Angelfish: breeding at home

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

When starting a home aquarium, we strive not only to decorate our interior, but also to bring a piece of the living underwater world into it. It is interesting to watch the fish, they have a calming effect on the mind, which has long been proven by psychologists. But over time, almost every aquarist has a desire not just to keep them, but to achieve breeding and raise offspring.

One of the most popular aquarium fish are angelfish, the reproduction of which is also available to a novice aquarist. But in order for the offspring to retain all the signs and beauty of their parents, it is important to do everything right - this will be discussed below.

General description of the species

The homeland of the angelfish is the Amazon River, and the species itself belongs to the cichlid family.

The fish is quite large, the length of the body can reach 15 cm and a height of up to 26 cm, but the size to which it grows depends on the volume of the aquarium. The dorsal and anal fins are strongly elongated,which gives the scalar the shape of a crescent. The pectoral fins are filiform, rather long, and fish use them for touch.

The color of the body can be the most diverse, as today many variations in color and shape of the fins have been bred. Note that it is better to start breeding angelfish at home from species with ordinary, rather than veil fins.

Gender differences

One of the problems that a novice aquarist can face when breeding is sex determination. But still there are a number of signs by which it is possible to distinguish a male from a female, but only in adulthood. Here they are:

1. The male has a larger body, but at the same time he is slimmer than the female.
2. Paying attention to the front fin, you can distinguish the sex of the fish - the male has it forked, but the female does not.
3. There is a small organ near the anus, the male has a pointed shape.
4. The most important difference is the forehead. In the female it is even, while in the male it has a convex shape.

And do not rush to conclusions after examining the fish, because even an experienced aquarist can be wrong in his assumptions.

Hierarchy of fish and conditions of detention

The care of angelfish and the reproduction of these fish are strongly interconnected. It often happens that, with comfortable care, they lay their eggs in a common aquarium. To create such conditions in your home, you should know how to care for them.

The best water for them is considered soft, but they easily adapt to its other parameters. The lighting should be bright, the water temperature should be between 25-27 degrees, without sharp fluctuations.

The volume of the aquarium for a couple is 100 liters, for a group of fish - from 200. Moreover, it is important to choose high aquariums (at least 45-50 cm), then the fish will be able to grow fully, and will not remain dwarfs.

The aquarium should have filtration and aeration, but keep in mind that the fish do not like strong currents. Water is changed once a week, approximately 30% of the volume. All factors influence the maintenance and reproduction of angelfish, which affects the quality of their offspring in the future.

The hierarchy in the group is built independently, the dominant position is occupied by the largest pair. They control the best, in their opinion, part of the aquarium, other places are occupied by the remaining couples. But the loners are not very sweet - they are all oppressed, and they get less food.

Compatibility

Although angelfish are predatory, they are peaceful fish. They show aggression only during the breeding season and towards small species that they consider as food (neons, guppies, etc.).

The angelfish themselves can suffer from barbs that can bite off their long fins. Therefore, think in advance about who your fish will have to side by side in order to avoid such situations.

Fish are also incompatible with small crustaceans (crayfish, aquarium shrimps), as well as other aggressive cichlids.

Selectionmanufacturers

Although angelfish breeding in a community tank does occur and can take the aquarist by surprise, targeted breeding requires a special approach.

So, many cichlids have such a feature, which is also inherent in angelfish, when they choose a partner for themselves and spend almost their entire lives with him. The pair must be formed independently, with these fish, artificial selection of spawners will not work.

Experienced aquarists for this recommend purchasing a small group of young fish (6-10) and raising them together. By 10 months, angelfish become sexually mature and will break into pairs themselves, it remains to choose 1-2 pairs for yourself, and give away or sell unnecessary fish.

Don't leave only one pair without making sure that it is capable of producing offspring.

Preparing fish for spawning

The pair chosen for spawning should be abundantly fed with live bloodworms, tubule bugs, and coretra. It is better to start fattening a week before moving to the spawning aquarium.

The aquarium itself, in which the breeding of angelfish is planned, should be at least 80 liters in volume. The water should be similar in parameters to the one in which the fish usually live. Only a plexiglass or ceramic plate is placed inside the aquarium (at about a 45-degree angle), and manufacturers will spawn on it.

Spawning should be equipped with a filter and air purge. And after about a day from the moment the fish were placed in the aquarium, you need to replace 1/3 of the volume of water with fresh, settled water.

The temperature in the spawning aquarium should be 30 degrees, this, together with water changes, should stimulate the laying of eggs. It is important to keep the lights on all the time, the daylight hours for a spawning pair should be at least 10 hours.

Spawning

You can understand that the couple is ready for spawning by the rounded abdomen of the female and by the way the fish furiously begin to drive away other inhabitants of the aquarium from their intended spawning site. At this point, they are placed in the spawning ground.

Reproduction of angelfish at home for the first time usually occurs spontaneously, and the caviar itself is eaten by producers. But with the acquisition of experience, the fish begin to spawn regularly, and this behavior is not repeated in the absence of an external stimulus.

Spawning can go unnoticed for the aquarist, he will already notice only how the parents care for the caviar. The number of eggs laid by the female depends on her age and size - on average, it is 100-500 eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs, and then the parents begin to care for her.

Hatching offspring

Keeping, breeding and caring for angelfish is very interesting, especially if you are watching it for the first time. Parents alternately fan the eggs with their fins, periodically removing whitened (not fertilized) eggs from it.

This lasts 2-3 days, after which the fry begin to hatch. A pair gently moves them to the bottom, continuing to care for the remaining caviar. From the moment when the egg dissolves in the frybag, they begin to feed. At first it can be nauplii, brine shrimp, later you can give daphnia and cyclops.

The fry grow quickly and need to be sorted by size, separating the larger ones from the smaller ones. If this is not done, then cannibalism is possible, which is typical for fry of any spawning fish.

Parents can be left with fry for up to a month, but this will affect their subsequent reproduction. This is the peculiarity of their content: the care of angelfish for offspring takes a significant part of their strength. If they are transplanted earlier, then re-spawning can be expected in the same month.

Caviar selection from parents

Sometimes you have to deal with the independent hatching of fry, this is done in two cases:

1. If you plan to raise as many fry as possible, then it is beneficial for you to take the substrate with caviar from the fish. Thus, you stimulate producers to new spawning, and the number of fry output with this method is usually higher.
2. The second case occurs when you come across negligent parents who can eat caviar and juveniles. Here it is better not to take risks, but to pick up caviar in advance.

After selecting the substrate, it is placed in another aquarium with similar water parameters. A sprayer is placed near the caviar and the water is actively blown. The current of water blows over the eggs, removing dirt and dead eggs from them.

From the moment they hatch, the fry are fed in exactly the same way as if they were cared for by their parents.

How long do angelfish live?

Noted that the larger the fish, the longer itlives. Although angelfish are not as long-lived as goldfish, under favorable conditions they can live 10-12 years.