huge die off when moving young angels

[Jaster]

I seem to be having issues when i move my growing angel babies to the next tank size up. I started with leaving the babies with the parents but I was only getting about a dozen angels out of that. (Which was expected) i've started taking the swimmers away from the parents after about a week and putting them in a 10G tank. From there they go to a 29 and finally to a 55. (They havent gotten that far yet) We're talking about 70-80 swimmers at the start. When I move them I fill the next tank with water from the previous tank (as much as I can) so I can be sure I dont shock them wit brand new water. I also move a sponge filter from the previous tank. Now normally i would top off the tank like I would with a normal waterchange. If i have to add a lot of water I topoff slowly through out the day. Just a few gallns here and there until the tank is full.
So whats happening is that i lose about 1/3 of the angels throughout the move. I'll lose most of them almost right after the move with in the first hour and more through the day. I'm useing a large cup to catch the angels not a net so they never leave the water. At least not until theyer big enouh to actually be caught by a net.
Any thoughts about why the huge losses? Am i doing something wrong or soething i could d better?
Thanks in advance for any help!

[Lady Hobbs]

Can't understand why they would die either but perhaps it might work better to put the eggs right into the 29 gallon so there would be no moving of them until they were large enough to not get so stressed.

[Ramsarecool]

Do a water test that might explain things.

[Jaster]

I was thinking that too Lady Hobbs... just worry about them finding food. Its just suc a huge spce for the little guys. I'm sure i can find a way around it thouh. Just have to pay real close attention at feeding time if it comes down to it.

I did do tests.. when ever something goes wrong thats the first thing i go for.
Just has me stumped. Having things that i cant figure out annoys me like crazy. Lol

[madagascariensis]

Put them in a large breeding box inside the 29 gallon,
And when time comes just dump them right in?

[Indian Woods Angels]

A week. So 7 days. 7 days after eggs layed or 7 days after freeswim.

7 days after hatch is 3 to 4 days free swim, too soon to move them. You rupture them internally and they are real sensitive to water differences. At 10 days free swim you can net them and they will survive OK but some may get fin damage as they are real fragile.

To move them that young I use the parents tank water right at the transfer time. I load a decent sized siphon up with the fry very slowly. Then I unload the siphon into the fry tank very slowly. You pull the siphon out of the water and slowly let it drain into the fry tank while holding the side that has just been in the parent tank with a thumb. You can practice getting the siphon to load and unload before putting the fry in there. You should have better luck. If not wait a few more days, they are growing fast and get exponentially stronger each day.

[Jaster]

I've been moving them about a week after freeswim. Thanks for the idea Indian I'll give that a try next time. I'll wait longer as well. I didnt even put a thought that the move itself would hurt them. Learn something new everytime.

Thanks again