A new hobby on my hands...

[KanoaFishMomma]

Greetings all, new here obviously so here's a little about moi!
A friend of mine told me about this forum so here I am! 

Last year, I was given two tanks - 40g and 20g. Didn't take us long to set up the 40g with community fish including 4 angels and we recently (in the last 6 months) set the smaller one with African Cichlids. However these guys are growing fast and I will need to transfer them to a bigger tank soon!

When we got the original Angelfish, we (unbeknownst to me) bought a breeding pair and two juveniles. Sadly, the pair was never successful and the female eventually passed away.

Last week, hubby was getting ready for a water change when our daughter spotted a whole wack of eggs and some wigglers. How we didn't see them before - I have no idea! But Momma Angel was being extremely protective at this point and attacking the third. So after a bit of research, I pulled the plant out and placed it in a salad bowl. (It was the biggest thing I had for them) The next day, we placed a bubble stone in the bowl. Wigglers were doing GREAT but Momma was angrier than ever and took it out on #3.

I was really nervous about the first and second water change but I could tell, slowly one by one, all my wigglers were dying  by day 3 of transfer, nothing was moving and I gave up completely. Left the bowl as it was. I was disappointed but of course knew I didn`t have the proper set up so wasn`t really surprised. Ah well, great experience and learning opportunity right?

Last night, after 3 days of absolute neglect (and laziness for not dealing with this bowl), guess what I found? Swimmers!!! Fry upon fry - alive and well - swimming happily. How in the world??? No water change, no food - whatever! These little guys are determined to survive!!! lol There are over 20 of them at this time - I'm not sure how long I have before the salad bowl gets too small 

By my calculation, I believe they are day 12 fry. Momma and Pops are doing some maintenance on the same plant so I'm expecting we'll have more babies shortly. The trouble is, #3 seems to be trying to get some attention from the male. All this time, I thought she was a he because I called HIM Helo! LOL well she's pregnant too now but Momma won't let her near her man!! Absolutely not! LOL (Nor "her" side of the tank)

So yeah - I'm a new fish momma just trying to keep her fry alive and on the lookout for more aquariums to house everyone! 

[wandmangels]

welcome to the Forum i hope you find all the help you need..

[Yams]

Hello!

Welcome! Breeding fish is very exciting! I am newish to fish (2years or so) but every time fish spawn its still very exciting! 

For your Angel Fish fry that were left in the salad bowl, the dirty water (which spawns all sort of microorganisms) could have actually kept the fish alive, since it had a bubble stone so the water moved a bit and was stagnant, but still had some debris and the such floating around to keep them alive (and not the mention the plant you placed in it, with its leaves and roots full of microscopic organisms)

But very exciting! Hopefully you can keep the 12 you have right now and get them past the month / 2 month barrier! Good luck!

I am sure with all the veteran fish keepers on this site, they should be more than able to answer all your questions!

[dan2x38]

Welcome glad to meet you!

OK have to be quick response has this is intro board not freshwater discussion... LOL

The adult angels will eat all the fry. Fry also need good water quality or will die. If you want I have a 6 gallon Eclipse complete tank. It comes with filter and light just add a tiny heater. It has no resale value since I performed a mod on it cutting two holes one top and bottom for a project  - they are acrylic tanks. It is sealed and works fine used it for grow out for fry and hospital tank for ages. Now into saltwater have no use for it - yours if you want LMK.

[KanoaFishMomma]

Yams - there are way more than 12 little ones in there! I'll do my best to keep 'em alive But you're right, all the microorganisms probably did the trick.

Dan - I really appreciate the offer. Send me a pm! Thanks

[dan2x38]

PM with details for PU incoming...