Angels have always been a main attraction of the aquarium. When angels were first imported from Brazil into Europe and other Asian countries, little was known about their breeding habits and people found it very hard to even identify the sex of the angels. Even today it is hard to tell the difference for an in-experienced aquarist. In this article I have tried to share with you my experiences with the Angels which have always formed the first fish in my tank. We are talking about normal angel fish and not about altum angels which are even today extremely difficult to keep and breed.

Selecting and Sexing the fish

  It is hard to tell the difference between a male and a female angel. Only way you can tell is during the egg laying time when the female has a tubular organ called ovipositor sticking out near the anal area through which it lays eggs. The male also has a similar tube for fertilizing the eggs but this is smaller in size. This can only be seen only by keen observation. The best way to choose your breeding pair is to buy an already proven pair from your friends or from the shop. This may be very expensive since the shops always put a premium for the mated pair. Another cheaper solution is to buy atleast 6 or 8 young fish of say about 1/2 inch diameter size and let them grow together. When they are about 1.5 to 2 inches diameter in size they will form pairs and stay together. This can be easily seen by watching them silently. The pair always stay together and chase away other pairs or singles approaching them. Females are more dedicated and stay with the choosen male for life. Males may sometime try to go after other females. Also other single females sometimes try to steal the male, in which case the female which is the original pair often drives away the other females from approaching the male. Once a pair is formed it is best to give them their own tank for them to grow together and raise their young successfully. They are also fully capable of breeding and raising their fry in a community tank but with less success rate. Try to buy juvenines from different shops so that you have a chance of pairs from different parentage and the brood quality will be good. Another way to distinguish males from females is males are larger in size for the same batch of fry and often do not peck females even if they are not their own pair. Females peck each other and males which are not their mates.

Breeding Tank

 Even though Angels can breed in a community tank it is best to give them their own tank for raising their fry. The breeding tank can be a 10 gallon tank with some amazon sword plants. Angels often lay their eggs on the sides of filters or other hard surface. If nothing is available then they choose amazon sword plant leaves. You can place a piece of slate slanting on the side of the tank. The fish will use this slate and lay its eggs on it. This slate piece can be removed for raising fry away from the parents if you choose so. If you want to watch the parenting skill to its fullest then let the angels breed in the community tank. Make sure there are no cat fishes that go out at night and pray on the eggs. Also snails should not be there. Other pieceful fish such as live bearers are not a problem.

Conditioning

  No special conditioning periods are necessary. Just feed the male and female well with live foods and quality flakes. That should be sifficient. Water quality in the breeding tank must be good. But no special care is necessary, just do your regular water changes and cleaning of scum from the tank bottom. Filter should be a box filter at the sides with no strong current. My angels have bred in a tank with strong internal power head filteration. But it is difficult to keep the fry in tact with strong currents.

Laying Eggs

  The female will start cleaning the surface on which it intends to lay eggs by scrapping with its mouth. The male also joins sometimes. After cleaning the female lays the eggs on the cleaned surface, the eggs stick to the surface well. Once eggs are layed the male goes over them and fertilizes the eggs. There is no physical mating like gouramis or live bearers. Once the eggs are fertilized the male and female both take turns to fan the eggs with their pectoral fins. The faning is to create a good water circulation around the eggs so that the eggs get good oxygenated water around them. This also helps in preventing fungus forming over the eggs and destroying them. This non-stop fanning goes on for 3 days until the eggs hatch. During this period the parents take turn to gaurd the eggs. Any fish that approaches will be driven back, even the toughest and agressive fish will think twice before approaching the pair. The parents do not normally attack viciously but they give a strong enough peck to drive even the strongest of other fish away. Keep your hands off and if by chance you put your hands inside the water you will get a peck also. Fertilized eggs look transparent. Those that are not fertilized look white and eventually get destroyed by fungus. To avoid fungus attacking good eggs, add a few drops of methylene blue to the tank water. Normally there are around 40 to 100 eggs. But 75% of them only hatch.

Fry

  The fry hatch on the third day. The fry at first look like miniature tadpoles and stick to the surface where the eggs where. You can see a whole mass of black wrigglers sticking to the surface of the slate or filter or amazon sword leaf. The parents continue to look after them. Now they stop fanning them, but take up the task of collecting the falling fry and blowing them back to the slate or filter surface. The fry continue to grow and on the second or third day start leaving the slate piece and collect at the bottom of the tank. Now the parents help them move from place to place in the tank. Often the fry stay at one spot decided by the parents. Any wandering fry will be taken in the mouth and blown back to the group. One parent always gaurds against other fish approaching. The parents also change the place of the fry during the dusk as soon as the light falls. This is to prevent any night prawlers from watching the place of the fry mass and try to have a go at night. Night is the time when the fry are most vulnerable and parents are not so clear about the whereabouts of other fish.

  At the end of first week the fry are free swimming. After two weeks they are bigger. They are no longer tadpole shapped and have the caudan fins clearly. After 4 weeks the fry are more flatter and begin to look like tiny angels. After 6 weeks they are angel shaped and after 2 months they are real angels.

Feeding the fry

  The new born fry often need infusoria but they can also take liquid fry food. For the first week they feed from their yolk sack so do not feed liquid fry food. But you can start adding infusoria since they do no pollute the water and you will have a good quantity of infusoria in the fry tank when they are ready for taking food from the water. Ensure that the fry food is dropped near the fry mass so that they get some of it before it dissolves in the water. Infusoria is the best as it does not pollute the water. If you are raising the fry in a glass bowl then liquid fry food can be added and we can control the feed amount. After a week they can take powdered food or freshly hatched brine shrimps. Brine shrimps are the best source of food, but I have also raised them with powdered food and later giving them finely chopped tubifex. Chopping tubifex is a dirty job. Chooped tubifex can be taken after 4 weeks. Now the fry start to grow at rapid pace and by 6 weeks they should be taking tubifex fully without chopping. Once they do this then they become bigger every day. Some people may not like tubifex for the fact that they may introduce diseases. In such cases we need brine shrimps till they can take fine flakes at aroud 6 to 8 weeks time. After two weeks the parents can be removed and fry can be left alone in the breeding tank. In the case of community tank the nature takes care and parents may defend the fry till 6 to 8 weeks. Normally only half of the hatched fry survive, unless you take extremely great care.

Water quality

  Water quality has to be maintained in the fry tank by constant partial water changes. Use a small plastic hose tube like air tubing to remove water from the tank without sucking out any fry. While doing this also clean the tank bottom off all debris and waste food. Daily water changes are a must if you want the fry to survive. After 4 weeks you can start a gentle box filter. You can have a undergravel filter going from week 1 if you have fine gravel where fry cannot get trapped.

Raising fry in a Bowl

  If you want to raise the fry without the parents, you can do so as follows. On the second day after the eggs have been layed, remove the slate or filter from the tank and place it in a shallow bowl or tank. Keep an air stone at below the slate and allow a gentle stream of air bubbles to circulate around the eggs. This replaces the fanning by the parents. Also add a few drops of methylene blue to the water to keep fungus away. After the eggs have been hatched and fry are free swimming remove the slate piece. As soon as the eggs hatch start adding infusoria or liquid fry food. Keep the air stone to have a gentle stream of air bubbles circulte the water. Filter shall not be there since the fry may get sucked into it. Do regular partial water changes by gently sucking out some water and adding fresh water back. In this way you are sure to get a stock of survivors, but you loose the charm of watching the parents care for the young.

Good Luck.

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