# angel fish



## M1ster Stanl3y (Dec 10, 2010)

do my angel fish decided watet was the day to lay eggs. great. never been thru this. I have over 200eggs stuck to the corner glass in my 55. the mom is ultra protective n scares away everythung. while the dad just stands like a night club bouncer waiting for someone to get outta line.

here is what I know. 
first batch I shouldnt get my hopes up on any surviving. 
eggs take 60hrs at 80° then stay as wigglers for 5 days
feed the second stage baby brine shrimp.

so what exactly should I do or not do? do I remove my tetras n crayfish to another tank? I would think the net would stress the parents out and could cause them to eat the eggs.
do I build a hatchery outta net n suction cups to protect the eggs?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I wouldn't worry to much about this hatch unless you want to try and keep them.


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## M1ster Stanl3y (Dec 10, 2010)

I think it would be nice for a few to survive... but if they dont its ok...i wont be selling them until I can get like 50% survival of eggs. right now the parents are fighting . locking jaws and dad chased mom away.


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## hank (Apr 11, 2011)

Congratulations! Don't count your eggs until you have wigglers....


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## jerichodrum (Mar 23, 2011)

Congratulations. I have heard the same that you have. first two batches die usually. either they dont get fertilized or someone just eats them. 
I imagine that there has to be a way to move them. I know the guy down the street moved one of his adults to let the fry hatch.


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## M1ster Stanl3y (Dec 10, 2010)

yeah 24hrs later they ate the eggs. started with the none fertilized ones, ended with the rest


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## jerichodrum (Mar 23, 2011)

well that sucks. sorry to hear it. from what I understand it maybe a month or less before they try again. 
I have to say I am tempted to buy two more (_wont do it_) 
I noticed a mated pair at the walmart down the street fighting off several others for a specific spot. 
From the looks of things they may have two or three mated pairs in there. Many have started to extend their papilla. Everyone is crowding the intake tube since its the only flat surface.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

If conditions are right they should breed again in about 2 weeks


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## hank (Apr 11, 2011)

M1ster Stanl3y said:


> yeah 24hrs later they ate the eggs. started with the none fertilized ones, ended with the rest


Correct me if I'm wrong. Are you saying the angles ate all the eggs?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

Thats normal for angels to eat the eggs for the first few times. So many angels these days have lost a lot of the normal instincts for caring for them till after a few trys.


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## hank (Apr 11, 2011)

susankat said:


> Thats normal for angels to eat the eggs for the first few times. So many angels these days have lost a lot of the normal instincts for caring for them till after a few trys.


Susan, I miss read his post...But I will say this, 45 years ago, Young breeding pairs who ate their eggs were considered immature. Today it's still considered immature. This would not be considered lost normal instincts and I don't know what other normal instincts you are referring to that was lost through time..


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

I gotta agree with hank, A few weeks age difference has made alot of difference in egg tending and young rearing. My pops who was in the hobby for show 45 years ago still says the same thing. Its roughly every 3 days his fish drop eggs and within 2 days they are gone, he has one pair that is months older then his next pair and the older ones are much more disciplined parents and are about as far from wild as it gets.


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## hank (Apr 11, 2011)

WhiteGloveAquatics said:


> I gotta agree with hank, A few weeks age difference has made alot of difference in egg tending and young rearing. My pops who was in the hobby for show 45 years ago still says the same thing. Its roughly every 3 days his fish drop eggs and within 2 days they are gone, he has one pair that is months older then his next pair and the older ones are much more disciplined parents and are about as far from wild as it gets.


Thanks for the support, BTW; What is your pops name? Maybe I know him or heard of him


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

They loose that instinct when over the years the eggs or newly hatched fry is removed from parents for hatching and rearing of fry. Its like wild caught makes better parents than most captive breed, that has been done this way for years. and it takes a few times for that instinct to kick back in.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics (Sep 3, 2009)

It does if its with that same pair over and over. The wilds take to their young faster but I also think past environments had a role to play with that. I still got a pair of domesticated P scalares that STILL eat the eggs 4 years into their spawnings.
Natural instinct is not so much lost as it has to be relearned the hard way.


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## hank (Apr 11, 2011)

susankat said:


> They loose that instinct when over the years the eggs or newly hatched fry is removed from parents for hatching and rearing of fry. Its like wild caught makes better parents than most captive breed, that has been done this way for years. and it takes a few times for that instinct to kick back in.


So what you are telling us, if you keep on removing the eggs from parents the instinct of caring for eggs will be gone and this is why they eat their eggs . Now if you leave the eggs with parents a few times and let them eat them, the instinct will kick back in. Hard for me to swallow this theory! But
Interesting. 

I stand by my experience and the old timers of my time. Young and new breeding pairs who eat their eggs are considered immature. Nature has provided a natural instinct for Angles to take care of their young and never lose this instinct to reproduce their own kind, no matter what!


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