Breeding angel fish

[Candi1990]

I have successfully bread my mollies, and I accidentally had jack dempsey fry that have successfully lived! Now i want to try my luck with my angel fish. I have had 3 of them for about 6 months. I have no idea if they are male or female... I think I need to buy a few more in hopes of getting a couple that will pair up. Is there a special way to breed them? They are in a 30 gal tank now with an algae eater. Please tell me what I need to do to breed them. Thanks!

 

[bob mccoy]

well u need atleast a 55 gallon for 2 pair. thats what i have. they USUALY dont pair off untillabour 9 mts. to a year old. . when u
put them together they will pair off on there own then pull the extra ones out. i use either a piece of long slate tile or two clay pots stacked big openings together for them to lay eggs on. some people will use a piece of pvc 2 inch pipe also. i keep my breeder tank at 82 temp. one time a week do a 30 percent water change with a little cooler water about 75to 79 temp. clean water and gravel are a necessity to breeding. keep snails and plecos out cause they will eat the eggs. angels love live tall plants to swim around such as swords. i hope i helped a little . i get eggs every 15 days so im doing something rite lol. pm me with any more questions. you will get lots of different opinions so except all info and use what u can. u will develope your own process as you go.

 

[Andy Sager]

Breeding Angels...

I have successfully bread my mollies, and I accidentally had jack dempsey fry that have successfully lived! Now i want to try my luck with my angel fish. I have had 3 of them for about 6 months. I have no idea if they are male or female... I think I need to buy a few more in hopes of getting a couple that will pair up. Is there a special way to breed them? They are in a 30 gal tank now with an algae eater. Please tell me what I need to do to breed them. Thanks!

As stated above, there are a number of different ways that people breed these fish. I would argure Mr. McCoy's comment above that Gravel is a necessity for breeding. I strongly disagree. As a former commercial Angelfish breeder, bare tanks are a HUGE benefit for keeping the fry healthy. He is correct that clean water is a must
If you don't know how to sex the fish, you would be wise to put a number of them together and let them pair off themselves.( No more than 12 fish total if it's a 30 long.) I move the pairs into their own tanks for subsequent breeding. Communal breeding tends to have bad consequences as the pairs fight for breeding rights with the other fish in the tank. You don't want them breeding too young tho as the fry will be small and harder to care for. I have kept pairs, that have naturally paired off, apart for more growing time. When I reintroduced them at a later time, they stayed as pairs and bred.

As for breeding tanks, all my Angels were bred in a 10 gal tank. (I've had up to 100 pairs of fish at a time that were each in 10 gals. so this is not too small for breeding.) All that should be in this tank is a sponge filter, heater, water, spawning site (I preferred slate but any long flat surface will do) thermometer and the pair of fish. Privacy will also be a big benefit.

I also offer you, PM me if you would like more info on breeding Angels.

 

[Aron]

Just putting my bit in 'cos I didn't see it mentioned yet, pH should be as close to 6.5 as possible for them to spawn. Also, I'd let the parents raise the fry from eggs the first few times because artificially hatching can be a right pain. Only go to this option if you have no luck with your first four or five spawns. Alder cones are a good natural way of introducing fungicide to help the eggs and bogwood is good at getting that pH to 6.5.

 

[BillD]

Once again good advice from Andy. Aron, you are mistaken about the importance of pH in angel keeping. Other than Altums, regular scalare and especially tank bred fish do quite well and breed in alkaline water. Mine bred regularly and successfully at pH 8.

 

[Andy Sager]

Angels and PH

Just to expand on BillD's comment regarding PH, It will strongly depend on the origin of the fish. Most pure wild Scalare Angels won't breed unless they are in neutral to slightly acidic water. (Altums go even more acidic.) The tank raised fish that are generations removed from their wild counterparts seem to have a higher tolorence for PH variations. So Aron, you are partially right but it's situational

 

[Candi1990]

I just found more jack fry so I can't breed my angel fish. I have to use the tank I was going to buy for the new jack babies.

 

[absolutangel04]

As for breeding tanks, all my Angels were bred in a 10 gal tank. (I've had up to 100 pairs of fish at a time that were each in 10 gals. so this is not too small for breeding.) All that should be in this tank is a sponge filter, heater, water, spawning site (I preferred slate but any long flat surface will do) thermometer and the pair of fish. Privacy will also be a big benefit.

I see you that have said you had success doing this, but for my part, I would absolutely never put a single full grown angel in a 10g tank, nonetheless put in a pair. I have kept several angels whose previous owners kept them long term in 10g tanks and the fish were stunted. I am not sure if you are referring to the 10g tanks only for breeding purposes or for long term housing, but I would not do either.
I prefer to leave my angels in their larger tanks and just remove the eggs into smaller tanks after spawning. As has been stated, there are multiple ways to do this, and a pair of P. scalare angels will usually breed without too much prodding.