Angels

[Guest]

I just bought 6 angels, about the size of a quarter, hoping to eventually get a good breeding pair and i just have a few questions.
1. How long will it take before they pair up, assuming I have females and males in the mix.
2. When they do pair up, how can i tell?
3. How can i tell when they reach "sexual maturity" (don't know what else to call it) and how long does it take for them to be able to spawn?

Right now they are all pretty much sticking together, i didn't know angels were 'schooling' fish, but i'd say that's kind of what they are doing.

TIA

 

[mattrox]

They can start pairing up at about 6-8 months. I think that around 9 to 12 months they will spawn.

At first they just hang out together, then you will see one chase others away from "their" area. ATHis can go on for a while.

If you feed them with lots of quality flake and frozen food and safe live food they will grow quickly. You will know that spawning activity is about to start when they start to clean a spawning site. Leaves, Driftwood, slate, glass, filter tubes are all potential spawning sites. This can start up to a week before spawning.

Smaller fish tend to school quite well. They do hang out in groups when unpaired but when they pair up one or other or both will chase away visitors.

 

[Guest]

mine are about the size of a quarter, how old are they?

 

[Guest]

one more thing, i have a spare 10 gallon I was going to use for baby angels.. if they ever do spawn..(that will be months from now i know)
but am i supposed to take them away from the parents? will any of the other fish in my tank eat the babies? I think the killifish would. I really want to make a nice angel breeding tank, and am already looking for a new 55 tank (or larger) for any fish that need to be taken out.

 

[mattrox]

I would try tp let parents take care of the fry for two or three weeks after freeswimming. IMO it always parents with good parenting instinct to breed, and stronger fish are the result. I belive artifically rearing fish selects for fish with poor brood care behaviour and ultimately results in weaker fish. Parents can take upto 5 or 10 spawns to get it right. I am not in it for the money so I don't try to seperate fry to early.

Fry should go into their own tank.

Don't know how old the fosh are, that is usually the size I buy them too.

 

[BillD]

They could be as young as 8 weeks if they were grown under optimal conditions. My personal opinion is if they are that young at that size, you are more likely to get large size adults. If you feed lots of good quality food, and keep the water clean (large frequent water changes), they will grow very quickly. By lots of feeding, I mean as many times a day as is practical. They are voracious feeders and will eat constanly. Mine are like a school of pirhana when you feed them.

 

[Jchillin]

Hmmm...mine are bigger than half-dollars and are about 6 months (in my tank at least). It's possible that I have all males since they have yet to display any signs of wanting to spawn. Guess I'll just give it more time.

BTW - They were dime sized when I got them. Like BillD says, they a very voracious eaters.

 

[mattrox]

Bill, It could be upto 6 more months before breeding behaviour could be seen. It just depends on when they become sexually mature. I am not sure size is a good indicator of this, because stunted fish will breed.

Just keep observing, a maturing male can also just bicker with other males.

 

[Guest]

yeah, i feed them often, im afraid im overfeeding them sometimes because every time i walk by the "BEG" for food.. lol. But they aren't bloated or anything, so i guess im doing fine. I do frequent water changes as well.

 

[Jchillin]

Since you have six of them, feeding can be a chore. You've probably noticed that they scarf up food from the top of the tank. You can use this to your advantage during feedings. Place food at two locations, starting where the angels aren't at. Then quickly place food at their location for them. They won't move from that spot until you do, so just stay there. All the other fish will get their "fair" share and you won't overfeed the angels.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

Good idea JChillin. I agree with mattrox about letting the pair try to raise the fry on their own first even though the parents will eat about 80% fry which can be a good thing. Also, if you let the parents raise the fry, you should leave the room lights or some form of light on all the time because the parents can not care for eggs if they can't see them and might get scared and eat their eggs. You should use fungicide for the eggs because some are unfertilized and if you don't it could harm the other eggs. If the parents don't take care of the eggs then you could always raise them artificially.