AN ANGELFISH SPAWN

No matter how many times it happens, I still get excited when the angelfish spawn. In the attached crummy picture is an angelfish hatched and raised in my aquarium along with a clutch of eggs that the pair just moved to the top of a driftwood branch. Both parents are in the aquarium, but I could get only one of them to pose for the picture.

Well, the picture didn't work so I'll try again. And it looks like both parents are in the picture. The eggs look white, but they're not.

OK. I couldn't resist posting this picture of the new free swimmers. They're the little white dots. The thing on the left is one of those in tank brine shrimp hatcheries.

Well, the durn picture has too many pixels or what ever. HELP!

another try

about how big were your angels when they syarted to breed?

Not counting fins, they were about half dollar size. The angelfish were hatched and raised in my aquariums and, although I don't keep strict records, I believe they were about nine months old. I'm raising two batches of their fry, and this morning they spawned again. They were parent raised and so far have done a good job of raising their own fry. I moved the parents about four to six weeks after spawning. Leaving them with the fry seems to delay spawning and thus produces larger clutches of eggs.

Hey John, I didn't know you were doing golds now. Those are really pretty. Good luck with them.

The golds just happened from a pair that included a silver and a marble. So far, their two small batches are all golds. Who knows why?

Thanks for joining this forum.

Hmmmm, they look really nice. I would be interested in one of the babies when they are up for grabs. I always have trouble finding nice golds around here. They look like parent raisers.

The little guys are still pretty small but growing fast. I'll let you know when they get big enough to move and will be happy to give you some of them. I've read before that parenting skills are inherited, and I'm starting to believe it. Even the best ones, though, will occasionally eat a batch. Right now, I have two pairs spawning in community tanks plus a couple spawns of dime size marble angelfish and too many aquariums. As soon as the juvenile marbles get big enough, I plan to trade most of them to PTF and focus more on the golds, which should be easier to sell. And speaking of local aquarium shops, Amazon is getting ready to open in a new location.

Thanks again for participating in this forum. I hope other AWF people will migrate over.

Thanks John, that sounds fantastic. I have a really nice dark marble female with a gold crown I would like to pair up with one of them. Right now she is in with a really aggressive male koi who is quite the dummy and is always after her. They have both had tubes down looking like they were going to spawn, but they can never quit fighting and get down to business. I am going to put out an ad to rehome the koi.

You could try separating them for a few days. Sometimes that works really well.

I have considered that and I do beleive it would help him calm down. However, past experience with this fish has taught me that he really is just a dummy. He was "paired" with a gold I had and was just there to eat the eggs. Honestly, I am not really interested in having him procreate. He does not seem to have parenting insticts. Your fish seem to and that is something I am interested in breeding. The koi is a Petsmart fish(no longer purchasing those) and likely his insticts to breed have been bread out of him. Actually, he has the instict, but not enough to tell him that when the female starts cleaning he is supposed to help. Not chase her away and start cleaning somewhere else. So far he has not caused injury to the female.

I think the hobby is better because of people developing different variations of aquarium fish, but I also think that getting the desired characteristics sometimes requires a sacrifice of other desirable characteristics. No matter how careful breeders are, genetic engineering seems to hold out surprises. There is also the fact that most fish farms don't mix parents and fry and are not interested in life cycle issues unless they affect production. If they were not so efficient, we wouldn't have so many choices. So thanks to the fish farms and dedicated professionals.

On the other hand, I'm just a hobbyist with the perspective of somebody who likes to keep and raise aquarium fish. Making money is not an issue, although making the hobby pay for itself would be nice. Letting angelfish follow their instincts is, to me, considerably more interesting than raising livestock.

OOOOOPS! My soap box slipped.

I'm trying to deal with Angels right now... My 4 pairs... are down to 3 as of today...

When I went to bed last night... All were good and fine, eating well and everything... Then when I woke up this morning... My male gold (which is quite big...) was listing hard to the side... Then before long he was stuck in the plants...

I quickly hopped out of bed and did a 50% water change... Although the water tested fine, and I had done a water change last Friday...

I don't think he was old either... from what I know, this was from a group of Angels that paired off in a large 120 tank from the time they were quarter size...

I don't know... it's just been a bad day...

Hopefully things will straighten out soon...

Awe gosh Angela ...that is sad.
So sorry to hear about your loss. Were you able to figure out what may have been the cause?
Strange things happen sometimes..and when we are not able to determine why??
..it is a bit discouraging.
Hope all your others remain OK.

Awww, that is too bad. It is hard when they go and you don't know why. Sometimes it is just a fluke thing. They cannot tell us if they are not well and sometimes things like heart attacks happen suddenly. I hope your day gets better. Maybe tomorrow will be a great day. Hang in there.

I have absolutely no idea what happened...

I keep up pretty good with my water changes... I feed really well... I don't know.

Yeah... I'm REALLY hoping tomorrow will be better... I also wasted about 4 hours today redesigning a sign for a realtor... just for her to say that I was too expensive and she'd just use her regular person... UGGG! What a day... I'm ready for bed! LOL!

Sounds like you had one of those days that the teacher warned you about. I hope today is better. Heck, you may even win the lottery.

If none of the other angelfish were sick, I wonder if the unexplained death could be attributed to genetic engineering. In the last decade, so many new types of angelfish have been introduced that all the selective breeding is bound to have produced some unwanted characteristics. I know 50 years is a long time, but when I got into the hobby, the only angelfish available were the standard silvers.

It could be.

He was a GORGEOUS HUGE Gold Super Veil...

And, this pair was the last of the group to pair off. The man that was trying to pair them, had given up on them. The fry that I have been trying to raise from them have been VERY hard to raise...

There's a good possibility that happened... Or just a Who knows?

Oh well... Today is a little better... I've got the house cleaned... LOL! Got all the old crud outta the fridge... LOL!

I am glad to hear your day was a little better.It seems it is inevitable that we encounter unpleasant people in our daily lives. Particularly our jobs. Just keep in mind you can't always please everyone all the time. I am sure you are doing your very best. Awww, who am I to give advice. I really just mean to give encouragement.

Thanks Meg!

Sometimes that's all it takes!!!

Angela..just lookin' at your picture...and reading all your posts..you are one sweetheart
of a person. Keep smilin' sweetie !!
Yeah..we cannot always control what others reponses are to us..all we can do is try to be the best person we know how. I think you do a great job at that!!
I am glad to hear you had a better day today as well !!

Angela: Please let me know when you win the lottery; maybe we can discuss a loan.