Angelfish eggs....

[Hairy_Trev]

Hi People...

Thought I'd ask the question here as I'm sure many of you will have had more experience and success with this...

I have two pairs of Angelfish which have both spawned in the past, but so far I've not been able to get to the stage of free swimming babies.
First time (pair 1) decided to spawn the day before I went away on holiday so I decided to take the precaution of removing the parents in case they ate the eggs. Without their care, no eggs actually hatched out.
Second time, the same pair laid eggs so this time I just left the to look after them. After a few days I suddenly noticed the eggs had gone, but after checking for more info, I found the parents had moved them to a different area of tank. Again only 1 hatched out, but it was an imporvement.
Third occasion, it was the other pair which spawned for their first time, and for the next 2-3 days looked after the eggs. All was fine when I went out one evening but when I returned home, I found the eggs had gone...
Anyway.. now for my question....
Yesterday evening I happened to look into the tank and for the first time, I ACTUALLY SAW THEM SPAWNING! (Forgive my excitement.... in the past I'd only discovered a load of eggs had been laid when I wasn't looking!)
I observed the female slowly swim across the surface of a clay pot in the tank, and her mate followed immediately after along the same path. They continued like this for about an hour I think.

WHAT HAS PUZZLED ME THOUGH... in the past, the eggs that I've discovered have been a creamy white/yellow colour but these appear to be quite a deep pink colour. Is this normal? Perhaps the eggs aren't olde enough after 24 hours to have deeloped the milky appearance to make them more visible... or is it that they are currently reflecting the terracotta colour of the pot they're laid on?

In short... WHAT COLOUR ARE NEW LAID ANGEL EGGS? Mine appear very small (grain of salt sized and almost impossible to see with my bad eyesight) and a pinky reddish colour at the moment...

Any thoughts?

 

[Colin_T]

Angelfish eggs are normally clear but can be pale amber in colour.

Milky white eggs are infertile.

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If you have common angelfish (gold, silver, black, etc), they need to learn how to be parents. Most angelfish bred in Asia are reared artificially without their parents. When these baby fish mature and breed, they have no idea about parental care and regularly eat the eggs and young.

The first few times they breed they eat the eggs. Then they stop eating the eggs but eat the babies when they first hatch (little wriggly things). Eventually after 4 or 5 batches (sometimes more), the parents look after the eggs and babies and start to become good parents.

Sometimes the pair break up or fight before they get to rear up the babies. When this happens the pair needs to be separated and put in a mixed group of angelfish to form a new pair.

 

[Hairy_Trev]

Thanks for the reply Colin... the first time I've seen eggs, I've wondered if they had already gone through the transparent stage and onto the healthy amber colour... I'll keep an eye on them and see if they turn...

 

[Hairy_Trev]

Immediate worries subsided... curiously, when I watched them spawning first of all, the results I saw looked like pinky coloured pin-head sized objects.. a few turned to a creamy white which I'd seen before.. That was on Saturday night.
This evening (Tuesday) it looks like the parents have been very good, and have (for some reason) decided they weren't happy with their chosen nursery. They have moved the entire batch "next door" (onto the upturned pot immediately next to the spawn site)
Now it looks like these pink blobs are wriggling but still tiny, and not as well attached. When some fall, the parents appear to be quickly rescuing the casualty and returning it to the pot surface.
Hopefully they'll continue to be gentle, but I'm wondering at this stage now if I should remove the parents or just keep my nose out of it and not interfere!!!
(Nothing worse than someone telling their children how to be a mum!!!)

 

[Colin_T]

Do not touch them. Don't go in the tank. Don't do anything out of the ordinary.

The parents move the babies to a new location as soon as they hatch. This is for security. In the wild, word spreads pretty quickly when fish have eggs and other types of fish come in and try to eat the eggs and young. The adults move the fry to a new location each day to stop other fish finding them and eating them.

It's a really good sign if the parents are moving the fry around. Just leave the babies with the adults for the next month or more. The parents will let you know when the babies need to be removed.

Get some brineshrimp eggs and start hatching them so you have food for the babies when they start swimming about.