Angel fish swimmers dying

[Jecca04]

Please help! My mated pair of angels lay their eggs in a community tank, so I remove the eggs: on a breeding cone to a 2.5 gallon tank with meth. blue & RO water. I start doing small water changes once they begin to wiggle to start diluting the MB. I was successful with the very first clutch, getting about 30 of them to grow to big, healthy fish. From that clutch on, they all die once they become swimmers. I'm doing everything the same way. I'll take any advice anyone can offer! Thanks!

 

[ghyti]

Best advice I can give.
Be sure the 2-1/2 is clean when you put them in.
Feed them newly hatched baby brine shrimp, don't overfeed. Look for orange bellies to be sure they are eating.
Have a cycled sponge filter in the 2-1/2.
Put an extra air stone or open air line in for extra oxygen.
20 - 25% water change every day and siphon to remove left over food and other stuff.
Put in a plant, small bunch of java moss or even a bunch of green hair algae.
Don't make major changes in water parameters. ie same temp change water and don't go from RO water to tap rapidly.
They can live for about three days without food so if they are dying after about 3 days they probably are not eating. Try feeding them some infusoria for the first day or two. If you figure out the cause, let e know as I have lost a couple spawns the same way recently without a known cause.

 

[jaylach]

My first question would be why are you using meth. blue? I think most here would agree with me that it is best to not add chemicals without a specific reason as they can often cause more harm than good.

My mom bred and raised angles and could probably directly address your issue but she is no longer with us so that isn't going to happen. Still, while she was breeding and selling angels, I was just getting in to a little 10 gallon tank raising and selling fancy guppies. Still I remember one important thing she always claimed. Broad leaf live plants were, to her, essential not just to breed the adults but to provide feed as in small organisms that live on the leaves on which the fry will easily be able to feed.

 

[Ram419]

From what I've heard from other's the use of meth blue on fish eggs is to prevent fungus and bacteria from growing.

 

[GaryE]

Infertile eggs absorb dyes, so meth blue tells you which eggs have to be removed before they fungus. Once you can see which eggs are developing, it's of no use.
It's an antiseptic, but a mild, not very useful one. I doubt it would do harm though.

 

[Colin_T]

There have been problems with people breeding angelfish and using Methylene Blue on the other forum I am on. When they stopped using Methylene Blue, the babies stopped dying.

You should be using the same water as the parent's tank. Changing the water chemistry can harm or kill developing embryos.

You should leave the eggs with the adults to look after. If the other fish eat the babies or eggs, move the air of angels into their own tank or move the other fish out so the angels have their own tank.

 

[jaylach]

There have been problems with people breeding angelfish and using Methylene Blue on the other forum I am on. When they stopped using Methylene Blue, the babies stopped dying.

You should be using the same water as the parent's tank. Changing the water chemistry can harm or kill developing embryos.

You should leave the eggs with the adults to look after. If the other fish eat the babies or eggs, move the air of angels into their own tank or move the other fish out so the angels have their own tank.

Also do your best to totally isolate a tank that has both parents and babies. Angel parents are VERY protective. I remember a case where my mom lost a LOT of money due to an aunt and uncle visiting with young cousins. The cousins were like 'fish, cool' and started tapping the glass. The result was that the parent fish ate the babies. This is instinct with angels. When stressed by such things as tapping on the glass they will suck the young in to their mouths as a protective measure for the young. This is all cool except that the young won't all fit so the parents instinctively swallow to make room for more to protect. This action becomes reflexive and the end result is no babies are left. It is almost like angels are too good as parents as their protective instincts can easily kill an entire generation.