Wigglers At Last!!!!!

[Andy Sager]

I read somewhere that if you put the fry in a 10 gal and fill it up all the way, they'll tire themselves out swimming all over the tank especially when they're trying to get to food. So paranoid, I put the babies in a breeder box that floats in the 10 gal. What an AWFUL little contraption! The breeder box is just terrible. The fry can swim through those slits on the bottom, so there's no point. They are fine in the tank, aren't they? I have brine shrimp hatching (I was using strained egg yolk for the past couple days) so I'm sure they'll be able to find and their food and not get "tired out" in the tank .. Right?

Whoever told you that probably never bred Angelfish before. LOL I've raised over a million Angelfish fry that all started out and hatched out in 10 gal tanks.
That size is a perfect first tank.

 

[katelyn7014]

That's what I thought! I think tomorrow morning I'll just let the fry out of the breeding trap and into the 10 gallon again to swim freeeeeee! The brine shrimp should be hatched then tomorrow anyway, and that way they can get at it. I have that... continuous brine shrimp hatchery that dispenses the shrimp into the tank. They all love hanging around the machine!

 

[Andy Sager]

That's what I thought! I think tomorrow morning I'll just let the fry out of the breeding trap and into the 10 gallon again to swim freeeeeee! The brine shrimp should be hatched then tomorrow anyway, and that way they can get at it. I have that... continuous brine shrimp hatchery that dispenses the shrimp into the tank. They all love hanging around the machine!

That's an interesting sounding machine. I've not seen one like that. How does it keep the salt water from getting into the tank with the fry? Can I ask where you got it from? Do you have a link to it's description that I can have?

 

[New_b0401]

Well as of yesterday no more eggs the parents weren't picking out the white ones and the just ate them all after 70% were white maybe ill remove the eggs next time... ill see if I can manage the tanks

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[katelyn7014]

Sure! I bought it off Amazon, but there's a good website here that explains it: Tom Aquatics Hatch N Feeder

It's kind of an interesting device. It has flaws of course... but it does get the job done. As soon as the eggs hatch in the machine the shrimp swim up and then I'm assuming the current of the water inside pushes the shrimp out like a watering can straight into the aquarium. I just have to make sure I collect any extra swimming around the tank because I probably only have 12 fry, so I don't need THAT much brine shrimp...

 

[Andy Sager]

Sure! I bought it off Amazon, but there's a good website here that explains it: Tom Aquatics Hatch N Feeder

It's kind of an interesting device. It has flaws of course... but it does get the job done. As soon as the eggs hatch in the machine the shrimp swim up and then I'm assuming the current of the water inside pushes the shrimp out like a watering can straight into the aquarium. I just have to make sure I collect any extra swimming around the tank because I probably only have 12 fry, so I don't need THAT much brine shrimp...

Thanks. I looked at it and have to say, it's an interesting machine HOWEVER, it's been found that the most nutritious the shrimp Nuplii will be is when they first hatch ( or in a decapsulated form) up to approx. 6 hours old ( depending on temperature) so if these shrimp are not fed immediately after hatching, they are using up the nutrition you are feeding them to your fry for. It makes me hesitant when the description says the process to move from the hatchery to the tank may take up to 24-30 hours.
I can suggest that if you want to experiment with this machine, try splitting a spawn and see which fry grow faster, the ones with this machine or the ones with shrimp hatched the "old fashioned" way and keep us posted.

 

[delfisherman]

I hate hatching bbs but its working and my babies are growing strong. Andy do you strain and wash your bbs before releasing them?

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[Andy Sager]

I hate hatching bbs but its working and my babies are growing strong. Andy do you strain and wash your bbs before releasing them?

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Yes, I use a brine shrimp net ( made for sifting brine shrimp nuplii) and give a quick rinse under the faucet then give to the fry.
On a side note, I really don;t know why people hate hatching BBS. It's about the simplest thing to do and the best food for most fish fry. It requires no special container, minimal effort and minimal time. I'm just confused I use glass containers from the flea market or thrift stores ($.50 -$1.00 ), I bleed off air from a gang valve going to the tanks with nothing but a fishing weight or stone to keep the tubing at the bottom, and you can use any cheapo heater that's not pre set to a temperature. How hard is that? My set up is in my Instructions album in my profile if you want to see it. Multiply it by 3 for the 3 containers I use. To remove the shrimp, I do use a very sophisticated system: A piece of airline tubing with a piece of 3/16" rigid tubing. It's brutal!!! Sorry, just trying to be funny but like I said, I just don't get what the problem is? What am I missing???

 

[katelyn7014]

How long should brine shrimp be kept in the fry tank? Are you supposed to remove the brine shrimp if some haven't been eaten within a certain amount of time?

 

[katelyn7014]

And how spotless does the fry tank need to be? I do about 25% water changes every single day, and use a baster to suck up as much stuff on the bottom of the tank as I can... but I can never get every single particle. I even take a paper towel and wipe the bottom but it always seems to stir up a little bit of whatever is on the bottom. Is that little bit okay to be there? I manage to get most of the stuff off the bottom.

 

[delfisherman]

Goto petco and get a scraper for the bottom and gently scrape the bottom. Then use airline tubing to suck bottom crude up then i use a .25 in tubing to suck up the water from the upper column

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[Andy Sager]

How long should brine shrimp be kept in the fry tank? Are you supposed to remove the brine shrimp if some haven't been eaten within a certain amount of time?

Ideally, the amount of brine shrimp per feeding should be enough that there isn;t any left overs between feedings. If there is leftovers, the amount of food for the next feeding should be decreased.
I feed 3 times per day, Morning Afternoon and Nighttime. I siphon leftover food/ shrimp prior to the first feeding of the day. ( Some of my breeder friends do it right before the last feeding of the day so it's your choice. )

 

[delfisherman]

I had a batch of bbs last night that needed to be redone and didnt wanna throw out the live ones so i sucked them up cleaned them and froze them. This morning i broke some of the ice up and put it in the tanks. As it defrosted the angels loved it. They are pea sized abd growing fast.

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[Andy Sager]

I had a batch of bbs last night that needed to be redone and didnt wanna throw out the live ones so i sucked them up cleaned them and froze them. This morning i broke some of the ice up and put it in the tanks. As it defrosted the angels loved it. They are pea sized abd growing fast.

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If I may suggest, don;t put the ice in the tank so that the fry are getting the frozen BBS as the ice melts. Defrost the ice cube in a cup or something then feed the fry the thawed ( warmer) BBS. It will be kinder to their tummies
Speaking of Ice Cubes, I know many use the frozen BBS as a first food, which is great, but I like to use live for starters. What I WILL do is then make up a whole big batch of newly hatched shrimp and freeze it immediately using smaller plastic ice cube trays ( I've bought them for $.50 at the flea market or $1.00 at the dollar store). I just put a little bit of water in each cube then a "standard" ( standard will vary by your fry load) feeding of shrimp in that water then into the freezer they go. This way, when I am away and my roomie needs to feed the babies or when the fry have gotten used to feeding, just pop a cube, thaw it out and dump into the tank. Quick and easy

Hope this helps

 

[emilygupps]

Hey angel people! My 180g is chaos (again). Now it's the angels giving me a head ache. I have seven. There are two I suspected were a pair the last few months and now my only two veils seem to have paired up. That means every one is fighting all the time. The three not in a pair are usually left out of the fights but the other four go at it all day. They meet in the middle to fight then swim off.

I'm not sure if they're even old enough for babies. But as a precaution we are picking up a used 55g tall for one pair and are getting a big sponge filter ready in the 180 right now. I'm wondering if I can put a divider and put them both in there? I do have a 30 tall but right now it's full of baby fire cherry shrimp, once we figure out where to put them, we plan to put a pair in there. You would think with 7 tanks I could find a place for some shrimp... But they're SO small.



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[Andy Sager]

Hey angel people! My 180g is chaos (again). Now it's the angels giving me a head ache. I have seven. There are two I suspected were a pair the last few months and now my only two veils seem to have paired up. That means every one is fighting all the time. The three not in a pair are usually left out of the fights but the other four go at it all day. They meet in the middle to fight then swim off.

I'm not sure if they're even old enough for babies. But as a precaution we are picking up a used 55g tall for one pair and are getting a big sponge filter ready in the 180 right now. I'm wondering if I can put a divider and put them both in there? I do have a 30 tall but right now it's full of baby fire cherry shrimp, once we figure out where to put them, we plan to put a pair in there. You would think with 7 tanks I could find a place for some shrimp... But they're SO small.
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If you are going to hatch the eggs yourself, then you can divide the pairs in your 180 and let them spawn away. However, if you want the parents to raise the fry, I would move them into their own tanks making sure you consider the size of the spawn(s) so the tank needs to be big enough to handle them.

If they are fighting for the sake of fighting, you definitely need to either use a divider or possible think about rehoming some to regain peace in the tank. If you are not sure what they are doing, here's a link to videos that may help. They are at entry #21. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f82/angelfish-mating-ritual-318326-3.html#post3038223

Hope this helps

 

[emilygupps]

If you are going to hatch the eggs yourself, then you can divide the pairs in your 180 and let them spawn away. However, if you want the parents to raise the fry, I would move them into their own tanks making sure you consider the size of the spawn(s) so the tank needs to be big enough to handle them.



If they are fighting for the sake of fighting, you definitely need to either use a divider or possible think about rehoming some to regain peace in the tank. If you are not sure what they are doing, here's a link to videos that may help. They are at entry #21. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f82/angelfish-mating-ritual-318326-3.html#post3038223



Hope this helps

Okay, Andy after looking at the videos, the two males are posturing. The females usually hang back and watch. It's like two guys in a bar fighting because some one spilled a drink. The men fight in the middle while the girlfriends watch, some times the girls jump in and fight each other too. When it's all over the pairs join up and swim back to their own sides of the tank, so close they're almost touching.

I haven't noticed any mating behavior. No lip locking or anything like that.

The top picture is one pair, the one that's been hanging out for months. I believe the male is the blue pearl scale and the female is the koi.

The second picture I believe is the male of my second pair. He is the newest in the tank. Got him about a month and a half ago. The last picture I believe is the female of the second pair she usually stays hidden in the plants unless they are defending their territory. Are these fish big enough to spawn? I'm not sure how old they are.

As for a divider in the 180, no. It's my display planted tank. We've worked so hard to make this tank pretty. We are picking the 55 tall up on Wednesday, and planning to let one pair live there bare bottom with the big sponge filter once it's ready. Can I put a divider in there though? And put two pair until I get my 30 gal sorted out and ready for the second pair? Or will that space be too small?

I want to let them raise the babies on their own because I don't really want to mass produce angels. I'm quite attached to all seven that I have. Once I move the four paired up adults I think the three left can live in peace--at least for now. I think I have until jan for my two older Juvies to mature and the baby (I got for free dime sized) is still only the size of a quarter now.

I feel like I'm living with a bunch if hormonal teenagers! Thanks for your help so far Andy!

Ps. Aren't my veils beautiful?! Can't wait to see what the babies look like.


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[Andy Sager]

To answer your question if they are big enough to breed, size does not determine their breeding ability, age does, so I can't answer you. I can say that "pairing" is a typical first sign of fish preparing to enter the breeding stage of life.

I like the finnage on the gold veil but I noticed a white spot on his tail. Is this on the fish or from something in the background that makes it look like it's on the fish?

It looks like you should be getting 2 tanks then if you are planning on letting them breed. Get each pair out of the main tank so they leave the other fish alone.

Keep us posted

 

[emilygupps]

To answer your question if they are big enough to breed, size does not determine their breeding ability, age does, so I can't answer you. I can say that "pairing" is a typical first sign of fish preparing to enter the breeding stage of life.

I like the finnage on the gold veil but I noticed a white spot on his tail. Is this on the fish or from something in the background that makes it look like it's on the fish?

It looks like you should be getting 2 tanks then if you are planning on letting them breed. Get each pair out of the main tank so they leave the other fish alone.

Keep us posted

10-4 two tanks it is. Maybe that rimless tank will have to be the new shrimp tank. And I can put one pair in to the 30g It is currently plants only.

That is a mts on the glass. I'm currently at war with the snails.


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[Andy Sager]

My building comes tomorrow, the building materials on Fri. Let the games begin!!!!!