Have you been hoping to breed angelfish in your fish tank soon? So long as you have a male and a female angelfish in the same tank they should wind up forming a mating pair.
Soon enough, you’ll be seeing the female angelfish lay its eggs. The male will fertilize them and then you’ll be in business.
As you might know, the angelfish eggs will eventually hatch. Then you will have angelfish fry that will eventually mature to become full angelfish.
Some people worry about keeping the angelfish fry with the parent fish. The parents should protect the angelfish fry for quite some time, but there’s also a possibility that some of the angelfish fry will be eaten by the parents.
When should you separate angelfish fry from the parents to keep this from happening? Keep reading to get more information about this topic.
You Don’t Necessarily Have to Separate the Angelfish Fry From the Parents
The first thing to know is that you don’t necessarily have to separate the angelfish fry from the parents. If you want to, then you can simply allow the parents to keep protecting the angelfish fry for quite some time.
Angelfish have good parental instincts, and they will doggedly protect their eggs. The mating pair is going to work together to keep any fish away from the eggs so that they will be able to hatch.
Once the angelfish eggs hatch, they’ll continue to defend them while the larvae is in the “wiggler” stage. This period of time is when the larvae has hatched but is still attached to the egg.
The wiggler attaches itself to the yolk of the egg, and it’s going to feed off of the yolk for around five days. After this period of time, it will move on and become a free swimmer.
The angelfish fry will still not be a full angelfish yet, but it’ll be swimming around. It’ll slowly develop, and the angelfish parents will continue to defend the fry.
It’s said that angelfish parents will protect angelfish fry until they have formed fins. After this point, the angelfish fry will be on their own.
So knowing all of this, what is the point of separating the fry from the parents at all? As mentioned above, you don’t necessarily have to.
In the wild, the angelfish aren’t going to be separated from the fry. However, it is indeed possible that some of the angelfish fry could get eaten.
Watch Out for Signs of the Parents Trying to Eat the Fry
What you can do is try to watch out for signs of the parents trying to eat the fry. The angelfish fry should be fine with its parents up until it develops fins.
You might wish to remove the parent fish once the angelfish fry have the fins that they need. There could be situations that will cause the angelfish to want to eat the fry, though.
For example, a stressed angelfish might choose to eat the fry. Sometimes angelfish will panic and do things such as this when something shocking happens.
Loud noises can cause angelfish to experience stress and so can sudden light changes. There are many stress factors that you need to look out for when caring for angelfish.
It’s actually possible that the angelfish fry could cause stress to the parent fish too. For instance, after about two weeks, the fry might start to pick at the parents.
You could even see the angelfish parents trying to swim away from the fish. Some might say that the angelfish fry are becoming annoying to the parents.
It’ll be safe to remove the angelfish parents from the tank once two weeks have passed. This might make it less likely that you’ll encounter problems.
This is, of course, assuming that you’re keeping the angelfish and the angelfish fry in a breeding tank. Things might be a little different in a community tank.
It’s said that you should probably try to separate the angelfish fry from the parent fish by at least week three no matter what. If you don’t, then the angelfish parents will likely become quite stressed due to the fry picking at their sides.
You Could Take Care of the Eggs Yourself
If you’re very concerned about the angelfish eating the eggs and the angelfish fry, then you could do just about everything yourself. Some experienced angelfish enthusiasts choose to remove the eggs from the tank as soon as they have been fertilized.
This means removing the eggs from the tank and putting them somewhere else. Or you could remove the parent fish from the breeding tank and care for the eggs there.
Either way, the idea is to separate the eggs from the angelfish early on. This ensures that the angelfish don’t even have a chance to eat the eggs.
You’ll also be able to care for the fry once they have hatched. Just remember that you aren’t supposed to feed them when they’re in the wiggler stage.
Once they become free swimmers, that’s when you’re going to start feeding them. Many people say that doing everything yourself is the safest way to ensure that as many angelfish fry survive as possible.
However, it can be a lot of responsibility to care for angelfish eggs. You have to keep them safe, provide them with oxygen, and keep the water clean.
If you’re a beginner, then you might make some mistakes. It’s not that hard to learn, though, and it’s up to you to decide if you want to go for it.
Removing Eggs Can Be Tough
Removing eggs from a tank can be tough. This is because the eggs are very sticky, and getting them off of a surface without damaging them is almost impossible.
For this reason, many people place breeding slates and breeding cones in the tank. These are good spots for angelfish to lay eggs that they might choose.
You’ll be able to easily remove these items from the tank and place them in separate tanks where you can care for the eggs yourself. If the angelfish lays its eggs on a leaf, then you can remove the leaf from the tank as well.
It’ll be necessary to put a weight on the leaf in the new tank to keep it held down, though. Sometimes, it’ll be more practical to put the parents in a different tank than it will be to remove the eggs.
You’ll just have to make a judgment call about how you would like to proceed. So long as you’re being careful about water parameters and caring for the angelfish eggs, you should have a good experience.
How Many Eggs Can an Angelfish Lay at Once?
Angelfish can actually lay a lot of eggs at once. It’s pretty impressive how many eggs can be produced in just one cycle.
It’s said that an angelfish will lay between one hundred and one thousand eggs at once. So the potential is there for you to have hundreds of angelfish eggs to care for.
Each of these eggs has the potential to produce an angelfish fry. Every angelfish fry might be able to reach maturity to become a full angelfish.
If you’d like to increase the number of fish that you have in your aquarium, then you could easily do so by breeding angelfish. You’ll just need to be sure that you have the right things that you need to care for the eggs and fish.
Ideally, you’re going to want to set up a breeding tank. Angelfish will spawn in a community tank, but it’s less likely that many angelfish fry will survive due to the presence of other fish.
Final Thoughts
If you want to get the best results, then you’ll be able to keep the angelfish parents with the angelfish fry for quite some time. It’s likely a good idea to keep an eye on the parent fish, though.
Should you notice that the parents look as if they want to eat the angelfish fry at any time, then it’d be wise to remove the parents and place them somewhere else.
Otherwise, the angelfish parents should protect the fry up until they form fins. Once this has occurred, you’ll be able to remove the parents from the tank because the fry won’t need the assistance any longer.
The parents won’t keep helping the angelfish fry after this point anyway. Of course, many enthusiasts note that you might need to remove the parents before the fry have had the chance to form fins.
After one week, angelfish fry will start picking at the sides of their parents. This can stress the angelfish, and that can create situations where the angelfish will choose to eat the fry.
Many say that separating the angelfish and the angelfish fry after two weeks will be ideal. Others say that you should wait no longer than three weeks.
Realistically, you’re going to have to observe the situation and make a judgment call. If you’re not comfortable with the idea of some angelfish fry being eaten, then you can always try to care for them yourself without the assistance of the parent fish.
Jeff has always enjoyed having pets, but as a child, he was drawn to his family’s fish tank. Being able to maintain a small ecosystem and observe the behaviors and interactions in the underwater world peaked his interest early on and has kept him hooked until this day. On Avid Aquarist, Jeff shares everything he’s learned about helping aquatic life survive and thrive in a home aquarium.