Tedrock Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) I want to breed some Angelfish so of course I started my research. I have never done this before so I would love the collected ideas of team NERM! Of course I have watched Coop video's but I think it is valuable to hear other's experiences. Please consider sharing. Many thanks, Tedrock Edited October 23, 2020 by Tedrock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishkeeper125 Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 I haven't tried but it's on my bucket list. Curious to hear other people's story's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 This is what has worked for me. Start with half a dozen juveniles. Raise them in a 40 breeder or even a 75 gallon tank. Feed them generously with a variety of foods including some live food if possible. Keep the water clean with live plants or water changes or both. Eventually pairs will form and territories will be staked out. You can move the pair, or move the other fish, but whatever fish get moved the pair has their own breeding tank. They like to breed on vertical-ish surface like plant leaves, pieces of slate, aquarium plumbing, glass side of tank or even the heater. Sometimes when the breeders are young they will eat their eggs. Some pairs never seem to outgrown this. Some eat their eggs the first time around and then become good parents after that. This part can be frustrating. Eggs can be hatched and raised separately from the parents (which is where removable items like a piece slate comes in handy). But personally, if it is at all possible to leave the fry with parents, you will get to witness one of the most glorious sights in all fish keeping, which is proud angelfish parents shepherding their flock around the tank. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 Can you raise them up in a community tank at first then move them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 You can if the tank is large enough and heavily planted enough. I once had 3 pairs of angelfish breeding at the same time in a heavily planted 500 gallon and at one point there were probably about 3000 angelfish fry. But I didn't remove any fry and after predation and such, only about 50 angelfish fry grew to reach adulthood. But here is the irony...some of the angelfish (fry) were eaten by neon tetras! Why, because they could fit in the neon tetra's mouth. There is another active thread about angelfish eating neons, but let it be known, this process also works in reverse. Here are those babies (at about 5-6 years old) and their parents in the aquarium they were raised in back on August 2, 2020 just before I sold them to my LFS. One last word of caution, babies in community aquariums are usually just that much more live food. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishkeeper125 Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 How long does it take before angels pair off? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 Roughly 6 to 9 months. A lot just depends on how fast they grew and under what conditions. I would be interested to hear @Brian Scott‘s answer to this question. It might be different than my experience. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 Also what should the temp be? Can you suggest the best type of plants for success with Angels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 For me they have always laid their eggs on Amazon sword plant leaves. I think the temperature was 80 degrees but it has been a while. But plants and temperatures and pH and stuff are just a side show. If you have a young mature, mated pair that are housed in clean water and generously fed, there will definitely be breeding. They will not understand the meaning of 'Just say No'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishkeeper125 Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 When you breed angels, is it a species only tank? Or do you keep them with tank mates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 The last few times I bred them it was in a community tank. Here was the tank prior to adding the angels. I took out the discus before I put the angels in, but there were apistos, corydoras, neons, rummy nose, hatchet fish, etc. in that tank. But if I had never bred angels before and I wanted any hope of raising fry, I would put the pair in a 20 High by themselves to reduce the number of variables and complications. That way you can monitor and feed them closely, keep the tank clean without all the headaches of a community tank that has a lot going on beside angelfish breeding. I just did the community tank as a challenge, most breeders will go the 20 High (or something like it) route because they want to raise the fry. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 Another question what is the best food for Angels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted October 23, 2020 Share Posted October 23, 2020 The angelfish will tell you that the best food is live blackworms and live mosquito larva, but just remember that they have expensive tastes. In reality almost any high end flake or pellet food will raise healthy angelfish. Variety is important. Frozen food is a good substitute for live food. Here is a video I just made showing how much they enjoy Vibra Bites. They haven't yet figured out that they could probably eat some of the guppies in the tank🙂 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostiesFishes Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Everything @Daniel said I will second and I’m glad he did all the typing so I didn’t have to lol. The only thing I will add is I just recently started using the the jars from angels plus and they are something I couldn't go without now. They are great for angelfish obviously. but currently I’m using them for Apistogramma fry as well. They have a ton of advantages and I’ve yet to find a con to them. I actually plan on setting up a 20 long with as many jars as I can fit in it and just heat the one tank . 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ange Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 I've accidentally spawned mine twice in quarantine. All it took was aged sponge filters. The parents have eaten both batches so I'll remove the next set and try to hatch them myself. KG Tropicals has a series I've used to prepare for the next spawn. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedrock Posted October 24, 2020 Author Share Posted October 24, 2020 2 hours ago, FrostiesFishes said: Everything @Daniel said I will second and I’m glad he did all the typing so I didn’t have to lol. The only thing I will add is I just recently started using the the jars from angels plus and they are something I couldn't go without now. They are great for angelfish obviously. but currently I’m using them for Apistogramma fry as well. They have a ton of advantages and I’ve yet to find a con to them. I actually plan on setting up a 20 long with as many jars as I can fit in it and just heat the one tank . I have never heard about the jars. Where can I find more info about them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostiesFishes Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 here you go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Scott Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 On 10/23/2020 at 3:57 PM, Daniel said: Roughly 6 to 9 months. A lot just depends on how fast they grew and under what conditions. I would be interested to hear @Brian Scott‘s answer to this question. It might be different than my experience. This has very much been my experience, too, Daniel. I'm finding that the young angels that grow the fastest are not actually the ones that I want to keep back for future breeders. I was having this conversation with a friend of mine recently, and I think there's some merit to selling off the fast growers and keeping the medium to slow growers back. In doing so, you may experience pairing on the farther end of the 6-9 month spectrum. That said, another friend of mine had a male koi angel just pair up and spawn with a much younger silver angel after 2 years in a 210 community tank with her. I believe that generally speaking a well-fed group of angels kept in a nice-sized tank can be expected to start pairing off at the 6-month mark for the most part, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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