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In 48 hours after spawning,
you might began to see "wigglers" which are the tails of the fry
protruding from the egg sacks. |
After 3 or 4 days in the jar,
it is safe to remove the fry to a separate aquarium that uses a sponge
filter. |
After the fry are free
swimming and have released their egg sacks, it is necessary to feed them
brine shrimp. The set up is very simple. Saltwater for
hatching and a 60 watt bulb for maintaining a steady 80 degree Fahrenheit
temperature. Air stones are a must also. |
When the spawn is removed the
angelfish will return to life as usual and may began to spawn again in as
little as a week. |
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This is a small
four-week old angelfish. Although still about the size of a fly or
the end of a pencil eraser, the angelfish shape and black stripes are
beginning to develop. |
The small four-week old
angelfish are quite difficult to photograph due to lighting, focusing
through the aquarium glass, and their quick motions. |
The angel fry at 5 weeks after they have been
moved to a larger aquarium. Notice their reddish color due to
consuming a diet of brine shrimp which have a reddish color. If you
look closely, you can see the tiny brine shrimp in the water. |
I outgrew my original 75 gallon community
tank--the now juvenile angelfish have been moved to this garage sale
purchase--a 55 gallon aquarium. |
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A closer view of the 55 gallon tank. |
A neighbor gave me a 29 gallon aquarim.
This is the third harvested group of angelfish fry. |
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Currently, I now have collected my
fourth batch of angel fry and do not have room for more. I made the
decision to just let the parent fish or other predator fish in the
community tank eat any future spawn. I had two large agressive
plecostomus catfish that I removed from the tank. The parent
angelfish did loose the first few spawns to either their apetites or to
other fish in the aquarium. They then changed their spawning site to
the top of a plastic plant in the aquarium. They have hatched and
the fry are now free swimming. It is absolutely fascinating to watch--when
the fry fall to the bottom of the aquarium or swim too far away from the
spawning site, the parents (both the male and female) will catch them in
their mouths (I thought they were eating them at first) and then will swim
back to the spawning site and gently puff them out.
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Female angelfish with her brood. |
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She is gently puffing collected fry. |
The "bubbles" around the female are actually
the tiny angelfish fry. |
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The male also gently returns the fry to the
spawning area in his mouth. |
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Both parents tending the fry. |
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Juvenile Angelfish soon to be delivered to a
local pet store |
A few juvenile angelfish were added back to
the original community tank with their parents. The parent fish
pretty much ignored them. |
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