# Angelfish fry anxiety



## Juggler (Apr 19, 2017)

Hi,

My angelfish spawned and have a big cloud of free-swimming babies now. Wondering what I should do for them. They live in a 75 G freshwater tank with 2 smaller angelfish (possibly both males, since they fight sometimes but haven't made a go at spawning), 10 or so green cory cats, a bristlenose pleco, three ember tetras and one dwarf neon rainbowfish. (The tetras and rainbowfish started out as bigger schools long ago but these are the survivors.) It's a moderately-planted, low-tech tank.

The babies became free-swimming yesterday. The parents have been fantastic at taking care of them, scooping up and returning any that stray too far away, and keeping the three potential predators (the other angels and the neon) cowering at the other end of the tank. It's been fun to watch. But now, this evening the parents have taken their babies out of the corner and are hanging out in the middle of the tank. The other angels are getting bolder and I'm worried the fry will get eaten. Wondering what to do.

I do have some mesh material I could make a divider with, and cut the tank in half. But the babies would most likely be able to slip through though, and then parents couldn't retrieve or protect them. I have a 5 gallon "hospital tank" here that I could turn into a nursery, or I have a 10-gallon empty at work that I could bring home if I take a cab. Or I could try to rehome the other angels which are large and lovely and I'd be sad to see them go but might be better for them... I don't have room for another large aquarium. What would you do?
I don't actually want/need 150 babies either, but would rather give them away than have them be massacred...

Thanks!


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## infolific (Apr 10, 2016)

I have yet to raise a spawn of babies angels, but I've tried and did a lot of reading as a result. From what I've read, the babies won't survive in the environment you've described. The parental care will eventually end leaving the babies vulnerable.

Your best bet is to separate the babies and keep them in a smallish aquarium. A small aquarium will make it easier to feed them i.e. they won't have to swim far. Of course, a small aquarium will require more water changes. And, ideally, the small aquarium would already be cycled.

If you do decide to give up some of the babies, let me know. I'd be interested in trying to raise some. I'm working on raising pseudomugil furcatus babies now so I'm already hatching baby brine shrimp which would be good for the angels too.


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## Juggler (Apr 19, 2017)

"I have yet to raise a spawn of babies angels, but I've tried and did a lot of reading as a result."

-- I'm curious, how far did you get?

"The parental care will eventually end leaving the babies vulnerable."

-- So far they're amazing parents. How long do you think that lasts?

"If you do decide to give up some of the babies, let me know. I'd be interested in trying to raise some. I'm working on raising pseudomugil furcatus babies now so I'm already hatching baby brine shrimp which would be good for the angels too."

-- If you'd like I could give you a few babies, in trade for a meal of bbs. I don't have the space/setup to hatch bbs so have been using hard-boiled egg yolk and Hikari First Bites but not sure how much they're eating.


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## carl (Feb 11, 2010)

I got brine shrimp eggs, I can tell you how to raise your babies


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## infolific (Apr 10, 2016)

Juggler said:


> "I have yet to raise a spawn of babies angels, but I've tried and did a lot of reading as a result."
> 
> -- I'm curious, how far did you get?
> 
> ...


I barely got past the wiggler stage. The parents were initially moving them around and scooping them up when they fell. Shortly after, all gone.

I don't know how long the parenting will last. You could be lucky and have a pair that'll keep at it for a long time. You could also have a pair that'll breed in the next week or two and their attention will go elsewhere.



Juggler said:


> If you'd like I could give you a few babies, in trade for a meal of bbs. I don't have the space/setup to hatch bbs so have been using hard-boiled egg yolk and Hikari First Bites but not sure how much they're eating.


Baby brine shrimp don't actually require much space. I think all of the tutorials out there are aiming to maximize the yield. But if you don't care about the yield, you can hatch them in a deli container with a light and no air stone. I use 600ml of water with 1 tbs of salt. I add a touch of brine shrimp eggs every day until it seems like they're no longer hatching (about a week). At that point I start a new batch. To get the hatched brine shrimp, I use a flashlight to get them to gather in a spot and then I suck them out with an eye dropper. As I said this gives me horrible yields, but I don't have many baby fish to feed so I get enough for a few feedings a day.

If you want, I can get a batch going now and give you the container / mixture / eggs. I'll include some additional eggs so you can see if you can get more over the next few days.


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