Ghostface

I currently have a GBR pair as well. The male i've had for about a year now, and he has gone into several different tanks never an issue. The female is way more sensitive, tried to move her once while I was cleaning out the tank and re-organizing the plants, found her gaspin at the top. She was able to recover and have not moved her since. I find with GBR you never really know how well they do until you get them home, I've had instances where they died within the first week, I'd return them and get a new one and it would do fine, same setup, water etc. Some say they are an easy fish to keep, some say there are extremely difficult, I guess it all depends. Just give them lots of caves and hiding places, and like everyone else said, I also find that they do much better with other fish around them, they can be pretty shy if left by themselves. Good luck

I keep them in the fridge, from what I've read on several forums this is a common thing people do, didn't know that would have any impact. Thanks for the heads up. So, do you have 3 hatchery's going then for each of your feedings? I am running 2 of them, 1st one at 7:30 am - 2nd at 11pm, I feed 7:30am 5pm and 11pm

Hello again, Okay, everything has been going well so far. I have moved them into a 45 Gallon tank now, which they seem to be enjoying. Since my last post, I have probably lost another 10-12 fry, not sure exactly why, but my guess is that I overfeed them a few times. They looked very healthy, but I noticed 3-4 fry dead after feeding them. This happened 2 days in a row, so I scaled back on the amout of BBS I would squirt in. Generally, 1 tsp of hatched BBS, would last me for 2 feedings. I would feed about 1/4, wait to see how full the bellies get, then feed another 1/4. I haven't had any deaths in the past 5 days so everything seems to be going well. I am doing 30% water changes daily after last feeding. I took a few more pictures, they are camera shy and very quick, so not the best quality. I also uploaded some videos of my spawning Pairs, as well as feeding the fry. 23 Days old 24 Days old 26 Days old

My pair usually ate the eggs before I had a chance to remove them the first 2x (although I didn't care to pull them back then). How many times have they spawned for you? And how old is the pair? Are you sure that you have a Male/Female and not 2 females? If that was they're first spawn, I would let them try at least 2 more times. If anything, you could just give it a try and pull the eggs and use Methylene Blue and see what happens to the eggs. If you have a spare 20+ gallon tank, you could try and remove them from the main tank when you notice spawning behaviour, toss a blanket over top of the tank and let them have as much peace as possible. It just takes time, hopefully they will get it next try good luck

Alright as promised, here is my Day 15 update! Everything has been going really well, I have only lost about 3-4 more frysince last update, they were tiny and had obviously not been eating. Otherwise,all the others are growing like crazy. My daily process this far has been; Feeding 7:30am (before work) 4:30pm (after work) clean up left over's 45mins later 10:30 (before bed) 20% Water change, clean up left over's. 45mins later I use an Eyedropper to feed the fry. After the BBS have collected at the bottomof my glass bowl, I suck up 0.5ml (Days 8-11) or 1 ml (Days 12-15). This has been working great so far. On day 8 I fed them about 1ml which was waytoo much, so you'll have to experiment yourself to see how much they eat. Water Changes 20% change (2 gallons) after last feeding around 11:15pm. I conditionmy water with Prime 0.2ml using eyedropper. Now, I've been reading a lot of posts in regards to water changes (on this andother sites) and everyone seems to be doing it differently. Some say you should do 10% water change after every feeding, some say massive waterchanges of about 70-80% is the way to go. Some say 50% is a good number. Anyways, I don't have the time to feed, wait 45mins and do a water change everyfeeding. The 20% water changes every night before bed has been working great for me thus far, and I have hardly lost any fry. I do keep the tank veryclean. I think once the fry are getting bigger, and they start producing more wasteetc I will start to do 50% water changes, but for now I don't feel it is necessary. I also plan on adding plants to help with the water quality (I'm thinking afterDay 30-40.) Water changes and clean up for the first few days were more challenging, as thefry are so small and uncoordinated. Now, they move out of the way and huddle upin a corner when I do my cleaning and water changes, which is nice, only takesabout 5-10mins to do it all. Baby Brine Shrimp I only used about half a teaspoon of eggs at the start (days 8-11),which lasted me for 3 feedings plus some. I ran 2 batches at a time, First batch at 7:30 AM and second at 4:30pm. Nowthat they are bigger, I am just doing 1 batch of 1 teaspoon. I use a coffee filter to rinse off the BBS with tap water, thenplace them into a glass bowl and throw them in the fridge after my firstfeeding. They will stay alive in the fridge for 1-2 days. I make a fresh batch every 24hours, so the leftovers I toss into a mini ice cube tray and freeze them as treats for my other fish. Well, I have to say, it's been a joy watching these guys grow in this shortamount of time. They have pretty much tripled in size and have even started torecognize me when I get close to the tank. I can see they're lil eyes looking and checking me out. They don't have anycolors yet, but I see a shimmer as they turn, I can make out tiny fins on thesides and starting on the top. It's pretty cool I think that's all I have for now, I may read over it in a while and add some stuff,or fix mistakes. I took a few more pictures of the lil guys, here they are. I should also add, I am on the lookout for a 33 gallon + tank to move theseguys into, would be nice if it came with a heater, filter, air pump. If youfind a good deal for me, let me know muchappreciated, till next time, Cheers, PS: The pictures only show about half of the fry, I'll try and get a picture ofthem all next time, but they get scared and scatter anytime I try and take apicture. Day 12 Day 15

I didn't realize that they grow out a 10 gallon that fast...what size tank would you recommend I throw them in?

Ok, its day 8...the fry are doing great so far...I've had about 6 dead ones so far, and did my first 20% water change. I will do 10% (1 gallon) changes daily from now on. I can't believe how full the fry get, looks like they are about to blow up after feeding. My Angel's in the main tank are at it again, cleaning the pot and will probably spawn within the next couple days. Not exactly sure what I will do with them, I might go buy a 10 gallon and raise a 2nd spawn, just in case something goes wrong with my first spawn. I'll add some pictures when they are 15 days old or something.

Hello community, Since this is my first spawn, I'm going to keep a log on how things are going. So, starting from the beginning, my Angel pair spawned on May 18th. I moved the pot with eggs into a 10 gallon tank a few hours after. I used 5 gallon of water from the spawning tank. I noticed the first wigglers 3 days later. On the 5th day most were either on the bottom or hanging onto the pot. On day 7 (today) they are free swimming...very cool! My guess is that there are at least 200 lil guys swimming around. They usually hang out together in one of the corners of the tank, opposite the sponge filter, however when I watch them for a while, they start spreading out more (maybe they get scared?) So, today I cleaned up as much of the gunk that has accumulated over the past 7 days. There was some blackish stuff that some of the fry and been clinging onto, and white eggs. I'm using airline tubing hooked onto a metal coathanger (saw this from a youtube clip, google Angelfish breeding documentary). Its pretty hard not to suck those lil guys up because they still like to hang out at the bottom of the tank. I have started my BBS (Baby Brine shrimp) hatchery, one started at 7am the other 7pm. Do you guys rinse the BBS in fresh water? I'm using a straw to suck up the BBS. Should I start doing my water changes today? I have about 9 gallons in the tank atm...do they need that much right now? Can I just take out 6 gallon, add 1 gallon of clean water (treated with prime), and keep adding 1 gallon per day until it is full again, then repeat the process? Do I keep adding a few drops of Methylene blue after water changes? I can't really see the egg sacs with the water being really blue, should I start feeding them 24h BBS tomorrow morning, 3x a day? I'm thinking first feed 7am - 5pm - 10pm. To help with the cleaning after feeding, have you guys ever tried Snails or small pleco's to help out? okay that is all for now, I'm sure I will have some more questions soon. I will try and post some pics of the fry soon, I'm not that good with the camera, but for now, here is a pic of my Pair. Fry on Day 7 Free swimming till next time,

Np Rebel, I bought my Methylene Blue from Piceis. Good luck with your next spawn.

sweet, I'll try and get some pictures up. I dont have the greatest Camera, so it is hard to get good pictures

Ok, they seem to be doing good so far. I have them in a 10 gallon bare bottom tank already, so there is no gravel. I noticed some of them hanging onto the sponge filter, should I be removing them or leave them there?

Okay, upon closer inspection, I see lots of wigglers...I didn't notice them looking at it from the front, but looking at the pot from the side I see them wiggling. Now, there are some white eggs on the ground, and there are at least 20-30 or so wigglers on the bottom with some white eggs...do I have to try and remove the white eggs or will the lil guys be fine? Should I suck up the lil fry and spit them back onto the pot? There are also several fry that have been blown far from the pot by the airstone, and some close to the sponge filter...should I collect the "stray" fry and get them closer to the others? thanks for the replys thus far Angel Al EDIT: Oh crap, I set the airstone this afternoon to close to the heater, and I'm guessing because of the increased air flow it raised the tank temp to 86, hope this wont ruin the spawn

Not the best picture, but as you can see, a lot of white eggs. Its been spreading over the last 24 hours Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Alright thanks, my temp is at 81-82 at the moment. I've read online that it takes 2-4 days before you see wigglers sometimes. Hopefully not many more eggs will be turning white until then. I'll take some pictures and post them soon.

i have like 40-50 white eggs, is that normal? Theres at least 150 eggs that are normal, but its been 48h and I dont see any black eyes or development.

oh, and should I do 20% water changes every day during hatching stage, up until day 7-8 when i start feeding them BBS then start doing 2x 50% in morning and night after feeding?

Yea I put 5ml of methyl blue into the 10 gal. I also am using my Fluval Flora filter which provides a stream of water right towards the eggs, so they should be getting plenty of water movement. Also my sponge filter provides bubbles. How frequent should I check for white eggs? I'm a bit paranoid atm and have been checking every 30mins.

Well, my Angel's were busy while I was at work. Got some eggs to take care of now. Hopefully I can get them to survive, i'll post some pictures if they make it to free swimming stage

Ok, I made my fluval flora fry safe and put them in that tank. I got a 10 gallon now for the eggs. 50% aged tap water 50% from spawning tank (main tank). Temp at 27C in both tanks. Hope this all works out.

Hello all, My Angelfish are starting to clean the pot in my main tank, and will lay eggs in the next 24 hours or so, I have a 10 gallon tank with about 40-50 guppy fry in them, they are between 1-2 weeks old, still tiny. My question is, are my Angelfish eggs going to be fine in the tank with the guppy fry or will the fry munch on the eggs and ruin them? Should I remove the fry? At the moment I only have a 15 gal planted tank available, but I have a pair of german blue rams in them, so they will probably eat the guppy fry real quick. thanks

Pictures please! Congratz on the spawn! very exciting

I raised 6 Angel's, 2 of which have paired off in my main tank and laid eggs about 2 months ago. I noticed them hanging out in one corner and fighting off others again last week. I then decided to take them out and put then in they're own breeding tank, setup with 2 terracotta pots, 1 Slate and 1 fake sword plant. The tank is 20 gal. I noticed at first they were hanging out together just fine, staying close to one another, but in the last 3 days, I noticed the male staying in one side of the tank and female in the other. Also the female's tail seems to have been nipped on and she is hiding from him now. What should I do? Leave them be and hope they will get along eventually like the have when they were in with the other Angels? Or should I throw them back in my Main tank with all the other fish where they seem to have been fine? I thought I would separate them before they would spawn in main tank. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks

Thanks Jayba, I will try that again, the 2males 2females I had were fine until i went on holidays, laying eggs every 7-8days.

I have 3 pleco's around 8 inches in my tank and they crap alot too, but I just let it settle for my plants to absorb, and just vac 1x a week along with my water change....I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just make sure you do your maintenance once a week and its fine

Well, just a quick update...I my GBR were breeding like crazy, they spawned every 6-8 days, I left the eggs in for at least 4 spawns. Then I went to my buddies wedding in the Dominican and had a friend feed them. When I got back the tank was at like 19C and 2 were dead with 1 Male 1 Female still alive (guessing the lack of heat and flux in temp killed 2 of them). Anyway, the female died a few days after. The Male lived, and is still living and doing well. I purchased another Female for him, and they had 1 spawn before I noticed her gasping for air, then dying the next day. I check water quality and everything was normal, not too sure why she died. The male is still doing great, but I'm not sure If I want to keep going with them since they are like $14 a piece. I really like the Male I got, he's been a trooper, I just wish I could find him a solid female that wont die after 2-3 weeks. Oh I should add, the spawn with the new female, I noticed the male helping to clean the rock and everything but never saw him fertilize the eggs, he did fertilize with the other female, not sure why he didn't with his new partner? My setup is 15gal planted tank with high quality dark sand, just have my GBR Male, and 5 Rasborra Het, Temp is steady at 27C and I do 30% water changes weekly along with filter cleaning. I was thinking of adding a piece of driftwood to help with water quality, you guys think that would help out? I am also considering getting a more hardy cichlid, what would you guys recommend? A pair would be nice, do any of the petstores in Calgary sell mature enough pairs that will breed? or do I have to get lucky on kijiji for that thanks for all