Inexperienced Fish Breeder With Angelfish Fry

[Lindsey P]

I apologize in advance for the long post. I just want to be thorough. Any tips are appreciated!

I am a new hobbyist. I set up my first tank about a year ago and since then have set up five more. Last week I collected somewhere around twenty of my angelfish eggs after the parents had a couple failed attempts at hatching and raising their own. I watched several videos so I felt fairly comfortable trying to hatch them myself. I put the eggs in a Tupperware bowl and floated it in my tank with an air stone and a few stem plant clippings.  I ordered methylene blue but it didn’t arrive in time, so I removed bad eggs as soon as I saw them. Right now I have about six wrigglers and one free swimming fry, and I have been putting in Hikari First bites and micro worms in for the one. I made a small water change siphon with airline tubing and a pipette, and change out water 1-2 times a day. I’m having trouble feeding such a small amount to just one fry. I try to feed it 3-4 times a day like suggested online.

My question is, could I put a small piece of a fine filter pad to help catch some of the extra stuff floating in the water? I’m worried a baby might get stuck in it so that’s why I haven’t tried it yet. 

My goal is not to become a master breeder and rear hundreds of babies or anything. I just wanted to try to raise a few for the extra knowledge and experience. 

Thanks!

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Hey @Lindsey P!

Ive bred a handful of Angels, and my best advice would be:

Dont start feeding them until their yolk sac has been used up. As tempting as it may be to start feeding as soon as they start free swimming, their yolk sac will last them a couple more days. 
 

Once the yolk sac has been used up, they only need a tiny amount of food. I use Hikari First Bites for the first couple of days. I stick the end of a straw in the bag, and then give the straw a little rap releasing just a tiny amount of the food. That’s all they need. I do once in the morning and once at night. After a couple of days they can take baby brine shrimp, so I do First Bites in the morning and the baby brine at night. 
 

I also throw a handful of Java Moss in the container I hatch the eggs in as that has tons of microfauna that the fry can graze on as well. 
 

I know this doesn’t necessarily answer your question regarding something in the container to catch particles, but what I’m getting at is if done right, there shouldn’t really be any particles to catch. Hope this helps!

[Lindsey P]

Thanks for your help! I do have some moss I can throw in there. 

[AllFishNoBrakes]

I believe the moss helps as the fry can graze at their leisure. And then First Bites works for me. Seriously, a little goes a long way. 

[Lindsey P]

It looks like one has a broken tail. When he wiggles he spins. His tail looks like it’s at a 90 degree angle from its body. Do you think I should cull him? Or should I wait til it’s a little bigger to be certain?

[AllFishNoBrakes]

Your call. Me personally, I would wait a bit. If it ends up being a cull, at least you gave yourself the time to be sure.