How long under parents care? Angel fish.

[Snowflake311]

I have a great breeding pair of angels that I'm going to set up a breeding tank just for them. They have raised fry up to 3-4 days but in a community tank with other hungry fast fish the fry get picked off. It the tank was full of plants it could work but oh well.

So I'm setting up a 20gal tall for them to raise the family. They are the best parents. I'm wondering how long do you keep the fry in with the parents?

 

[bmxer4ever]

I have a great breeding pair of angels that I'm going to set up a breeding tank just for them. They have raised fry up to 3-4 days but in a community tank with other hungry fast fish the fry get picked off. It the tank was full of plants it could work but oh well.

So I'm setting up a 20gal tall for them to raise the family. They are the best parents. I'm wondering how long do you keep the fry in with the parents?

I've usually left the fry with mum & dad for about a month, but recently, due to lack of tank space, left them for nearly three months! In practice, you can probably move them as soon as they start growing their' angel wings' (!) or even within a few days of free swimming, but I'd have to say, it depends on the breeding pair - and even a stable pairing can become unpredictable. My pair have gone from raising up to 100+ fry for weeks on end, to eating the fry at 6 days old. Last spawning they ate all the eggs. Trial and error, but if they're happy breeding for you, I'm sure you'll get a result. Interesting thing that happened when I left the babies with the parents for months was the tendency for the young to start nibbling the parents fins, so I'd probably avoid that. The young grew much faster being left with their parents and Mum & dad recovered quickly though, but I think it stressed them out a bit. I'd definetly say the survival rate was higher when the fry are raised by the parents for the first few weeks though. And fed fresh hatched baby brine shrimp as soon as they're free swimming .... G

 

[cvar]

We usually kept fry with their M&D for 2-3 weeks. As bmxer4ever says, each pair behaves differently, and can even change with each batch. You can see how stressed out M&D become. You think humans are stressed out with 1 newly mobile baby!!! But when it's time to lay the next batch of eggs, they lose interest in the swimming fry & can start attacking them. Yeah, makes no sense. Other fish in the same tank are opportunists who will eat up all the fry too.

 

[Snowflake311]

Thanks guys. They laid eggs again I'm trying something out. I loved the eggs and then the parents to their own tank. The parents have not noticed the eggs. It will be interesting to see if they keeping caring for them after the move or if they eat them and start over.

Also I loved that last photo.

 

[Cohazard]

Thanks for all the info, I'm learning alot from this thread

Gary, those pics are awesome! Beautiful pair too, looks like a paraiba and a clown?

 

[Snowflake311]

Thanks guys. They laid eggs again I'm trying something out. I loved the eggs and then the parents to their own tank. The parents have not noticed the eggs. It will be interesting to see if they keeping caring for them after the move or if they eat them and start over.

Also I loved that last photo.

Just read this and it is very bad. let me start over. I wrote that after 24hrs of travelling from France to the West coast of the USA.

Thank you all. My pair laid eggs again and they look fresh. I set up my 20 gal for them. I moved the eggs to the tank first then scooped the parents up together it was easy and very fast. Scoop and plop. I want to see if the parents keep tending to the eggs after being moved. So far they have not noticed the eggs. I will keep you posted on what goes on.

 

[bmxer4ever]

Thanks for all the info, I'm learning alot from this thread

Gary, those pics are awesome! Beautiful pair too, looks like a paraiba and a clown?

Thanks!
I'm really not sure what variety mum & dad are - I bought them as a breeding pair a year ago - think they only cost about £30? - and they've produced around half a dozen viable spawnings, of which around 150 - 200 fish have made it to sellable size (to be honest - I've lost count). They seem to have several different strains in them 'cos I get all sorts of offspring! I'm only keeping the very best looking ones for my 100 gallon and trading in everything else. Funnily enough - the last batch that I left with them the longest produced the most.....
Here's a pic of my biggest homegrown. Think he's about a year old and I reckon he's a beauty!

 

[bmxer4ever]

Thanks guys. They laid eggs again I'm trying something out. I loved the eggs and then the parents to their own tank. The parents have not noticed the eggs. It will be interesting to see if they keeping caring for them after the move or if they eat them and start over.

Also I loved that last photo.

Yeah - looks like mum's giving me the evil eye! LoL!