Breeding Angelfish
Breeding Angelfish is a wonderful experience that every aquarium hobbyist should experience at least once. Angelfish are very colourful characters in a tropical freshwater aquarium and are considered as a must in a community aquarium. These fish usually pair up quite quickly ad soon as they are placed into the tank provided there is a male and a female. Sexing them is a bit difficult so to ensure a male and a female are present, it is better to keep a group of 4-5 Angelfish in the aquarium.
Once the fish pair up, it can be observed that the male might chase away or brawl with other male Angelfish. This courtship that the fish engage in shows that they are fighting over the female so sooner or later laying of eggs should be expected. Eggs are pretty easy to recognise. They are small white/transparent spots mostly found on flat surfaces like plant leaves. The female lays the eggs in evenly spaced in straight lines and the male follows her behind fertilizing the eggs. Angelfish lay between 40-100 eggs. The fertilized eggs are mostly transparent while the unfertilized ones turn white after approximately 24 hours. It will take around 60 hours for the eggs to hatch and during that time period the fry become more distinguishable from within their eggs. Due to the fact that Angelfish are considered to be good parents, they protect the eggs by chasing away other fish. In addition they keep the eggs clean by placing them into their mouth and then back on the surface where they were laid but also tend to eat the unfertilized eggs. This is very important for the survival of the eggs since they prevent the eggs from becoming fungus infested. If the pair has laid eggs for the first time then they tend to eat all of the eggs. It usually takes a couple of lays to learn and successfully keep their eggs.
The breeder has three choices. The first is to keep the eggs into the tank with the parents and the rest of the fish. This minimizes the chances of survival dramatically since if the eggs are not eaten by other fish then when they hatch the fry will be either eaten by other fish or get sucked into the filter. Very few might be able to survive provided they have enough hiding places which is usually the case in a heavily planted tank.
The second choice is to remove the eggs from the tank if possible and place them into a breeding tank without the parents or any other fish. The risk in this case is that the eggs might be attacked by fungi so the best preventative measure is to add fungicide and make a lot of water changes. Take care when moving the eggs from one tank to another so as not to leave them exposed in air for a long time. A few seconds might be enough to destroy the eggs. Furthermore, low light levels show more successful results.
Finally the most appropriate and successful method is to move the eggs and the parents in a breeding tank together. The breeding tank should have nothing at all apart from an airstone to oxygenate the water. The parents will take care of the eggs and when hatched the fry might prefer to eat from the skin of their parents rather from the fry food you will provide them. Frequent water changes are essential in this case so as to keep the water clean and infectious free. Take special care when removing and adding water not to disturb the eggs.
Once the eggs hatch they will be wiggling around in the tank. Do not feed them until after approximately 5 days where the fry are able to swim around. Then feed them with liquefied fry food or brine shrimp. Do not add too much food to avoid polluting the water and feed approximately 4 to 5 times a day, even though they could survive without food for 12 hours.
