Last year (early May) I bought a group of six juvenile Angels (under the size of a penny) consisting of 3 marble veils and 3 Pearlscales from a local fish auction to attempt to get a spawning pair out of them. Since then, I bought an adult Blue Angelfish (September last year) and added it to the group. They were being kept in a room-temp 15 gallon up until December, at which point I setup a 30 gallon long community tank that included all of them. At this point, they're all silver dollar size or larger and have been getting along great. Earlier today, I noticed that two were being very territorial and defending nearly half of the tank (left side) from all midwater fish (weren't bugging the catfish). Upon closer inspection, I was able to observe my Blue Angel (which I now know is a female) laying eggs which were then being fertilized by my largest Pearlscale (male). This is their first spawn and until today there weren't even any obvious pairs of fish in this tank. Since this is their first spawn and this is a community tank, I doubt the eggs will survive, but I'd like to try to save a few of them. The unfortunate part is that the eggs have all been laid on the glass and there are many hungry catfish in the tank that have eaten smaller adult fish in this tank.
The current stock is as follows:
-7 Angelfish (1 Blue, 3 Pearlscales, and 3 Marble Veils) Silver Dollar Size+
-6 Tuxedo Swordtails (all females) 1.25-2.00"
-3 Fancy Guppies (all females) 1.00-1.50"
-1 Bluenose Shiner 1.50"
-1 Aeneus Cory 1.25"
-3 Galaxy Wood Catfish 2.50-2.75"
-1 Asian Bumblebee Catfish 3.50"
-2 Ancistrus (both females) 2.75-4.00"
A few questions I have.
1) Should I leave the eggs in the tank and allow the parents to guard them?
2) If not, what would be the best way to remove them as they're all directly on the glass?
3) Any chance of the eggs surviving to become fry with such (relative to size) voracious catfish present?
4) Whether the eggs survive, or get eaten, should I work on setting up the pair their own breeding tank seperate from the other angels after this initial spawn is over as I have several tank in the 10-37 gallon range available for them?
5) Anything I can do to calm aggression between the spawnning pair and the other Angels such as visual obstructions, etc?
Thanks for the help, everyone!
The current stock is as follows:
-7 Angelfish (1 Blue, 3 Pearlscales, and 3 Marble Veils) Silver Dollar Size+
-6 Tuxedo Swordtails (all females) 1.25-2.00"
-3 Fancy Guppies (all females) 1.00-1.50"
-1 Bluenose Shiner 1.50"
-1 Aeneus Cory 1.25"
-3 Galaxy Wood Catfish 2.50-2.75"
-1 Asian Bumblebee Catfish 3.50"
-2 Ancistrus (both females) 2.75-4.00"
A few questions I have.
1) Should I leave the eggs in the tank and allow the parents to guard them?
2) If not, what would be the best way to remove them as they're all directly on the glass?
3) Any chance of the eggs surviving to become fry with such (relative to size) voracious catfish present?
4) Whether the eggs survive, or get eaten, should I work on setting up the pair their own breeding tank seperate from the other angels after this initial spawn is over as I have several tank in the 10-37 gallon range available for them?
5) Anything I can do to calm aggression between the spawnning pair and the other Angels such as visual obstructions, etc?
Thanks for the help, everyone!
Good luck with them!!
