sides of the aquarium. The female will deposit a line of eggs on the spawning substrate, followed by the male who will fertilize the eggs. This process will repeat itself until there are a total of 100 to up to 1200+ eggs, depending on the size and health of the female fish. The pair will take turns maintaining a high rate of water circulation around the eggs by swimming very close to the eggs and fanning the eggs with their pectoral fins. In a few days, the eggs hatch and the fry remain attached to the spawning substrate. During this period, the fry will not eat and will survive by consuming the remains of their yolk sacs. At one week, the fry will detach and become free-swimming. Successful parents will keep close watch on the eggs until they become free-swimming. At the free-swimming stage, the fry can be fed newly-hatched frozen och fresh (i.e. alive) brine shrimp (Artemia spp.).

P. altum is notably difficult to breed in an aquarium environment.

Brought to you by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freshwa...lfish#Breeding

[Lady Hobbs]

The parents will eat the eggs themselves more than likely. I've never heard of angels moving their eggs tho.

[Algenco]

They will move the wigglers several times . It's part of the cleaning process. They take a few in their mouth, roll them around, and spit them onto the new location. Baby angels have a cement gland on top of their head which enables them to stick in place, if not cleaned regularly the gland production will produce "strings" that attract dirt,etc. The moving also makes it more difficult for predators to locate them by smell

[garyr]

The parents will eat the eggs themselves more than likely. I've never heard of angels moving their eggs tho.

I noticed today that they have moved the wigglers again to the leaves of a sword plant.

[mitcore]

they will keep moving them to make sure they have food, normally they will put them in one spot where there is slim on that leaf or what ever it is they put them on, the wrigglers will only eat this type of food while they are this small, once however they are free swimming you need to start feeding them, at least 3 to 5 times a day, but this causes high nitrate levels so it is recommended to do a 10% water change daily,
i have never heard of angels moving there eggs, i currently have 2 batches of fry, in the 1st batch there is 30 about 1 week old free swimming fry, very cute, and the 2nd batch there is about 50 wrigglers, big batch for this pair,

congrats on the fry

[Lady Hobbs]

Mine only moved the eggs from the leaves to their stomaches. :)

[garyr]

No more wigglers. I noticed after a water change yesterday that there didn't seem to be as many wigglers. When I turned the lights on in the tank this morning I thought it was unusual that the other angel was on the breeding pairs side of the tank and the breeding pair wasn't attacking it. Then I saw that all of the wigglers were gone. Such is life.

[mitcore]

it is not uncommon for them to eat the fry
they see you and the other fish with them a threat
they will keep spawning i wouldnt worry to much