I have several dozen angelfish babies in a 20-gallon tank. It's the third batch one pair of angelfish have had in about a month. None of the babies survived in the first batch. Two survived in the second batch.
By the time the third batch hatched, I'd seen the video on YouTube (see last week's posts) which recommended the parents be separated from the babies at 14 days. It had only been one week but I suspected Papa Lindsay Buckingfish was eating his fry. After all, he was never hungry when I fed him dry flakes of food... And he was looking pretty fit and healthy.
So this morning, I set up a second 20-gallon tank. Lindsay and Stevie did not want to leave their fry but I managed to get them in my huge nets (Lindsay is 10 inches tall) and transferred them to a brand new tank. In this tank, I have new amazon plants, their favorite surface for laying eggs. So they can "have at it" as my character, Irishman Dylan Maguire, would say in
Vicki's Key.
At right are some of my adult angels coming to see me when I venture close to their tank. This is a 70-gallon tank.
Meanwhile, the babies are on their own. They are being fed freshly hatched brine shrimp four times a day. With no predators in the tank now, I will be interested to see how many survive to adulthood!
They are clear now and have torpedo-shaped bodies. They are shown with river gravel, which is slightly larger than aquarium gravel. So you can see how very tiny they are. It will take several weeks before they begin to morph into their beautiful angelfish shape and get their distinctive markings.
