Moving this Fri and surprise baby angels, what to do?

[mikemou]

Hi,

Ready to move to our next home this Friday but yesterday I saw a bunch of grayish black 'worms' hanging out on the roof of an ornament temple. At first I thought they're, well, worms because I've never seen fries before, then I realized they're baby fishes. They're so tiny - 1/8 of an inch? And there' about 50 of them.

Now I don't know what to do when I move on Fri. Last time I moved, I got the fishes out in a bucket and transport it in my car, and siphoned almost all water from the 55g lightly planted tank and put it in the moving truck. It was only a 10-min drive. This time it's going to be close to 30-min.

I'd like to get the fishes and fries in a bucket like I did last time, but I don't think I'll be able to get the fries because they're all so tiny. If I leave them in the tank with enough water, will they survive? And if they do, and when I put the adults back in will they reunion as one happy family???

Thanks!

 

[Zagz]

Well if you are certain they are angelfish wrigglers you can try and move them. It all depends on the angelfish if they will successfully raise their own fry. A lot of people will try raising the fry themselves. Did you notice any eggs? With angelfish fry you have to feed them baby brine shrimp or bits of finely crushed egg yolks. Do water changes carefully with airline tubing or a turkey baster.

I think it will be extremely tough with you moving to save the fry. Good luck.

 

[Brynn]

I don't know about Angelfish fry, but I took about a dozen guppy fry home with me for spring break without a single loss. I just captured them all, put them in a 1 quart jar with fresh and old water, added some java moss, and drove home. They were about a week or two old, with a couple as old as three weeks. So it can be done, at least with guppies. Hope that helps!

EDIT: Thought I'd mention it was a five hour drive home, and it's going to be another 5 hour drive to get them back to college.

 

[Zagz]

The main difference between guppy fry and angelfish fry is that guppies are born live not hatched the way that angelfish are. Wrigglers and fry from angelfish are more delicate at the stage where their egg sacks are still attached to some extent. They are also considerably smaller at this stage than livebearer fry. You are better off not moving them out of the tank. If you can get a battery operated airstone that may help as well.

 

[jrp1588]

if they are anything like my angels, once they start breeding, they'll do it every week or two anyway. If you lose this batch there will be many...many more. haha