angels spawned last night

well a couple of the angels i just posted for sale decided they didnt want to go no where and paired up and laid a batch, i can not remove the eggs, on the filter tube. the only questions i really have is when they start free swimming do i rehome them and how long will it take for them to go from eggs to free swimming. also how can i tell that they are fertilized. heres some pics enjoy!

think this is the dad.


think this is the mom


eggs

Seeing as this is their first spawn they may just eat the eggs. This is normal for Angel parents to help prevent this I suggest keeping a light on the tank at all times. I does not have to be much of a light, just enough so that they won't get spooked when the light turns on or off. Even good angel parents have a habit of eating the eggs when spooked...

If they are fertile they will change color slightly (get a little bit darker) if not then white fungus will start to grow on them. The parents will normally eat the fungus infected eggs but since this is their first spawn who knows. The parents will likely take turns fanning the eggs until they start to swim.

After around 48 hours you should start to see slight movement from the eggs.
They will grow a "tail" and look like a tad pole as they grow they wiggle more and more.

mine take about 5-7 days to start free swimming and all are swimming by day 7-9.
You will likely see some start to do short swims instead of being stuck on wherever the parents put them. I don't really count this just yet and when they start to "free swim" you will know it as there will likely be 50-100 of them doing it haha. At this point it may look like the parents are eating the swimmer but more then likely they are just putting them back in place for the time being. Once a large enough group start to swim they just give up haha.

When the first batches starts to swim it is a good idea to start up some brine shrimp. They have yoke sacs that will last a little over 24 hours.
If you intend to raise them somewhere between when they first start free swimming to 24 hours after that you should remove them and feed them some of the now fresh baby brine shrimp. I normally wait till near the end of the 24 hours from when the first bunch start swimming because by this time almost all the ones that are going to swim are doing so and the others are now string swimmer.

If you let them with the parents they will likely eat most of the fry and possibly keep a few to raise. Those few will eat the scales of the parents till their next spawn then eat the eggs of the next spawn. After that they should be removed since their scale eating can cause stress/sickness in the parents.

I feed mine brine shrimp 4 or so times a day for the first month then they can start taking finely crushed flake food. After about 2 months they can be on full flakes and a frozen/fresh food diet as well.

Good luck with the spawn keep us updated. Mine spawn every 10 days in fact she will spawn tomorrow! Last batch was well over 300 and they keep getting bigger.

thank you

WOW how exciting ! Good job.

yes a light like a flash light is good so they don't get spooked and will take a week to two weeks... once hatching baby brine shrimp will work to feed them.

heres some pics, these fish are great parents so far.

very nice! Looks like they got some food in those bellies. In another week it will start to see some colors in them mainly just any base colors like mine show either light or dark depending on what parent they are taking after.

im really antisipating the outcome of these babies.

I was the same way and it only gets better as they develop! Watching the fins come in and when they start to really grow they put on size quick!

yeah this is pretty cool, def lots of pics as they grow and what not..

yea i will definitaly post pics as this progresses

OMG how cute is that. I can't wait til mine do something.

Good info. Once they are wiggling it is usually 5 days till free swimming. I feed mine a mix of frozen baby brine (tried hatching my own, but never seemed to have enough when i need it) and powdered fry food (store bought). Once the fish are free swimming you can scoop (catch them in a cup or specimen container...do not use a net killed mine that way) them out and put them in a smaller tank with a sponge filter. Feed several times a day change water pretty regularly keep it warm . I usually sell the babies aroung the quarter to 1/2 dollar size (2-5 months range). Best of luck.

Note my breeders usually breed about every 3 weeks and can be induced to breed by doing a 50% water change with a temp difference of about 5 degrees lower than the tank was. Just works for me.

Good luck parents look great and the fact they are taking care of their first hatch is awesome.

Congrats!

thanks guys, all of them are currently swimming freely and the parents are keeping them in a group.

Sounds good. If you are going to move them to another tank you can do it anytime now. I find it easier to feed and clean a smaller tank with them in there then whatever size tank the parents happen to be in. I always use fresh brine shrimp took three 2L bottles and made that my factory that way I always have fresh ones. You could get away with two but I like not having to use shrimp that are more then 18+ hours old. Depending on the PH of your tap water I add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda along with 2 tablespoons of regular non ionized salt. I put them in a little tub (plastic flower box) and keep that water at 82 degrees the shrimp hatch in less then 18 hours.

thanks, ill try and move them.

I have had good luck just netting them out using a small mesh net. Have to be gentle but I can net out 50 at a time. I also siphoned out them one time and it works "ok" but not something I would do all the time.
I recommend taking the tank water they are in and putting it in the holding tank for them. At least to start, that way there is no shock in temp and such. Most people that lose fry in moving have different setups between the fry tank and the main tank and being as they are so small they really don't tolerate any large change. Once in the holding tank you can do some small water changes after feedings and eventually they will be used to whatever water you are adding. Hardest part is keeping the tank clean while feeding all the fry.
I highly suggest a bare bottom tank for fry. Some of them are going to die of naturally causes and they won't eat all the brine shrimp each feeding so it is important to allow for maximum clean up.

ok, im going to move the peacock fry out of the 2.5 and put the angels in there.

Sounds good, Much easier to keep a small tank clean and it also makes water changes really easy. In a tank that size you can even keep taking the water from the main tank. Don't feel bad if you lose a few of them. Some are genetically destine to not develop or won't eat for some reason. I know for me with spawns of 300 or more losing a few is not the end of the world haha.

im guessing about 100 left out of all the eggs.

Thats pretty good turn out for their first batch congrats....

Yeah my nets were garbage if you use a good soft net it would probably work fine.
Let us know how it goes

Kinda like a brine shrimp net.

Yup I used what is pretty much a large brine shrimp net. just a gentle swoop up. The parents may get pretty angry with you for doing this though haha.