Saltwater & Reef

zparticle · 09-09-2011, 07:20 PM

So at this point there are only 8 eggs that have turned white. That is a good thing right? If these do hatch what do I feed them?

jetajockey · 09-09-2011, 08:05 PM

Definitely a good sign. The parents should be removing the white eggs, or as soon as the fish start hatching and wiggling, they'll move them all to a different spot. If you look closely over the next day or two you should see the amber colored eggs vibrating, if so, then you are in luck.

As far as feeding goes, they don't eat till their egg sac is gone, aka free swimming stage. Until then they are stuck on whatever surface the parents put them on.

Powdered anything will work, you can powder up flakes, pellets, etc, or get some ready made fry food like hikari first bites.

Personally I prefer feeding live foods because they don't foul up the water as much as prepared foods do. It also triggers the instinctual response in fish to snap at wiggling creatures, so it seems like the fish eat more. Baby brine shrimp are great, but a bit of work to culture. I like microworms the most, since they are simple to culture and maintain, and have recently been adding flake food to the culture to see if it helps make them more nutritious.

Whichever you choose, turn off filters and spot feed them with a pipette or turkey baster for best results.

zparticle · 09-09-2011, 08:06 PM

Up to 14 eggs that have turned white...EEEkkk
Of course there easily over 100 eggs on that leaf.

zparticle · 09-09-2011, 08:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jetajockey

Definitely a good sign. The parents should be removing the white eggs, or as soon as the fish start hatching and wiggling, they'll move them all to a different spot.

Do I need to put something else in there for them to move them to? This tank currently doesn't have a light source, should I go get one? Have you ever seen the male's sperm.

I could never seen anything coming out when he was trying to fertilize them. Perhaps it is a female taking on the male role. I don't think so because the bump on the head is much different.

absolutangel04 · 09-09-2011, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zparticle

Up to 14 eggs that have turned white...EEEkkk
Of course there easily over 100 eggs on that leaf.

So, I am sure you know this already, but just making sure... You are removing the white ones, right?

jetajockey · 09-09-2011, 08:14 PM

they don't have to have a light source, ambient light should be fine. I figure if I can see what the fish are doing, then they definitely can see what they are doing.

As far as the fertilization process goes, I've never seen anything, but I don't get super close to look either. If the male is making passes then that's a great sign.

If you look back a few months ago, some my angels actually formed a trio. There was 3 of them guarding and rearing eggs. They did this with 2 spawns. I don't know who was laying and who was fertilizing, but the eggs were fertile. I left the spawns with them and they didn't make it past a week because of the community setting.

You still may be in good shape, usually when the eggs are unfertilized they will all turn white relatively quickly, so here's for hoping you'll get some results.

zparticle · 09-09-2011, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by absolutangel04

So, I am sure you know this already, but just making sure... You are removing the white ones, right?

If I tried to remove them I would destroy the entire batch, so I'm not touching them.

jetajockey · 09-09-2011, 08:19 PM

You can remove them with a steady hand and an eye dropper, but I've never done it with a spawn that the parents were still watching over.

zparticle · 09-09-2011, 08:29 PM

Here is a good article about AF breeding.

zparticle · 09-09-2011, 10:49 PM

The parents have taken out the white eggs! Yippeee.

Cichildlife · 09-09-2011, 10:52 PM

Yea! Hope you get babies should be cute babies

JoeBob · 09-09-2011, 11:01 PM

Man, I'm so happy for you z, I will post a video of mine. I caught them right when they started, as jetajockey said, as the female lays the eggs he will follow right behind and fertilize. you can see the sperm pretty easily (at I least I could) its white and milky. In my tank the parents just ate all the white eggs. If they are fertilized they should start squirming in a few days, it only takes a short time till they're free swimming (I had to stay home from work on the day i guessed it would happen and luckily it did!) I fed my fry BBS that I hatched at home (very easy) I tried a powder food I got at Petsmart that they ate, but it was really hard not to way overfeed! I'll try to post some videos, I have the whole process recorded. GOOD LUCK! (sorry for the book)

zparticle · 09-09-2011, 11:10 PM

Very cool Joebob bring on the video!

absolutangel04 · 09-09-2011, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zparticle

The parents have taken out the white eggs! Yippeee.

Thats great! Mine apparently need to learn some better parenting skills, because I always have to do it.

JoeBob · 09-09-2011, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zparticle

Very cool Joebob bring on the video!

Update, I am trying to navigate the YouTube so please be patient and know that I am fearlessly (Yeah right) trying to conquor the digital world.

Sadly, the first one with them laying and fertilizing is awful and blurry, but i have one from day 7 that's pretty clear and one from day 8 when they started free swimming. Your video is really cool to me as I've only seen my angels and they laid their eggs on the tank glass itself so I could'nt move them and i did'nt have room to move everyone else so it ended badly, but it was great for about 6 or 7 weeks. I really like you're "breeder" tank - Good luck again.

JoeBob · 09-09-2011, 11:47 PM

Okay here we go; I appologize in advance for goofy commentary!
day one.angels fertilizing eggs - YouTube

Day 7.AVI - YouTube

Day 8 Free at last - YouTube

hope they are interesting and don't worry, they're pretty short!

Hope you're very successful