Help! Angelfish just laid eggs

[KeyholeAngel]

Hello, I have angelfish and they just laid eggs. They are in a 29 Gal with a keyhole Cichlid,(3 fish in total) and are all fighting. What should I do ? I am worried my fish will kill each other and I really don't want them to get hurt. If I were to try to catch my Keyhole Cichlid, and move him to my 20 gal, will my angels get scared and eat the eggs ? its also a planted tank and this is the fist time the angels have laid eggs I am not sure what to do, please help

Sorry I sure this question gets asked a lot but I am panicking and have no idea what to do!, sorry again!.... Help.... X_X

 

[ImACoolguy]

Hello, I have angelfish and they just laid eggs. They are in a 29 Gal with a keyhole Cichlid,(3 fish in total) and are all fighting. What should I do ? I am worried my fish will kill each other and I really don't want them to get hurt. If I were to try to catch my Keyhole Cichlid, and move him to my 20 gal, will my angels get scared and eat the eggs ? its also a planted tank and this is the fist time the angels have laid eggs I am not sure what to do, please help

Welcome.

IMO the 3 of those are too big to all be in a 29 gallon. I would move the keyhole by himself. Being cichlids, Angels do get aggressive during mating. As per the response by fighting because of lack of space. Angels need at least a 45g to be comfortable.

Congrats on the sexing though! I've heard Angels are tricky to breed hope it works out.


Caleb

~10g ghost shrimp
~45g ick is fixed! White skirt tetras.
~75g NEW! dojo loach, 5 black Skirt Tetras, 5 cherry barbs, live plants

 

[ywagner]

Angels are more than fine in a 29 gallon, I have a pair myself and just use great filtration so water quality is not an issue. What you are going to want to do if you want to save the eggs is fill a tank of bucket with the tank water and move the eggs there with a heater and a sponge filter. If you can't do that I'd recommend a fry In tank holder for them which would also work fine, but they would eventually grow out of it.

As for the angels fighting, this is common after spawning and you should not worry. They will often lip lock and peck but usually nothing too serious. If it does get out of hand just separate them for a little while and they will be back to normal.


Sent from my fish tank

 

[KeyholeAngel]

Thanks!, Yeah I know the tank is too small( knew some one would say that ) and I'm actually saving for a 75 gal for them, I've only had them for a 3 months and they are still on the smaller side compared to others I've seen and had in the past (years ago, different tank) and I just didn't think they would breed this soon!, I thought I would have more time to get a 75gal up and going before this would happen...I was wrong lol.... are you sure they wont eat the eggs if I move the Keyhole ? they were always fine together up until the last hour or so.

I think the keyhole should be ok in the 20 gal for a while, there are only 4 julie corys and a blue platie, but right now hes more curious then anything to see what the angels are doing and then darkening and getting mad that they chase him away like his missing out on the party.

 

[ywagner]

Ya the keyhole would eat the eggs, along with the parents if they feel the environment isn't right. I think what you are implying is that you want your angels to raise them? This is risky because there will be a lower to no output of babies in the end but it is cool to see them raise em. For the parents to raise them tho ALL other fish must leave besides angels otherwise you can move the eggs just as easily


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[KeyholeAngel]

Ya the keyhole would eat the eggs, along with the parents if they feel the environment isn't right. I think what you are implying is that you want your angels to raise them? This is risky because there will be a lower to no output of babies in the end but it is cool to see them raise em. For the parents to raise them tho ALL other fish must leave besides angels otherwise you can move the eggs just as easily


Sent from my fish tank

yeah, I would like for angels to raise them. I understand there might not be as many as fry left as there would if I put the fry in a separate tank. They aren't done laying eggs yet tho so there might not be anything I can do tonight about moving the Keyhole, its also getting late and i'm getting tired so I might move him in the morning(providing the eggs survive the night) I'm just debating on if I should get a new tank and what size and doesn't it need to be cycled for the fry ? and is it brine shrimp I feed the fry ? and what should I do about my filter when the fry hatch ?

 

[ywagner]

Well if you do decide to move the fry, do it ASAP so they won't get eaten. As for cycling the tank, I have always just used the previous tank water from which they grew up in. You are also gonna wanna buy some pimafix to ensure the eggs don't go white with fungus. Get a sponge filter and heater as well if you want. But if you don't I would move the keyhole soon as well, in my experience the angels do a great job in caring for them as eggs, but once they are wigglers on the ground, it's fair game for the keyhole. This wiggler stage generally takes around 3 days so watch out. Once they hatch inside the tank, get a filter sock or prefilter so they don't get sucked in. Besides these points, you should be good!


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[KeyholeAngel]

Update-

All fish and eggs are alive, no one seems injured and fighting has for the most part stopped.

I don't think I am going to move the fry, but I am going to move the keyhole later tonight or tomorrow.

I will probably be going to petsmart/petco this week, so I will probably try to get the pre-filter thanks ywagner for the advice!

does the fry food have to be live or frozen newly hatched brine shrimp ? I'm really not sure what to feed them yet

 

[ywagner]

I always like brine shrimp, the live DIY are a sure fire, but they can be messy and a bit pricier and time consuming. I personally haven't tried raising super young ones off this, but I've heard that the hikari first bites work well


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[KeyholeAngel]

cool thanks!, I bought some frozen brine shrimp, the cubed version, so hopefully that will work, but they aren't the newly hatched brine shrimp my Petco didn't have any but maybe I'll get some live ones someday. I also bought some giant filter sponge I'm going to put on the filter intake to hopefully stop the fry from getting sucked up, I couldn't find a pre-filter or anything like it in store so I'm going to make one (wish me luck it works) lol

I will post some pics when I get a chance

 

[ywagner]

Haha you shouldn't have trouble with a prefilter, be careful not to overfed and the btw the first 3 days or so they won't need food because of yolk sac so don't even try gl


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[KeyholeAngel]

I had trouble alright, kinda broke my filter intake tube a bit putting a sponge on it... yeah don't even ask LOL!... at least the sponge works fine, but now I always need a sponge on it. oops

ok cool, thanks for the tips!

I am really enjoying watching them guard and fan the eggs, its really cool

here's some pics

 

[ywagner]

Nice, pick up some pimafix. More eggs will survive with it


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[KeyholeAngel]

Update-




Well, bad news, Today I woke up and saw no eggs, My angelfish ate them all sadly. Not sure why they ate the eggs, maybe they weren't fertilized properly. The female did lay the eggs in an awkward spot, hopefully next time I/they'll have better luck.

Thanks for the help, with luck hopefully they won't breed again until I get a bigger tank for them.

 

[Derp]

Update-

View attachment 264328


Well, bad news, Today I woke up and saw no eggs, My angelfish ate them all sadly. Not sure why they ate the eggs, maybe they weren't fertilized properly. The female did lay the eggs in an awkward spot, hopefully next time I/they'll have better luck.

Thanks for the help, with luck hopefully they won't breed again until I get a bigger tank for them.

Hey sorry to here about the eggs. I don't know to much about breeding angels, but i do know after my andinoacara rivulatus eggs hatch (about 3 days) the mother will hold the wigglers in her mouth for about a week (until their free swimming). When i saw the eggs missing the first time i thought she ate them. Now i don't know if angels do this too, but maybe thats where they are?


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[ywagner]

Ya most likely the parents ate them, the first batch or two are also very small and unstable so no worries?
Just for next time I would highly recommend moving them, I know it seems like a hassle but you will be more than fine


Sent from my fish tank

 

[Andy Sager]

All may not be lost yet. The timing sounds like the eggs may have hatched and the parents moved the fry ( which is a typical thing Angels do.) Watch the parent's behavior. If they seem to be concentrating their attention to a particular area in the tank, most likely they moved the fry there. They will move them to a number of different places until they become free swimming. This is why professional breeders usually remove the eggs and hatch them out themselves. All the moving fry around can make you CRAZY!!!! lol

Good luck. Hope this helps.

 

[KeyholeAngel]

I'll keep looking, but I really think they ate them.

I might try getting another 10 or 20gal in the future for the eggs/fry. does anyone have experience with double stands? (tank on top shelf, tank on bottle shelf) or can recommend one, my 20 gal is sitting on the floor and I would probably get another tank if I had a stand where I could put two tanks on. I'm running out of space in my apartment especially with a 75 gal on the way in a month Lol

I wasn't originally planning to breed them, I just really love angelfish but I've never had a mating pair before (or any mated pair of egg layers before).

I'll make an update again if I seen anything, but thank you everyone!

 

[Andy Sager]

I'll keep looking, but I really think they ate them.

I might try getting another 10 or 20gal in the future for the eggs/fry. does anyone have experience with double stands? (tank on top shelf, tank on bottle shelf) or can recommend one, my 20 gal is sitting on the floor and I would probably get another tank if I had a stand where I could put two tanks on. I'm running out of space in my apartment especially with a 75 gal on the way in a month Lol

I wasn't originally planning to breed them, I just really love angelfish but I've never had a mating pair before (or any mated pair of egg layers before).

I'll make an update again if I seen anything, but thank you everyone!

You should be able to get an angle iron stand that will hold 2 tanks. So that will solve the space issue as the stand is just a little bigger than the tank. Just make sure you take the correct measurements of your tank so there is no hangover.

Not to diswade you from breeding your angels but you may want to read through an old thread all about breeding Angels and what to expect. Search the breeding forum or just use the search feature and look for "Wigglers at last!!!!" ( Don;t confuse it with my current thread "Wigglers 2, birth of a hatchery.") That was an ongoing thread by both professional and hobbyist Angel breeders. Pretty much everything you need to know about breeding and caring for Angelfish fry has been discussed in that thread. It's a long one but as I said, that thread answered everything.

Hope this helps.

 

[KeyholeAngel]

Thanks, I'll take a look at the forum, breeding them would be cool, but I would have no idea what to do with all those angels!

I had no idea that they were a pair when I bought them, they were just a bit bigger then a quarter but they seemed to get along really well and stick with each other at the store compared to the others. I've had angels in the past for years, but never a pair, so this is a new experience for me.

Thanks very much everyone! I will defiantly try to stick around the forums!