Angelfish Fry Died

[Chebird]

I lost my first batch of Angelfish fry after they were free swimming for about a week. They would lay on the bottom and then just die. They were housed in a plastic container which was inside a 10 gallon tank. The original water was the water where they were laid. It was water from my 120 gallon. They were fed Instant Baby Brine Shrimp and Hikari First Bites 4 times a day. They had full bellies and were thriving. The fry container was vacuumed out every day. Water from the 10 gallon was used to refill the fry container, then well water was used to refill the ten gallon. There is a seeded sponge filter in the 10 gallon and an airstone in the fry container. The temperature was 78 degrees F.

I now have a second batch from different parents in the same set-up. They have been free swimming about 4 days, and I don't want to lose these babies. We are slowing raising the temp up to 82 degrees F. I have added a little bit of aquarium salt in the 10 g, and some Api Quick Start in both the container and the 10 g. Brine shrimp eggs are on order, but truthfully, they seem to be doing well with the food mentioned above. Their little bellies are full, and today, they seem to be doing great. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Colin_T]

Don't separate the babies from the adults. Angelfish and other cichlids look after their young for the first month or so and the babies should be looked after by their parents.

Feed the babies on newly hatched brineshrimp and keep the water clean.

Poor water quality (ammonia and nitrite) and starvation are the most common causes of fish fry death.

 

[Chebird]

Don't separate the babies from the adults. Angelfish and other cichlids look after their young for the first month or so and the babies should be looked after by their parents.

Feed the babies on newly hatched brineshrimp and keep the water clean.

Poor water quality (ammonia and nitrite) and starvation are the most common causes of fish fry death.

Thank you for your reply. The parents are in a community tank, but we can buy another tank for breeding. So, do you think the food isn't good enough? I have an order of shrimp eggs on the way, but it won't be here till next week. How much of a water change should we do daily?I just hope I can keep these alive.

 

[Colin_T]

if they are in a small container without a filter, you should change all the water each day.

 

[itiwhetu]

I always use egg yolk as the first food. And I don't like brine shrimp because of the salt content. Feeding egg yolk as per my thread " First Food" is easy and safe for all fry. Give the fry as much water as you can.

 

[Fish4dawin]

@itiwhetu, how did you get the DCL ( dwarf chain loach) in your profile pic?

 

[Chebird]

if they are in a small container without a filter, you should change all the water each day.

I never thought we would have a water quality problem with such small fish, but lo and behold, we did! Hubby is now checking water quality several times a day and changing water accordingly! Thank you, Colin!

 

[Colin_T]

The baby fish don't create mush waste, it is mainly caused by the fish food used to feed the baby fish. Any uneaten fish food will cause ammonia problems within a few hours and is a common cause of fish fry deaths in containers/ tanks without an established biological filter.

 

[ghyti]

Baby Angels will overeat to the point of death, four times a day seems a little too much. Mine do well eating newly hatched brine shrimp twice a day. Yes, large daily water changes are required. rather than that plastic container, get a 2-1/2 tank with a proper filter, that will work much better. 78 is a pretty good temperature, I would not increase much beyond that and 82 is too warm for domestic Angels.

 

[itiwhetu]

@itiwhetu, how did you get the DCL ( dwarf chain loach) in your profile pic?

The photo was a lucky shot. I had a 250 liter community tank with about a dozen of these guys in it. They are super cool fish, I would say the best of the loaches.

 

[Fish4dawin]

The photo was a lucky shot. I had a 250 liter community tank with about a dozen of these guys in it. They are super cool fish, I would say the best of the loaches.

I will be looking at getting some when I use RO water. Downside is that they aren't the cheapest.

 

[itiwhetu]

I will be looking at getting some when I use RO water. Downside is that they aren't the cheapest.

Worth the money, they are hardier than most and from my experience are disease free.

 

[Chebird]

Update on the fry hatched 12/24/20: I am now only feeding the live BBS 2X/day, and we are still experiencing some dying every day. The ones that are dying are smaller than the others. They lay on the bottom and don't seem to be able to swim. Parameters are checked 2X/day, and the water is changed accordingly. We use well water which is floated in a 1/2 gallon jug which is floated in a 10 gallon tank .I still have about 75 fry in the one-gallon plastic container floating in the heated 10 gallon. The ones who are not tiny look great. Is it normal for some fry to just not develop properly?

 

[ghyti]

Yes it is pretty normal for some of the fry to be small and sickly. Some people call them belly sliders. These are the ones that the parents cull in the wild or by parent raisers. It is an indication of the relative health of the parents. If one or more parent has weak genes a larger majority of the offspring are runts. One reason for weak genes in the parent could be from too much inbreeding.

 

[Chebird]

Yes it is pretty normal for some of the fry to be small and sickly. Some people call them belly sliders. These are the ones that the parents cull in the wild or by parent raisers. It is an indication of the relative health of the parents. If one or more parent has weak genes a larger majority of the offspring are runts. One reason for weak genes in the parent could be from too much inbreeding.

Thank you so much! I was thinking the same thing.