Freshwater Angel fish
Breeding Freshwater Species
Pterophyllum scalare Species
Angels are pretty easy to breed they just need to be healthy have clean water and a good diet. All of my tanks contain a sponge filter, heater, pvc pipe for spawning tanks and no gravel. My Breeder tanks are 20 gallon high tanks. Angels will usually breed with a ph of about 7 (my ph is 8) and they like a temperature around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Their diet consists of beefheart mixture, white worms, frozen brine shrimp and flake food.
One spawn can be very large in size and you can end up with several hundred fry which need a lot of room to grow, the rule should be around 2 or 3 baby angels per gallon of water. Once the parents start spawning they will spawn every 7 to 10 days for several months so in a very short time you can end up with a lot of angelfish fry. Many parents will eat the eggs or the spawn so if I need that type of angel fish I usually remove the eggs from the parents tank.
I also feed the parents a small amount of food 2 or 3 times a day. It is very hard to siphon the tank with out siphoning babies so I try to avoid it as much as possible.
Once the parents have laid the eggs I remove the pvc pipe and put them in a gallon jar (that is filled with water from the parents tank) with a few drops of methylyn blue and an airstone with just enough air as not to knock the eggs off whatever they have been laid on( I use 3 inch pvc pipe) and then I leave the gallon jar in the parents tank.
The eggs will hatch in about 2 days at 80 degrees F and in another 4 or 5 days the fry will be free swimming. Once the babies are free swimming I put them in a 5 gallon tank with water from the parents tank and start feeding them baby brine shrimp. I start out with 1 gallon water changes 2x(using stored water at the same temperature and same ph as in the baby tank) a day using a airline tube to siphon water it is very easy to siphon up babies and when I do I suck them up with a turkey baster and put them back in the tank.
I feed the babies 4x a day and they grow very fast. In about 3 weeks I put them in 33 gallon and 20 gallon grow out tanks and wean them off brine shrimp and feed them scraped beefheart and fine ground flake foods. I feed the babies 3x a day and 30% water changes 3x a week, at 6 wks old the angels are around dime size and ready for me to take them to the pet shops.
Article by Debra Moulton
Compatibility: Livebearers, Tetras, Danios, Rasboras, Rainbowfish, Barbs, Loaches, Plecos, and scavenger Catfish.
Breeding Tips:
The best way to get a pair of good breeding angels is to pick out at least 6 good quality juvenile angels from a breeder or a reputable pet shop and place them in a tank of their own with plenty of space, water changes at least once a week and a variety of foods, in about 9 months they should reach adult size and they will pair off and then put them in a tank of their own.
If the babies are left with the parents they usually won't spawn again until the babies are removed from their tank.