Angelfish pair are not spawning?

[katelyn7014]

I had them in a community tank back in the summer and they spawned, but the fry unfortunately did not survive so I took the other fish out of the tank and just left the breeding pair... 2 weeks later and a little over a month ago now they spawned again, I took the eggs out of the tank and put the rest of the community fish back in my big tank with the pair. The males tube has been out the whole time, and so has the females (I think..) but they are still not spawning again... My fry are getting big now and I would like to raise another batch now that I know what I'm doing and these ones are almost ready to go to new homes. I'm just wondering why it's taking longer than usual for them to spawn? Is it because I put the other fish in? The temp is high, I've been feeding them a varied diet... and they did spawn once before when they were in a community tank. Anyone have any ideas? I'd love to hear!

 

[Andy Sager]

What this means is that the tank ( water parameters, temp, tankmates) is not to the fish's liking so they won't spawn. I'd check the parameters first, temp should be between 78-82, and if all those are good, you may need to take out the tank mates again.
Keep us posted on these results before I give you other options

 

[katelyn7014]

Okay.. I'll have to get my parameters checked. But if it's not that, it could be because of the other tank mates in with them? Would that still be a problem even though they had spawned the first time with the tank mates there?

 

[Andy Sager]

The tankmates is probably the least of the possibilities of why they are not spawning again. Bottom line, what the fish were in before when they spawned is not what they are in now which is why they aren't spawning. None of my fish are spawning right now. Why? because the temps are over 90 degrees so no matter how similar my parameters are and the feeding routine is to before, the temp is wrong for them to spawn in now. The same has to be with your fish. Something is not to their liking. Your job is to figure out what that is.

 

[katelyn7014]

Well, I tested my big tank parameters. PH is 7.0, high range PH is 7.4, ammonia is 0 ppm, nitrite is 0 ppm, and nitrate is 40 ppm. The tank temperature (so it reads) is between 79 and 81 F.

But... I tested my small tank with the baby fishes in there and I came out for that tank with.. PH 7, high range PH 7.4, ammonia 0.25 ppm, nitrite 2 or 5 ppm, and nitrate is 5 ppm. So... I'm not sure about my breeding pair not spawning in my big tank right now, but my little tank definitely needs to be lowering my ammonia, nitrite and I'm not sure if my nitrate is all right or not. How do I go about doing that? I just did a water change yesterday, should I do another one?

 

[Andy Sager]

Well, I tested my big tank parameters. PH is 7.0, high range PH is 7.4, ammonia is 0 ppm, nitrite is 0 ppm, and nitrate is 40 ppm. The tank temperature (so it reads) is between 79 and 81 F.

But... I tested my small tank with the baby fishes in there and I came out for that tank with.. PH 7, high range PH 7.4, ammonia 0.25 ppm, nitrite 2 or 5 ppm, and nitrate is 5 ppm. So... I'm not sure about my breeding pair not spawning in my big tank right now, but my little tank definitely needs to be lowering my ammonia, nitrite and I'm not sure if my nitrate is all right or not. How do I go about doing that? I just did a water change yesterday, should I do another one?

I would continue doing daily small water changes and use Seachem's PRIME to detoxify the ammonia and nitrites that are there while the water changes dilute them. The use of PRIME decreases the need for rapid reduction while not effecting the biological filtering ability. You should be having a sponge filter in there already so this shows that there is a problem with your biological filter that needs to be addressed. You may want to add some squeezings from the big tank's filter into the smaller tank to help get that BB going faster. If the big tank has a sponge filter in there, just take it over ot the small tanks and, after doing a water change, squeeze some of the "gunk" from the sponge into the tank. If you only have a sponge material or foam block in your filter, this will work as well. One squeeze should be all you need.

 

[katelyn7014]

I would continue doing daily small water changes and use Seachem's PRIME to detoxify the ammonia and nitrites that are there while the water changes dilute them. The use of PRIME decreases the need for rapid reduction while not effecting the biological filtering ability. You should be having a sponge filter in there already so this shows that there is a problem with your biological filter that needs to be addressed. You may want to add some squeezings from the big tank's filter into the smaller tank to help get that BB going faster. If the big tank has a sponge filter in there, just take it over ot the small tanks and, after doing a water change, squeeze some of the "gunk" from the sponge into the tank. If you only have a sponge material or foam block in your filter, this will work as well. One squeeze should be all you need.

All right, I'll go take a look tomorrow at my lfs for some Prime... and my small tank does have a sponge filter, but my big tank does not. So do small water changes and just take some of the water from the big tank and put some of it into the small tank (after a water change)?

 

[Tolak]

Andy is spot on with the smaller tank, you need to bump up the bio filtration, and Prime is a godsend to this hobby.

As far as the pair being slow to pick up on spawning, I've rested pairs by dropping the tank temperature & feeding lightly, looking at around 75 maybe 77F. To get them going again bring the temp up to 82-84F, feed live food, 10% daily water changes with straight cold tap besides the weekly 50% with water a couple degrees cooler. With the daily 10% cold squirt in a bit of bbs, the pair won't eat it but they'll see food available for fry.

 

[Andy Sager]

All right, I'll go take a look tomorrow at my lfs for some Prime... and my small tank does have a sponge filter, but my big tank does not. So do small water changes and just take some of the water from the big tank and put some of it into the small tank (after a water change)?

There's more bacteria in the filter than in the water. squeeze something from the filter into the small tank ( i.e. filter pad, foam block or whatever you got in there that's dirty.)In that "dirt" will be some BB to help reactivate the BB