Angel fry dying

[Ravin]

Hi All,


I've been trying to raise a batch of Angel fry. They were deposited onto an Amazon sword plants leaf (must have been around a hundred). This I transferred into a different smaller (but mature) aquarium - it's a type with a bio wheel. The eggs hatched within 2-3 days and seemed to be developing fine. I initailly fed (3 times a day) drops of fry food and a week later onto crushed flake. However as the days went on more and more fry just kept dying - up until they all died!

I was wondering what i'm doing wrong. The Angels have just laid a new batch on a new leaf (must be about 300) - but i'm a bit hesitant to put them in the other tank. If I leave them with the parents (in the comunity tank) the eggs after some time simply get eaten.

What can I do?

 

[black angel]

hi
what size tank did you move them too?
maybe you went to crushed flake too soon. you could try tetramin for baby fish. this is a fine powder.
the other tank would need to have all the perameters the same as the big tank. did you do test kits on them both?

 

[Ravin]

Hi,


Thanks for the reply.


The new tank is a 20gal, it's been matured using water and sponges from the main tank. All parameters tested fine before the eggs went in - but I still carried out small water changes to keep the water fresh. The flake had been powedered right down - and I only gave small amounts.

The new leaf is starting to show signs of life now so not long before they hatch - i'm thinking - try again, they will only get eaten.

Thanks for your responses.


Ravin.

 

[babyfish]

If you want to raise angelfry successfully then you need a supply of tiny live foods such as microworms or freshly hatched brineshrimp.

Any fry can't resist the wiggle factor and will stuff themselves silly.

Most fry deaths happen due to water quality or starvation and both can be avoided

 

[heresmike]

A breeder acquaintence of mine suggested Cyclop-eeze as an alternative to baby brine shrimp, which are IME a real hassle to deal with. You most likely won't find Cyclop-eeze in your store, but can order it from marinedepot.com. You'll want the 'whole freeze-dried' product, which is misleading because it's powdered. I also bought some wafers for my adult fish, and boy do they love it, and it really brings out their color! Another alternative to bbs is No BS Fry Food. You'll have to order it from the maker, and you can find it by doing a google search. I've used both of these on fry with excellent results.

 

[Erik]

I agree with Babyfish. I would also recomend small bare bottomed tanks with very little water to start with and lots of water changes increasing the amount of water in the tanks as the fry grow. I used to use 5 gal. plastic jugs, the kind that restaurants get their deep fry oil (grease) in. They normaly threw these away so I got them for free. I cut the tops off and cleaned very well with hot water. If I needed to heat these tanks, I floated them in larger heated tanks. Feeding bbs, you should be able to see them eating and be able to tell when they are full by their bulging orange bellies. Bbs were fed 3 to 4 times a day. As the fry grew I moved them into larger bare bottomed tanks and began feeding crushed flake food when I knew they were hungry and again watched to see if they eating it, if not the excess was removed and the next scheduled feeding was with bbs. You could also try 1 gal juice or milk jugs instead of the 5 gal I used. All tanks were aerated with airstones which I removed during feeding to reduce the turbulance in the water to enable the fry bettor access to the food and for me to be able to see if they were eating.

Hope this helps.

Erik

 

[gto_cowgirl]

You need to start out with a small tank/container for at least their first meal so they can find food faster. Also, tank needs to be bare bottomed, intake tube of a hang over filter needs to have a sponge over it to prevent the fry from getting sucked up.

Also, Raising brine shrimp is not hard. You add 1 tablespoon of non-idionized salt, 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon of bring shrimp eggs to 80 degree water with a airstone. After 24 hours, you put a flashlight or lamp light near the bottom of the hatchery so the brine shrimp will come to it, then you suck them out with a turkey bastor, rinse and feed. It is that simple.

Remove angelfish eggs (don't let them stay out of the water more than a few secs)

Place angelfish eggs in a new tank 5g or smaller for the first couple of days

Place the leaf against the tank wall with a clip or something

Add a airstone (place it very close to the leaf but not to close where the bubbles touch the eggs)

Add Meth Blue to the tank, enough to make it dark blue. (I added a teaspon and a half for my 5g)

Day 2 from which the eggs were layed, the eggs will begin to wiggle.

Begin Daily Water changes of about 30-40% a day to slowly get rid of the meth blue and to keep the water clean.

Day 6 from which the eggs were layed, Begin Baby brine shrimp hatchery

Day 7 from which the eggs were layed, fry become free swimmers, feed them but do not overfeed.

Every day afterwards, you should do a 40-50% water change and then depending on how large your spawn is, you will probably need to move them to another bare bottom (20g) for more room.

So far, that is as far as i got, i'm on day 12. A good breeding site is:
Angelfish Breeding FAQ - It gives you a schedule of what happens to the eggs the first week.

 

[Erik]

Good advice gto. I do wonder about your quanity of M. Blue, seems like a lot. I have never used more than 1 drop per US gallon.

Erik

Sounds like you have raised some Angel fry.

 

[gto_cowgirl]

I spent weeks looking up how much to Meth Blue to use. I think it really varies on what works for you. Some people don't use alot while others have said to use it till it turns dark blue.

The batch of angelfish fry i'm raising right now had dark meth blue and only 4-5 died from fungus or infertile. A while back when i didn't use as much Meth Blue i had more eggs that died from fungus (not that big but was a difference). Maybe the male angelfish was having problems or this time i got lucky, i'm not quiet sure.

 

[nightowl1350]

Congrats on the angel eggs! gto_cowgirl has the right steps. All you need is a small tank, heater and airstone for the first week. Once they become free swimmers (day 7 from day layed) you will need micorworms or fresh bbs. At that point if you use meth blue it should be out of the tank and the water shoud be clear. You will also need to put a sponge filter in once they swim. It should be cycled in the tank the eggs came from. If you put it in the day the eggs are layed that is plenty of time, if not put one in asap and hope it has cycled.
A must for raising angles is daily w/c on fry tanks and wipe the bottom of the tank. I leave the lights on (or a room light) for weeks so they don't settle on the bottom at night.
I use hydrogen perodixe (3 % solution) to hatch eggs. About 1/2 cap every 12 hours prevents fungus on the eggs....some use it in the wiggler stage, but I don't unless there is a fungus problem.
Good luck!