where do I go from Here

[frank98284]

Ok so here is what I have I Had two Angels witch I thought were male and female then I thought I saw them both laying eggs so I found another adult male introduced him to the tank then he and the fish who I thought was a male started fighting then that cooled down then the original two started spawning and started attacking the male I introduced. So I pulled him and put him in my 20 tall then the original two ate their eggs so. Then I bought a proven pair of angels and those did not make it in two days so they showed up dead. So the person who I bought them from sent me some more angels they are about four months old and she sent me four different kinds.So I put them in the 75gal tall with the original two and the male or so I think is a male startED being very aggressive to the new fish so I put him in with the other but head in the 20 tall. So I found a 25 tank that is pretty tall for cheap. I would love to raise some offspring but not sure where I go from here do I put the original two in the 25 with a piece of slate and see how it goes or pull the slate and use the gallon jar method. then raise the fry in the 20 or 25 getting more tanks is not a option at this point my wife would kill me. What should I do ? where do I go from here.

 

[frank98284]

Come on what should I do ?

 

[Andy Sager]

Come on what should I do ?

First off, trying to put more fish into a tank with a breeding pair is a tough sell. Breeders, especially Angels, become very territorial about their mates so they want to protect them from any other fish.
That being said, if you have 2 females spawning together ( it's rare but not unique), the only way I know to prevent what you had happen is to separate the 2 females into different tanks and add males to each tank to see if they will accept them as mates. No guarantees this will work however. ( It didn't with my female pair. )

Personally, I'd put the pair ( either both females or one of the egg layers with the new male) into the 25 and let the other fish grow up in the 75. That's about the safest thing you can do for all involved.
The thing you really should be asking yourself is ARE YOU SURE you can handle all that's involved with breeding Angels? It's not a 1 or 2 tank deal. Angelfish can bury you in fry. You should have a tank for the breeders, a 1st tank for the fry, then a larger grow out tank for the fry to grow up in. Crowding fish fry is the main reason you will be having problems along the way. Keep in mind that Angels can produce 200, 300, 500 or more eggs per spawn. AND they can be spawning as frequently as every 7-10 days. That's a lot of babies. A 25 gal tank cannot support that kind of load for very long. A 75 is what I used to use just to grow out 100-150 fry. (I had many of these tanks and vats to grow out the fry. ) If your fry are overcrowded, things like this can happen: You stunt the growth of the fish, body development is altered, the bigger fry will prey on the smaller fish, fry become diseased from the stress of overcrowding, diseases spread to other tanks if you don;t carefully monitor where your nets, hoses, hands, etc. have been. It can become a GIANT mess.

As much as I would love to have everybody breeding Angels, it's not for everybody and it takes some big demands. If adding more tanks is not an option for you, I'd strongly suggest you reconsider this venture. As an alternative, there are other fish types that can be better suited for limited tank space. Kribensis , Convicts, and some of the mouth brooding African Cichlids come to mind. Kribs and Convicts are known to be great parents to their fry. They will raise a spawn better than Angels will. If you want more of a challenge, try Rams or other apistogrammas/microgeophagus fish. Again, these fish don't produce the quantity of fry like the Angels do so tank space is less of an issue.

Just some things to think about

Hope this helps