Angelfish Fry Day 15
No more issues today so the ‘lemmings’ stage seems to have passed. Today I noticed that the fry are beginning to grow ventral fins! To me, this is the first stage where they begin to resemble true angelfish. After this step it’s simply a case of getting them to grow in size before selling them.
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See if you can spot the ventral fins! I’ve also found one of the fry that I’m becoming rather fond of…He has his little yellow head and his koi markings make him look like he’s got a huge black eye! I’ll try to get a photo of him shortly
Angelfish Fry Day 14 – The Lemmings Strike!
My lemmings prediction came true today…When it came to tank maintenance, I found 4 fry had managed to jam themselves against the sponge and have died. Like I said yesterday if there’s any way these lil guys can hurt themselves they will.
As it happens, the four that died were small, so perhaps they were already weak and they ended up near the sponge due to the circulation. I have moved the sponge to prevent this in the future but still feel terrible about the lost four…
Bad times!
Angelfish Fry Day 13 – The Big Release!
Today is an important day in the lives of the fry. Today is their first taste of ‘freedom’! I’ve noticed over the last couple of days that they were becoming a bit cramped in their vase so the time had come to transport them into their grow-out tank.
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This is always a risk as feeding the fry is more difficult and getting the flow rate right is an issue. Furthermore, ensuring that the tank has successfully been adapted to ensure that it’s fry-proof is never a certainy until the fry have tried it out. It’s worth noting here that the fry are like lemmings…if there’s any way they can die they will find it! Bear this in mind when preparing their homes.
On a side note this is the first time that I’ve had an opportunity to see all of the fry swimming around and look for any fry with swimming problems. There are a few which aren’t swimming as I’d expect so I’m going to give them a couple of days, after which some tough decisions must be made…
Angelfish Fry Day 12
The fry are really starting to grow now, with little fish shapes appearing…
They now all have very distant dorsal and anal fins, with the next stage of their development being their transformation into the deep angelfish shape we all know and love. At this stage, however, they still look more like torpedoes, each with the now unique patterning to their body.
The fry are also starting to outgrow their vase, so over the enxt couple of days they will be moved out and into their grow-out tank. I am concerned about this as I feel that they are still a bit small for 125 litres’ worth of space. Having too much space could frighten the fish into hiding, as well as making feeding them very difficult. On the plus side, it stops the need for twice-daily water changes, which bodes well for my lie-ins!
Angelfish Fry Day 10
Sorry for the delay in updates…as for the fry they are now starting to develop dorsal and anal fins. They now look like little diamonds rather than the tadpole shapes that they have previous assumed.
I’m not sure if that photo is clear enough to see the fins…please comment and let me know. I’ll try to add more images as they make further progress!
Angelfish Fry Day 9
Crisis avoided! The fry are fine this morning and my brine shrimp had hatched so they’ve had a good feed this morning. They were a little lethargic but are fine now, here’s a snap…
As you can see, the fry are no longer transparent, they now have a shiny surface so their jaffa cake bellies are no longer visible. I’ll be taking name requests shortly!
Angelfish Fry Day 8
Day 8 and disaster strikes! I successfully fed the fry this morning with live brine shrimp and all was well. However, when it came to a later feed, the brine shrimp had died. I’m not sure as to why, as the brine shrimp had successfully hatched but then died. Unfortunately my other hatchery is not yet ready either.
Luckily, I have a ready supply of decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, which are a sufficiently nutricious source of food…the only problem is that it is obviously still. Usually with fry, they can be successfully weaned onto ‘still’ food, such as flake or, in this case, the decap. eggs, however this takes a significant amount of time to achieve. I’ve just had to feed the fry the decap. brine shrimp and hope for the best. I’ve turned the current up slightly on the air stone, in the hope that it will keep the decap. eggs moving and trick the fry into thinking that they are moving.
Let’s hope I have good news for tomorrow…
Angelfish Fry Day 7
Early post this morning (snow related insomnia to blame!)…the little guys are really starting to grow now. Their markings are now apparent, again it looks as though dark kois are going to dominate:
Here, the markings of the darker kois can be seen (near the top of ‘the cloud’). I took this photo just before clean/feeding time so all of the fry are huddled together, rather subdued, waiting for their brine shrimp. Just for the record, there have been no more deaths since day 2/3, however there are a couple of tiny fry which may need culling if they are still not growing properly. Culling is a bit of a hot topic…personally I believe that the fry deserve a chance to try and develop, as some may develop later than others, but fish with deformities which will affect their quality of life will only result in them being bullied by their tankmates. Therefore culling them prevents this…I’d be interested on opinions on culling. Please feel free to voice your opinions in the comments section, below.
Angelfish Fry – The Parents
OK, as not too much is happening right now, other than the fry growing and trying to get into my clean pipette, I figured it’s be a good time to introduce you to the spawning pair that laid the eggs. The fry are starting to get their markings so I don’t want them to give the game away! Introducing Tiger (the male) and Tom (the female, who was named before the gender was apparent!):
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This is a video of a previous spawn, Tom can be seen first laying eggs on the leaf, with Tiger following her to fertilise them.
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Angelfish Fry Day 4 – Part 2
This evening I had more opportunity to watch the little guys as I was cleaning their vase. They are now interacting with external stimuli, as I found when they were following my round as I looked at them from different angles.
The following video is a more in depth version of feeding time: the fry are very lethargic when hungry but immediately come to life, frantically hunting down their brine shrimp. It is also apparent from the videos that the pectoral fins are also developing, as well as some initial body markings. In an imminent blog post, I’ll go into a bit more detail about the parents of this spawn, as well as the colouration of a previous spawn from this pair. Feel free to try and guess the colouration in the mean time!