How to Raise Angelfish Fry (Angel Fish Babies)

Raising Angelfish can be a very addictive hobby, but it can be challenging to get them from “wigglers” to the free-swimming stage. After I finally learned what to do, and what not to do, to keep the angel fry alive, I had so many Angel fish I couldn’t even give them away.

It is not uncommon for the Angelfish parents to eat the eggs—especially if there are any other fish in the aquarium. This article will show you how to hatch Angelfish eggs and raise the fry (baby Angelfish) separate from their parents.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Breeding Pair of Angel fish
• Fresh-Water Aquarium Tank with heater & filter
• Breeding Slate
• Hatching Container Set Up with heater and Air Stone/Bubbler
• Hatchery Tank to set the Hatching Container In
• Methylene Blue (Meth Blue) or other fungicide
• Turkey Baster or similar
• Brine Shrimp eggs
• Brine Shrimp hatcheries
• Hand-held Magnifying Glass (optional)
• Sponge Filter-Use with care

1. 
    
   Anglefish eggs.

   Angelfish lay their eggs on a vertical object in their main aquarium—sometimes the air filter intake tube and sometimes on a wall of the aquarium. The Angel Fish eggs look similar to lots of clear bubbles and the first time I saw the eggs in my aquarium, I didn’t know what they were.
   
   To increase the chances of your pair mating, increase the temperature of the water by about 5° F. Insert a breeding slate into the aquarium—with luck your Angel fish will use it instead of the intake tube. Just lean the slate against an inside side of the aquarium). A dark-colored slate is better than a light-colored slate as it is easier to see the eggs (and later the wigglers) against a darker background.

2. 
    
   Angelfish cleaning the slate.

   When you see your Angel pair cleaning the slate, you will know they are getting ready to breed.
   
   Gather the items you need and begin to prepare your Angel fry hatchery.

3. 
    
   Angelfish fry hatchery with Meth Blue.

   PREPARING THE HATCHERY:
   
   Step A: Fill an approximately ten-gallon aquarium about half full of water the same temperature as the parents’ tank. Put an aquarium heater in this ten-gallon tank, set to maintain the same temperature as the water in the parents’ tank. This ten-gallon aquarium will later become the “grow out” tank as the fry grow.
   
   Step B: For the actual hatchery use an approximately one-gallon jar, anything large enough to hold the breeding slate and an air line. Fill the glass jar with enough water from the parents’ aquarium to cover the eggs on the breeding slate. To keep the air/water bubbling gently, kink the air hose and clamp it with a clothes pin or similar device.
   
   Set this hatching container inside the prepared ten-gallon tank, and add several drops of Meth Blue—enough to color the water fairly dark blue, but not so dark that you can’t see through it. (The purpose of the Meth Blue is to prevent a fungus attack on the eggs).
   
   By putting the Meth Blue jar in the ten-gallon tank, it absorbs the temperature from the surrounding water and maintains an even
   temperature.
   
   DO NOT USE GRAVEL or anything else on the bottom of either of these tanks.

4. Meanwhile, in the parents’ aquarium, the female Angelfish will make a few passes over the breeding slate, laying eggs with each pass. Then the male Angelfish will make a few passes over the eggs to fertilize them. Both the male and the female may make several passes over the breeding slate, laying eggs and fertilizing them.
   
   When the parents are done laying and fertilizing the eggs, quickly remove the breeding slate with the eggs on it and place it in your prepared hatchery with the Meth Blue water and the air bubbler. The newly laid eggs are transparent. Unfertilized eggs will begin to turn white (dyed blue from the Meth water) after about 24 hours.

5. DAY ONE AND EVERY DAY: Use the turkey baster to remove and dispose of half of the blue water from the hatchery, replacing it with water from the ten-gallon tank. This maintains the same temperature as the water in the Meth Blue container. Replace the water you’ve taken from the ten-gallon tank with water from the parent’s aquarium. Then top off the parent’s aquarium with more fresh water. (Frequent partial water changes are good for Angelfish, and this method keeps the temperature of the wigglers constant).

6. DAY TWO: About 48 hours after being laid, the fertilized eggs should start showing wiggling tails. A hand-held magnifying glass is handy at this stage.
   
   Remember to change out half of the Meth Blue water, as in Step 5. By changing out half the Meth Blue water each day, by the time the Angel fry are free swimming, the water should be totally clear.

7. DAY THREE: Your Angel fry are beginning to look like tadpoles. Their yolk sacs will be clearly visible and their tails will be wiggling like crazy. Most of the fry will still be attached to the breeding slate. The fry that have fallen off will be wiggling around on the floor of the hatching tank.
   
   Normally, a lot of the fry will die at this stage, but you should still have a lot that are alive. Keep the water quality good by removing any dead fry whenever you see them—as often as several times a day. Be careful not to disturb the live fry, which are very fragile.

8. 
    
   Angelfish fry showing tiny eyes.

   DAYS FOUR AND FIVE: On Day 4 you should begin seeing tiny eyes. On Day 5 the yolk sacs will start shrinking. A few of the fry may be swimming now.
   
   Start hatching the BBS (Baby Brine Shrimp).

9. 
    
   Angelfish fry.

   DAY 6: More of the fry will be free swimming, and the yolk sacs are nearly gone. Check your BBS to see how they’re doing, and start a second batch to keep a steady supply of BBS.

10. 
     
    Baby Brine Shrimp.

    DAY 7: The yolk sacs have been consumed and your Angel fry are getting hungry. Begin feeding them the BBS. As soon as one BBS container is empty, start another batch. You should always have fresh BBS for your hungry fry.
    
    Generally speaking, the fry are living off the nutrition in their yolk sacs until they are free swimming, which is why we don’t feed the BBS earlier. Even with all the ways I killed my fry (see Step 13), they still almost always lived to free swimming.
    
    
    As the fry eat the BBS you will see their stomachs bulge a little and turn yellow (the color of the baby brine shrimp). Feed the fry the BBS several times a day.
    
    At this point, your fry are probably still in the Meth Blue container (now filled with clear water). Leave them in this container until they begin to get crowded.
    
    As before, continue with the partial water change as in Step 5, and be sure to keep the water quality clean by removing any dead fry and uneaten food.

11. 
     
    San Francisco Bay Brand Shrimpery Brine Shrimp Kit.

    Continue feeding the fry BBS several times a day, until the fry are a few weeks old. Then SLOWLY introduce them to powdered flake food (crumbled between thumb and fingers until powdered) at age three to four weeks offering the fry just a tiny bit of the powdered flake food just before feeding them their regular BBS. As the fry become accustomed to the flake food, over a period of another week or so, slowly wean them from the BBS. When they are entirely eating flake food, around seven or eight weeks old, they are ready for their new homes.

12. When the Angel fry do get crowded, fill the ten-gallon tank with more water, so you can gently tip the hatching container and allow the fry to swim into the 10-gallon tank. Then carefully remove the now empty hatching container. Install the air stone/bubble taking care to maintain a gentle bubble action.
    
    Continue with daily partial water changes and continue keeping the floor of the aquarium clean of debris.
    
    USE CAUTION REGARDING THE SPONGE FILTER. Tiny Angel fry can and do get sucked up in the sponge filter. Don’t use any filter until the fry are big enough that that won’t happen.

Tips & Warnings

• Angelfish will eat their own eggs rather than let other fish in the tank eat them. Even if you have a tank dedicated to the breeding pair, they will often eat their eggs. The best chance for success is to remove the eggs to a hatching tank.
• For feeding fry the Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS), I use the San Francisco Bay Brand Shrimpery Brine Shrimp Kit. The BBS hatch rates aren’t as good as with other methods, but the kit is fool-proof.
• While the fry are so small, feed them in the same area of the tank every day so they can find the food easier.
• Angelfish are fresh-water fish. They need an aquarium with a filter and a heating element.
• Adult Angelfish need at least ten gallons of water per fish.
• WARNING: Angel fry are EXTREMELY fragile and almost anything will kill them. Be sure to use Meth Blue properly. (If you add Meth Blue to the water after the fry are free-swimming, they will die). If water during water changes is a different temperature, the fry will die. If you use a sponge filter too soon, they will die. If you accidentally suck them into your turkey baster or eyedropper during water changes, they will die. If the air flow from the air stone is too strong, they will die. If you don’t feed the fry live BBS, they will die. If you keep “messing” with them, they will die.
• Culling (removing deformed or ill Angel fry) is a sad necessity. It is much sadder, though, to not cull.

[inggymae]

on 8/25/2009 This might be the best article I have ever read. Good Job. 5*