Moving the Residents

Each week I remove between 25%-33% of the water in the angel tanks and replace it with fresh water. The last time I cleaned the largest tank, a 75 gallon housing five angels, about fifteen tetra, a dozen corydoras and a pleco and rainbowfish, I noticed something that didn't please me.

All of the fish except two were crammed into one end of the tank.

Taking up 3/4 of the rest of the tank was John McFish, aggressively defending the territory he'd selected to raise his young with Christy McFish.

Something had to be done.

Since the koi angels, Robert Redfish and Susan Saranfish, had not attempted to breed after I moved them to the honeymoon suite, they were returned to their original 55 tank. I then moved John and Christy to the 20-gallon honeymoon suite. They are completely alone there with an amazon plant and a vertical arch, both of which can be used to lay eggs. There are no living creatures with them (though I might move a snail into the tank) so they have nothing to defend against.

Christy is adapting quite well. She has always been very docile and easy for anyone to get along with, as most female angels are (except when they are defending their young.)

John is taking longer to adjust to the smaller tank.

Only time will tell whether they will try their fins at being parents.

John laid eggs many times with his original Christy McFish, a smoky leopard. Sadly, she passed away and he hadn't shown any inclination to woo another female until just recently when he set his sights on a sexy blue marble.

Here he is shown in another honeymoon suite with his original Christy, diligently tending to their eggs. However, he was very young and inexperienced and the eggs never hatched. They succumbed to fungus. Now older and hopefully wiser, he will know to fan the eggs continuously to keep any fungus from forming.