Unintentional spawn

[RnBMum]

I have 4 angels in a 70 gallon community tank that I have raised from dime sized babies. I noticed today that there is a collection of eggs on my filter tube that I assume might belong to a couple of them based upon the fact that they are hanging close and shooing away anyone else who gets close.
Here are the eggs... I assume the opaque ones are dead?



As this was unintentional, any fry would be an exciting bonus, but I worry about their safety (since I have an esoteric bunch in the tank, including hatchet fish, silver dollars, rainbows and a ropefish).

Is there a way for me to safely transfer the eggs, or should I wait until they are wigglers and try to catch at least some? I'd love to let the parents rear them, but fear that they would be a tasty snack for their tank mates.


Allison
Freshwater fish-head for more than 20 years now, but salt water newbie.

 

[Andy Sager]

So far, you seem to be on the mark for what these are. Yes, the white ones are dead. The bad thing is that these were laid so close to the intake of the lift tube. This increases the chances that the eggs didn't get fertilized or a reduced amount got fertilized.
As for parent raising the fry, this is not an easy task in a community tank. It's best done in a separate tank with just the parents and the fry ( so the tank needs to be of some size. ) You can try to artificially hatch these eggs in a separate tank but that will mean disassembling your filter so the whole tube can be removed. Not an easy task considering the position they were laid in. As for any fry surviving, there is little hope of this considering the other tankmates. The chances are greater that the eggs or fry will get eaten than they will survive. There is always hope but the odds are very stacked against it (sorry to say.) What you may want to do is pay close attention to who is guarding the eggs then remove that pair into their own tank so that when they spawn again, your chances of success increase dramatically
2 things to consider: eggs are much easier to move than wigglers or free swimming fry and mated pairs of Angelfish are not good tankmates in a community tank. As you saw, they become very territorial when they are ready to spawn and have been known to kill other tankmates that come too close. It's always a chance you take when having breeders in a community tank.
There is an old thread in the breeding forum titled "Wigglers at last!!!" which was an ongoing discussion by both hobbyist and pro Angelfish breeders that discussed just about everything you need to know about breeding and raising Angelfish. You may want to read through it so you know what you are getting yourself into.

Hope this helps