Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Weak Babies

Lindsay Buckingfish and Stevie Fishnick have had numerous clutches of baby angelfish. I've come to the conclusion that they lay 300+ eggs and about 200 babies hatch each time, because the vast majority of them will not live past a few days. Otherwise, if they all grew to adult angelfish-hood, we'd have swarms of them in every pet shop, wouldn't you think?

But this last batch really surprised me with how weak they are. I have only one baby left and I've decided if he/she lives and is able to hold its own in the community tank, I will keep it. It is a beautiful white with black markings. Baby Angel is now in the betta tank, which is 2.5 gallons. She won't be able to stay there for long because an angelfish needs a minimum of 5 gallons, but she'll be okay while she's growing.

One thing I've noticed with this latest batch: they didn't learn to eat from the surface of the water. They remained with the parents far longer than normal because my infant tank was being used by a pair of honeymooning koi angels. And they became accustomed to eating the food as it fell through the water. If they didn't happen to see it fall, they were oblivious. And with the parents remaining overprotective, they hid behind the plants whenever I came near.

One more thing I noticed about them: a surprise food source I'll cover tomorrow.