i watched my fish lay eggs

[stevefromga2000]

alright, i was just checking in on my fish and all of the sudden i see one actually laying eggs!!!!! she was putting them on the glass, but the ones that weren't sticking, they were eating. what do i need to do?? i thought that if there was a breeding pair then they would attack the others? i have 4 angels, and obvisously these two are trying to mate, but they don't bother the other two. what do i need to do to save these eggs, or is that even possible? all help would be helpful. here is a couple pics, sorry so blurry, but i don't have an actual camera yet, just the camcorder.

 

[Jchillin]

Congratulations! For the most part, you have at least one female. The trick now is to find out if you have a male. This is the tricky part since you have three others to choose from. For the time being, unless you have absolutely identified a male (this will take careful observation as another female will exhibit male traits, including "fertilizing" the eggs), there really is no other way to know. Did you notice the breeding tubes during the spawning? The female's tube is completely tubular while the males will end with a slight tip at the end.

 

[stevefromga2000]

i noticed a tube coming out of the female, where the eggs were coming from, and then the fish that was right next to her kept going up along the eggs as well. the second fish didn't lay any eggs, but i didn't see anything sticking out of the bottom of him, or her. the two fish there were very aggressive acting towards me and my wife. when we were looking, they both kept striking at the glass. the only thing that worries me is if they are going to survive (the eggs), or if the parents are going to eat them all. also, some of the eggs were getting knocked off of the glass and were falling down to the bottom of the tank, will they be okay there?

 

[Jchillin]

That is what I was alluding to earlier. If the eggs are not being fertilized, the point is moot. This activity can occur numerous times without a successful fertilization process. Since you were watching the activity closely, and did not see a breeding tube from the second Angel, you may have two females.

The second issue is it is very rare to get a successful spawn when the eggs are laid vertically. Do you have a smooth flat surface for them to spawn on such as a large piece of rock/slate?

 

[stevefromga2000]

i do not right now, but i can try to find something like that. is there anything else that i should get in the tank for the two of them?

the more i think about it, the more i swear that the other was a male because he was also going up and down the glass, it looked like he might have been trying to fertilize the eggs.

should i worry about them eating the eggs?

how often, if this is not successful, will this happen again?

 

[stevefromga2000]

hey everybody, i just watched her lay eggs again!!! it hasn't even been a month, and she is laying more eggs. and i am almost positive that the other is a male because he is swimming right over top of the eggs, just like last time. also, they are laying the eggs on a giant shell that we have in the tank. it isn't completley flat, but it does lay on the bottom of the tank. here is a picture, sorry it's kind of blurry, but i don't want to get too close to bother them. could i do something like put a net over top of the eggs so that nothing bothers them? just looking for something to help save them.