Wonderful - Wonderful!
The Angels are breeding!

02/23/2002

I've had Angels for about 6 years now, they are by far my favorite fish, even though I am newly intrigued by the saltwater fishes.

About 4 years ago I had my first breeding pair of Angels purely by accident. (The male of this pair is the the largest pictured on the Fish Page). I was incredibly excited to see them lay their first eggs. I did tons of research and tried to help them out any way I could, but unfortunately the parents ate all of the eggs just after I started to see little tails poking out of them.

The spawning ended up to be too stressful on the female, which was getting pretty old anyway, and she died three days later.

I have been trying to get another breeding pair since then - probably three years now. It has finally happened!

These angels are still quite young, (the mother is only about 8 months old, and the father may be a little over a year old), so it really doesn't surprise me that there aren't that many eggs, especially with this being their first time spawning. After a little practice they could be laying thousand per spawn!

The female is incredibly protective of her eggs. With 3 other Angels in the tank besides her mate, she has to be! If any of the other fish come anywhere near her eggs she rushes them with lighting speed and gives them a little nip!

So far, she's a really good mom. When there are no fish nearby to attack she spends her time cleaning and fanning the eggs. Even if this batch doesn't survive, I'm sure there will be more in the future!

I will update here within the next few days to keep you posted on the progress of this big event! In the mean time, please check out the Angel Fish Breeding FAQ, that's where I'll be!