Aquariums: My angelfish family

[Miramonti]

Last year we bought about 6-8 angelfish from petsmart, with only two eventually surviving. Surprisingly, those two paired off last fall.

Daddy is on the left, mommy on the right. These parents have to be separated after the eggs are fertilized because they start fighting, stressing the mom, and when that happens she kills and/or eats the babies. She lays eggs as soon as we remove the young, which will be aboutafter a month, when she starts getting tired of them and cramped, This is the largest batch she has made, with over 200-250 babies,

Here's a mixture of 2-3 previous generations of offspring, which we are getting ready to sell. We were offered $3/ea from one store, but are going to call around. They are all very spunky, much stronger than the most we've see in petsmart and walmart.

 

[Miramonti]

Best practices/tools to keep the nitrates down?

 

[lupi]

That's pretty cool. Reminds me when I had my cichlid tank going and had one that kept popping some out. Neat watching her keep the little ones in the mouth most of the time for safety.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

Last year we bought about 6-8 angelfish from petsmart, with only two eventually surviving. Surprisingly, those two paired off last fall.

Daddy is on the left, mommy on the right. These parents have to be separated after the eggs are fertilized because they start fighting, stressing the mom, and when that happens she kills and/or eats the babies. She lays eggs as soon as we remove the young, which will be aboutafter a month, when she starts getting tired of them and cramped, This is the largest batch she has made, with over 200-250 babies,

Here's a mixture of 2-3 previous generations of offspring, which we are getting ready to sell. We were offered $3/ea from one store, but are going to call around. They are all very spunky, much stronger than the most we've see in petsmart and walmart.

thats pretty cool. my brothers angelfish laid eggs too be he didnt have a daddy fish to blow a load all over them. here we think i angelfish as exotic but based on the number of babies you had id bet they are like mice or pidgeons where theyre from

 

[Howard]

Best practices/tools to keep the nitrates down?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGLnBvDkaO0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD6kA3xDPaM

Or grow some aquatic plants. They eat nitrates for breakfast (and lunch and dinner).

 

[DrPizza]

That angel fish is a slut. I suspect the dad wasn't the only dad. There's a neon tetra swimming about... obviously she had a fling on the side.

Nice fish!

 

[MongGrel]

Very cool, I used to have a 55 with about 6 much larger ones that was a bit more established I'd think, and another 55 Discus tank.

I loved my Discus tank long ago before I ran into some problems years ago, had a live growing tank with grow lights on it. Was a beautiful one, just haven't done em in awhile if even have several old tanks still about not doing anything.

Not to be too critical these days and I 'm not sure as I've been out of the hobby awhile, but that seems to be a lot of em to maintain in that much space.

?

 

[Miramonti]

thats pretty cool. my brothers angelfish laid eggs too be he didnt have a daddy fish to blow a load all over them. here we think i angelfish as exotic but based on the number of babies you had id bet they are like mice or pidgeons where theyre from

I didn't realize they would lay eggs without a papa. I thought that was a mental trigger to the mom to go ahead and start producing eggs. Unfertilized eggs make a mess in the tank if left on their own. They fall into the rocks, expand, become a little gelatinous mess that sticks to everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGLnBvDkaO0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD6kA3xDPaM

Or grow some aquatic plants. They eat nitrates for breakfast (and lunch and dinner).

Thanks. I'll have to watch those and see what I can work out. The two plants that are in there are live.

That angel fish is a slut. I suspect the dad wasn't the only dad. There's a neon tetra swimming about... obviously she had a fling on the side.

Nice fish!

Thanks. Yes, she's ho'in non-stop, simply expecting us to take care of them when she's had enough. Let's not get political tho, lol. 1/3 of the babies are gone already so she must be eating them and knocking others out at night, perhaps overwhelmed. We just started another 10g tank and put all of these babies in before she kills any more.

 

[Miramonti]

That angel fish is a slut. I suspect the dad wasn't the only dad. There's a neon tetra swimming about... obviously she had a fling on the side.

Nice fish!

And yes, that is one [remaining] neon tetra. These babies were in 100% RO water, so to sell them, we've had to slowly bring it up to where it is now, 7.2 ph. In the unscientific process, going to fast, 2 tetras died. We then bought two baby tetras from petsmart to keep this one company, as they are social schooling fish. That did not work out very well... After a couple of nights, one disappeared. I thought I siphoned it out accidentally, until the next night, the 2nd baby disappeared. I don't know if it was a feeding frenzy, or one of the bigger angelfish slurping each one down. Now one sad lonely tetra remains.

 

[Miramonti]

Very cool, I used to have a 55 with about 6 much larger ones that was a bit more established I'd think, and another 55 Discus tank.

I loved my Discus tank long ago before I ran into some problems years ago, had a live growing tank with grow lights on it. Was a beautiful one, just haven't done em in awhile if even have several old tanks still about not doing anything.

Not to be too critical these days and I 'm not sure as I've been out of the hobby awhile, but that seems to be a lot of em to maintain in that much space.

?

No doubt it is way too many for the tank. We have to do a partial water change every day, if not 5g twice a day (20g tank.) If I replace too much at a time, I lose too much bad bacteria. If I replace too little, the ammonia levels get too high.

We're not breeders, just responding in away that tries to take care of them until we can get rid of them. I was offered $1.75 (store credit) for each from a local shop. I looked around and saw he's selling his for $9.99. I was definitely expecting more than that and would rather sell them on craigslist than to a smug shop owner. We called yesterday and the employee was really excited, saying we are "ALWAYS" looking for angelfish. Yeah, and if that's what the owner is going to pay, then I'm sure that will continue.

 

[BUTCH1]

Best practices/tools to keep the nitrates down?

Regular water changes are you friend, I have a 20gl tank with 2 large Angels, one large Bala Shark and one Tetra. The 2 Angels get along well, in the past I've had 2-3 in the tank and had some aggression but these 2 do well together, I've found eggs attached to the pump intake on 2 occasions only to find them gone the next day, no biggie, I wasn't planning on breeding them anyway and I don't have a tank for the fry either. 2 weeks ago I had an Ick outbreak in the tank, I had gotten out of my weekly 20% water change, my poor babies had cloudy eyes and were barely eating, I treated the tank with Furan-2, followed the instructions to the letter and thank god they are OK and back to their normal self's, (if you have angels then I'm sure your familiar with them coming up to your fingers when it's feeding time!). The longest one I've ever had last was 5 years, pure black, I miss him..

 

[Miramonti]

If anyone is in the land of blue meth and is interested in a few for one's tank, pm me.

 

[trmiv]

That lone tetra is like "Man this club is a angelfish fest."

 

[OBLAMA2009]

No doubt it is way too many for the tank. We have to do a partial water change every day, if not 5g twice a day (20g tank.) If I replace too much at a time, I lose too much bad bacteria. If I replace too little, the ammonia levels get too high.

We're not breeders, just responding in away that tries to take care of them until we can get rid of them. I was offered $1.75 (store credit) for each from a local shop. I looked around and saw he's selling his for $9.99. I was definitely expecting more than that and would rather sell them on craigslist than to a smug shop owner. We called yesterday and the employee was really excited, saying we are "ALWAYS" looking for angelfish. Yeah, and if that's what the owner is going to pay, then I'm sure that will continue.

im surprised that a pet shop would buy stuff from a dude off the street, arent they worried about disease or genetics? when i was a kid angel fish were the most expensive fresh water fish but now walmart has stuff like that for just a couple bucks

 

[rahul]

Nice looking fish If you're up to the task of packing and shipping the fish, you'll get much better prices on Aquabid. Alternatively, search online for aquarium clubs in your area and get in touch with them. About 25-30% of retail price is what you can expect from a local store, slightly more if you take store credit instead of cash. If you go the store route, I suggest finding a 'mom & pop' place (and these are hard to find in many places). They might give you better prices for good quality fish, especially if you plan on supplying them in the future.

As mentioned earlier, water changes are the best way to reduce nitrates. Aim for 10-50% water changes daily (usual warnings about chlorine/chloramine and temperature) or 80-90% once a week. I raise discus and the adults get 50% changes every day, fry get 75% twice a day. You don't need to do this unless you want them to reach marketable size in double quick time.

 

[JEDIYoda]

im surprised that a pet shop would buy stuff from a dude off the street, arent they worried about disease or genetics? when i was a kid angel fish were the most expensive fresh water fish but now walmart has stuff like that for just a couple bucks

Only if you were selling them...

 

[BUTCH1]

im surprised that a pet shop would buy stuff from a dude off the street, arent they worried about disease or genetics? when i was a kid angel fish were the most expensive fresh water fish but now walmart has stuff like that for just a couple bucks

When's the last time you were at a Wal-mart?, every one has not had live fish for over 10 years or so. Pet shops charge $5 for the really tiny ones to $8-15 depending on size. Most would require OP to bring in a water sample first then have no problem buying them.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

When's the last time you were at a Wal-mart?, every one has not had live fish for over 10 years or so. Pet shops charge $5 for the really tiny ones to $8-15 depending on size. Most would require OP to bring in a water sample first then have no problem buying them.

i live in ca, they still sell fish in all of them here. i would think there might even be laws about where a store can get stuff. his fish look really nice though

 

[BoomerD]

Nah, for the most part, pet shops can buy fish from whatever source they have.

I bred angelfish and discus for several years. Never really made any serious money at it...but it paid for my hobby...and then some.

As for the neon tetras...yep, angelfish will gobble them up if they're small enough...tasty snacks.

A nice school of tetras or cardinals (my preference) looks great in a planted tank with a couple of angelfish.

 

[Xcobra]

Congrats man! That's awesome. From briefly working at a pet store, keeping up a fairly big tank can be a lot of work. How big is the tank? Looks like about 30 gal?

 

[willz32]

cool

 

[OBLAMA2009]

And yes, that is one [remaining] neon tetra. These babies were in 100% RO water, so to sell them, we've had to slowly bring it up to where it is now, 7.2 ph. In the unscientific process, going to fast, 2 tetras died. We then bought two baby tetras from petsmart to keep this one company, as they are social schooling fish. That did not work out very well... After a couple of nights, one disappeared. I thought I siphoned it out accidentally, until the next night, the 2nd baby disappeared. I don't know if it was a feeding frenzy, or one of the bigger angelfish slurping each one down. Now one sad lonely tetra remains.

this reminds me of some of our fishtank tragedies. one time my younger brother went to a pet store and got a tiger barb and put it in our tank. the next day we got up and it had killed like 4 other fish, bitten the eyes out or a couple and bitten the legs off of one of those african frogs.

another time my brother got a vaccuum to suck up the crap from the bottom filter and one of those catfish that looks sort of like a shark (pictus?) got its head stuck in the vacuum motor, ouch...

one time we got "mud puppies" and they climbed up the side of the tank and got out and always headed into the registers where the central heating would come out of. oddly enough even after a night of drying out in those, you could put them back in the tank and theyd be perfectly fine

 

[Miramonti]

Nice looking fish If you're up to the task of packing and shipping the fish, you'll get much better prices on Aquabid. Alternatively, search online for aquarium clubs in your area and get in touch with them. About 25-30% of retail price is what you can expect from a local store, slightly more if you take store credit instead of cash. If you go the store route, I suggest finding a 'mom & pop' place (and these are hard to find in many places). They might give you better prices for good quality fish, especially if you plan on supplying them in the future.

As mentioned earlier, water changes are the best way to reduce nitrates. Aim for 10-50% water changes daily (usual warnings about chlorine/chloramine and temperature) or 80-90% once a week. I raise discus and the adults get 50% changes every day, fry get 75% twice a day. You don't need to do this unless you want them to reach marketable size in double quick time.

Fascinating to know...I had no idea you could ship them successfully in the mail. I wonder what the 'failure rate' is.

Congrats man! That's awesome. From briefly working at a pet store, keeping up a fairly big tank can be a lot of work. How big is the tank? Looks like about 30 gal?

Roughly a 20 gallon, very slightly larger.

im surprised that a pet shop would buy stuff from a dude off the street, arent they worried about disease or genetics? when i was a kid angel fish were the most expensive fresh water fish but now walmart has stuff like that for just a couple bucks

Yeah, after talking to more pet shops, most are not interested in buying them or paying much if they are. One shop offered $1 for them to take 'em off our hands, but reluctantly, for the reasons you mentioned (from an unproven nobody.)

 

[Miramonti]

this reminds me of some of our fishtank tragedies. one time my younger brother went to a pet store and got a tiger barb and put it in our tank. the next day we got up and it had killed like 4 other fish, bitten the eyes out or a couple and bitten the legs off of one of those african frogs.

another time my brother got a vaccuum to suck up the crap from the bottom filter and one of those catfish that looks sort of like a shark (pictus?) got its head stuck in the vacuum motor, ouch...

one time we got "mud puppies" and they climbed up the side of the tank and got out and always headed into the registers where the central heating would come out of. oddly enough even after a night of drying out in those, you could put them back in the tank and theyd be perfectly fine

Brutal! I wonder how many fish lives have been lost from people listening to inexperienced wage workers at the local pet shops (or not listening to anyone and not doing one's research.) With the internets these days, there's so much info out there, but research can be exhausting sometimes. We lost an easy going bother-no-one cory cat to a very aggressive algae eater. We realized we hadn't seen him for a few days only to find him in a ceramic cave with his head gorged out.

 

[rahul]

Fascinating to know...I had no idea you could ship them successfully in the mail. I wonder what the 'failure rate' is.

If done properly, (double bagged with oxygen, heat packs in winter, styrofoam box with padding to prevent the bags rolling around) the failure rate is very low, I'd say less than 5% at the "amateur" level. USPS next day, (2 day shipping if it is warm) is very convenient. If you have a large shipment, airport to airport is best.