Angel fish Breeding tips And Suggestion on new breeders to try

[Big Bill]

Ok so i got a pair of breeding paraiba angels at the auction and nothing so far. I have them in a barebottom 40g with a slate piece tilted up in the corner to lay eggs on . Im gong to get a cone tommorow. Temp is 80f , 20% water changes every 3 days . Feeding them flake,spurlina pellets , beef heart and redworms. I know it might take a few months considering the are in new tank . (TIPS PLEASE)


Ok so i breed africans from all lakes . I have these angels im working on . My daughters dalmation mollies are breeding . I have some discus i would sell my soul to start pairing .

I want to expand my breeding variety. What kinds of fish breed well dont kill each other off and sell real good on here and auctions.Something that dont need big tanks. Im thinking about some corys, GBRs ,plecos ,shrimps . (ALL ADVICE IS WELCOMED )

Help me decide on what to branch out to . I like less common fish and am willing to pay for rare stuff to help us all be able to own some and a fair price .

[kyhokie]

Bill, I was in the same boat as you for awhile. Had many tangs but I got somewhat burnt out. I then got into wild type livebearers (both rare and common). Many of us (myself formerly included) think that livebearers are weak sauce and are just a bunch of guppies but I find it really neat and rewarding to know that I've got fish that are extinct or damn near in the wild. I feel that keeping these fish circulating is somewhat important, I mean, I know I'm not feeding the homeless, but keeping these fish alive is a good use of tank space. I find that they can be kept in small and large aquariums with similar success and have great personalities in their own right. Hope this helps and good luck man. If you are still confused, I've got some red empress juvies that you can get on the cheap. Ha!

[Big Bill]

haha I think the livebearers survival rate of fry is more than what im used to as well . another thing is i have all these 4 ft tanks with breeding trios fish in each .its like im wasting tank space on 3 fish . Im sure i can find fish of differnent species to house in the same tank and all breed without interfearing in each others mating eggs/fry . With the africans i got now there is no way i can put two species in on tank and it turn out well . Plus i dont want crossbreeding .

[miket]

haha I think the livebearers survival rate of fry is more than what im used to as well . another thing is i have all these 4 ft tanks with breeding trios fish in each .its like im wasting tank space on 3 fish . Im sure i can find fish of differnent species to house in the same tank and all breed without interfearing in each others mating eggs/fry . With the africans i got now there is no way i can put two species in on tank and it turn out well . Plus i dont want crossbreeding .

Assuming your angels are healthy, all they may need is the right trigger. Here are a few things that have worked for me:

• Raise the temp to 85F for 4-5 days, only siphoning off the bottom during this time, or at least keeping the water changes to 10% or less. On the 6th day, do a 40%-50% water change with slightly cooler water and drop the temp back to 82F.

• Offer frozen bloodworms or live blackworms.

• Add dither fish (may need partition for this). This may get them in "parental/territorial" mode.

I have had other pairs that respond better to daily 25% changes, followed by a 50% change on the weekend.

• Sell your fish to someone else, then hear about how the spawned the next night. Doh!

[electric eel]

if i were you.i would stop feeding the beefheart and the spirulina and probably ease up on the flake.it is very easy to overfeed and you end up fouling your water.i would suggest(if you are able) to feed them nothing but earth worms for about week .strip the worms and get all of the dirt and poop out of them cut them up into little angelfish appropriate sized pieces and feed your angels one piece(use a knife or a toothpick) at a time as much as they will eat(within reason) three times a day.any they miss siphon out of the tank dont leave it sit in there.you can go a little longer but no more then say 2 weeks of feeding this heavily then go back to once or twice a day(maybe even fast them for 2or 3 days afterwards) for a while and then try again in a month or so if they dont spawn.dont put a cone in there if you end up having to artificially hatch the eggs(very possible) you will mess yourself up if they start spawning on the cone.you really want them to spawn on uniform angelfish breeding slates because if you do end up having to pull the eggs the male will sometimes hurt the female.if you put an identical piece of slate back in there they will continue to go thru the motions of fanning the eggs.they are longer on instinct then brains.i personally dont like to keep water temp more then 80 f(wouldnt hurt to try for the short time period suggested above) because(from what i've read and been told)this is a threshhold temp above 80(i have never found it necessary either) things start to happen much more quickly(bacteria and deterioration of water quality) you could try doing some water changes with slightly cooler water say 75 to 77 degrees if you have it at 80 but small fluctuations in temp can cause hormonal changes in angelfish and not always to your benefit.i always liked to keep my pairs in 20 high tanks and steve rybiki(check out their webpage) from angels plus recomends a minimum of 50% water change twice a week although more often can be better but if you do your water changes in such a manner that it disturbs your fish too much you can slow things down.if i had a really high strung pair or a pair that was settling in i siphoned the water back into the tank so as not to disturb them too much.what kind of filtration?you dont want a lot of water flow!you need a good thermometer to measure temp when you do water changes.always keep water exactly the same temp unless you decide to try playing with cooler water changes.i could go on and on so i'm going to stop for now.specific questions feel free to ask.as for rare or expensive fish to breed .unfortunately in my experience there is usually a reason that fish cost a lot.maybe they are so difficult to breed that only a very elite group of people can breed them or perhaps the fry are very difficult to get to survive.in some cases the fry grow so slowly that it is just not economical to keep them and grow them out to a sellable size. you see some one getting a big price for them but you dont realize they have tied up tank space for maybe 6 months to year to get them big enough to sell.sorry bill i reread your post i thought you were wanting to breed some expensive fish.i also wanted to comment on a couple of replies you got .yes angelfish can be easy to breed or as difficult as you want to get.they run the whole gamut you could have a gold pair that will raise their own fry and are extremely hardy or you could try to do some of the more expensive inbred forms that are harder to breed then a lot of discus that no one but a very experienced breeder is going to have any luck with in all probability.there is an experience factor required for doing the harder strains that can only be gotten by breeding a lot of angelfish.most of the more delicate strains have to be artificially hatched in ro water and require more frequent water changes(on the fry) then a lot of discus breeders do if you want them to have nice finnage.

[johnr]

Here's what worked for me:

1: get a suitable pair, you will not have success with two females, no matter how frisky they are.

2: water temp about 82 degrees in a tall tank planted with val or other long blades grass type plant.

3: allow them to aclimate to the tank for a while.

4: add a spawning slate.

5: feed them a little heavier I used flake and frozen brine shrimp.

Angelfish are easy to breed its getting the fry to live that is harder.

[johnr]

Here's what worked for me:

1: get a suitable pair, you will not have success with two females, no matter how frisky they are.

2: water temp about 82 degrees in a tall tank planted with val or other long blades grass type plant.

3: allow them to aclimate to the tank for a while.

4: add a spawning slate.

5: feed them a little heavier I used flake and frozen brine shrimp.

Angelfish are easy to breed its getting the fry to live that is harder.

It took me more than a year to finally get them to reliably spawn and not eat their fry.