surprise angelfish eggs

[pennyg]

I had 2 angelfish for a few months but one got cotton mouth and died. I waited a couple of months to make sure the remaining angel was fine. Anyway I got a replacement mate for it about 2 weeks ago. And today they laid eggs! Surprise
I don't plan on taking the eggs out and just letting whatever happen with them. Right now each angelfish seems to be taking a turn at swimming over the eggs, almost brushing gently over them with their belly? the only other fish in their tank is a raph cat. it is very timid so I suspect the parents will be able to defend the eggs if needed.

 

[BIG-G]

Congrats on the spawn.

 

[Fishnerd360]

Congrats!

 

[skjl47]

Hello; A few years ago I had some surprise angel eggs . I started a thread about it and will post a link about it here. I did figure out how to keep the eggs and fry alive and did raise a few batches of fry. I kept a few fry who had slightly deformed fins or were very small. I still have three of the fry from that pair.
Don't know if my experience will be of any value but I did enjoy the challenge and did learn some from the effort.

Angel fish laid eggs

Hello; Some weeks ago I picked up two young freshwater angelfish. I have had them in a 29 gallon by themselves to allow time for them to grow wit \h the plan to move them into a 55 gallon. They are not large yet. I noticed them picking at a plant leaf the last day or so. Went over a few...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[pennyg]

short lived surprise, all the eggs were eaten in a few days
I am sure they will lay again

 

[pennyg]

Hello; A few years ago I had some surprise angel eggs . I started a thread about it and will post a link about it here. I did figure out how to keep the eggs and fry alive and did raise a few batches of fry. I kept a few fry who had slightly deformed fins or were very small. I still have three of the fry from that pair.
Don't know if my experience will be of any value but I did enjoy the challenge and did learn some from the effort.

Angel fish laid eggs

Hello; Some weeks ago I picked up two young freshwater angelfish. I have had them in a 29 gallon by themselves to allow time for them to grow wit \h the plan to move them into a 55 gallon. They are not large yet. I noticed them picking at a plant leaf the last day or so. Went over a few...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

I should have thanked you sooner for this link. The pair laid again and the fry are swimming about the tank now but they are slowly dying off. I got some powdery fry food but perhaps that's not enough to feed them. I am not hopeful for this batch but I assume the pair will spawn again. I will be better prepared I hope? I probably won't be setting up a separate nursery tank for them but I can get brine shrimp for them.

 

[skjl47]

The pair laid again and the fry are swimming about the tank now but they are slowly dying off.

Hello; First thing being you are well ahead by having parents who allow the fry to hatch and become free swimming. My pair always ate the eggs or wrigglers before they developed to the point of swimming free. There is some possibility your pair will become better parents over time.

You are correct that they are likely to spawn again. My pair did.

Could be a lack of food causing the die off of the fry but there are other possibilities come to mind. One thing I have seen is a loss of fry in general when raising these and other types of fish. I could speculate as to why a percentage of fry are not long lived but have noted some portion of them do not make it long.
Might even be a parent is picking one off every now and then. My guess being it is a struggle for them to fight the urge to take a bite sized fry. Just speculation on my part.

My first thinking to have quick food available for future spawns is to keep some sponge filters going in tanks somewhere. I have seen young fry grazing on the sponge a number of times.
I forget if you have other tanks available for this but do have an untested idea. I usually keep a few sponge bases stuck inside of a power filter. The purpose is to have beneficial bacteria (bb) loaded sponge filter bases on hand ready in case I need to set up a new tank quickly. Could be these sponges will also be loaded with tiny food stuff newly hatched fry can feed on.
(Note- probably wont help to have extra sponge filters in a tank where a pleco can get at them. I had a pleco who would feed on the sponge filter I kept in it's tank. )

Hello- one last thing comes to mind. I kept my spawning pair together all the time in a tank of their own. They would spawn every few weeks. It was too late when I noted the beating the male had taken from the female. He was game and took what the female dished out. He kept coming back to her and she beat him up pretty bad over time. They are cichlids after all. In hindsight I could have separated them and prevented his untimely demise. I guess the point is to take a good close look at both parents from time to time. Cichlids can play rough.

 

[pennyg]

Hello; First thing being you are well ahead by having parents who allow the fry to hatch and become free swimming. My pair always ate the eggs or wrigglers before they developed to the point of swimming free. There is some possibility your pair will become better parents over time.

You are correct that they are likely to spawn again. My pair did.

Could be a lack of food causing the die off of the fry but there are other possibilities come to mind. One thing I have seen is a loss of fry in general when raising these and other types of fish. I could speculate as to why a percentage of fry are not long lived but have noted some portion of them do not make it long.
Might even be a parent is picking one off every now and then. My guess being it is a struggle for them to fight the urge to take a bite sized fry. Just speculation on my part.

My first thinking to have quick food available for future spawns is to keep some sponge filters going in tanks somewhere. I have seen young fry grazing on the sponge a number of times.
I forget if you have other tanks available for this but do have an untested idea. I usually keep a few sponge bases stuck inside of a power filter. The purpose is to have beneficial bacteria (bb) loaded sponge filter bases on hand ready in case I need to set up a new tank quickly. Could be these sponges will also be loaded with tiny food stuff newly hatched fry can feed on.
(Note- probably wont help to have extra sponge filters in a tank where a pleco can get at them. I had a pleco who would feed on the sponge filter I kept in it's tank. )

Hello- one last thing comes to mind. I kept my spawning pair together all the time in a tank of their own. They would spawn every few weeks. It was too late when I noted the beating the male had taken from the female. He was game and took what the female dished out. He kept coming back to her and she beat him up pretty bad over time. They are cichlids after all. In hindsight I could have separated them and prevented his untimely demise. I guess the point is to take a good close look at both parents from time to time. Cichlids can play rough.

Sorry for not getting back on forums for a while. Thanks for taking the time to read this and reply
The Angels are on their 3rd bunch of eggs now. they are free swimming at this point. I started an infusoria culture when I noticed them preparing a leaf for eggs but my kid knocked it down from the windowsill and I had to start again. I did make some fry food by take a xube of frozen brine shrimp and a mortar and pestle with aquarium water. Some have been eating this while others have not. The parents I think ate a number of them that were not doing well... sort of sinking to the bottom, not swimming well. but there are quite a few left. I have made another batch of the liquid food using frozen brine shrimp and a bug bite cichlid pellet. I can see which fry have eaten, seeing food in their bellies. The infusoria are not quite ready to go but I have tried to take a syringe full from that jar and see if the fry react. I started a brine shrimp hatchery yesterday and I alao have a microworm culture I plan to start tomorrow. I was really excited to see the fry actually eating and some were even pooping so that is a good sign.
Both angels look very healthy, neither of them have been aggressive to the other. Both of them attack my fingers and the syringe of fry food with a vengeance though hahahahaha. Anyway so far so good. I hope at least a few survive this time. My brother and my girlfriend have both said they want angels if they make it.

 

[skjl47]

I can see which fry have eaten, seeing food in their bellies

Hello; Yes to this observation. The fry of many fish are almost transparent when very young. You are indeed fortunate in having good parents who do not eat them all right away. Have fun.
I think you are likely to work out the foods with the things you are trying.

One thing you may want to think about is how to do a waterchange (WC) at some point and not siphon out the small fry. I have a screen device I can use in the end of a tube. Maybe some sort of mesh cloth on the end of a tube.
While the fry are very small it is risky to run a power filter so I relied on sponge filters and WC for some weeks.
I have placed a mesh over the intake of power filters when fry get some size. Not so much that the fry get sucked in but that they get pinned onto the mesh by the suction. I have found that the bigger I would make the surface area of the mesh he better it would work. Of course detritus tends to build up on the mesh but making the mesh bag large can help with this.

 

[tlindsey]

Sorry for not getting back on forums for a while. Thanks for taking the time to read this and reply
The Angels are on their 3rd bunch of eggs now. they are free swimming at this point. I started an infusoria culture when I noticed them preparing a leaf for eggs but my kid knocked it down from the windowsill and I had to start again. I did make some fry food by take a xube of frozen brine shrimp and a mortar and pestle with aquarium water. Some have been eating this while others have not. The parents I think ate a number of them that were not doing well... sort of sinking to the bottom, not swimming well. but there are quite a few left. I have made another batch of the liquid food using frozen brine shrimp and a bug bite cichlid pellet. I can see which fry have eaten, seeing food in their bellies. The infusoria are not quite ready to go but I have tried to take a syringe full from that jar and see if the fry react. I started a brine shrimp hatchery yesterday and I alao have a microworm culture I plan to start tomorrow. I was really excited to see the fry actually eating and some were even pooping so that is a good sign.
Both angels look very healthy, neither of them have been aggressive to the other. Both of them attack my fingers and the syringe of fry food with a vengeance though hahahahaha. Anyway so far so good. I hope at least a few survive this time. My brother and my girlfriend have both said they want angels if they make it.

Welcome back
I personally would just pulverize the pellet or flake food and feed the fry. Feed only newly hatched brine shrimp they are most nutritional newly hatched. Happy to hear that some are eating.