From the outside it may seem that caring for a home aquarium and even breeding your favorite fish is a simple matter and does not require significant effort. However, to make a small home pond look well-groomed and its inhabitants feel good, efforts will be required.
If you carefully monitor the parameters of the water and the temperature in the aquarium, pick up a good feed and do not forget to change the water, you can speed up the spawning of fish. Moreover, not only unpretentious guppies, with good care, even such capricious fish as angelfish will lay eggs.
Angel fish
The hobby of many aquarists began with the acquaintance with this leisurely fish with long fishnet fins. In nature, scalars (Pterophyllum scalare) live in the slow waters of the Amazon tributaries, among thickets of plants, in the shade of which they hide from danger and gather for spawning. The very flattened body of the fish on the sides is ideally designed to maneuver between the roots and leaves of plants.
The name of the scalar (Zeus scalaris) is a species of wild fish that was received in 1823. However, until now in Germany, breeders have called the fish Segelflosser, which translates as "sail". And in the United States they are known as "angel fish" (Angelfishes or just Angel).
For several decades of aquarium breeding, these fish were able to adapt to almost any conditions. They can feel normal in both soft and hard water, and small temperature jumps are not fearful for fish. However, if you want scalars to lay eggs, they will need to create the right conditions for this.
Flock Fish Life
Some types of aquarium fish, for example, almost all bottom catfish, feel great alone. With scalars, everything is not so simple; in nature, it is schooling fish that live in groups of 10-15 individuals. And even a long domestication could not change this habit: representatives of this species feel good only in the group.
Experienced aquarists are advised to choose a dozen small scalars with wide and long fins. Further, as they grow older, the fish themselves will be divided into pairs. Usually, one dominant pair of angelfish, the largest and with good appetite, stands out in the aquarium. The remaining fish will be kept in the distance.
Most likely, it is this dominant pair that will lay scalar eggs in the aquarium. Although, if the aquarium is large enough and it has a lot of plants for shelter, other fish will also have a chance of reproduction.
Pair for angelfish
Experienced aquarists do not recommend sharing an already existing pair of fish, even if the breeder does not like this “union”. For fish, this is very stressful, it is possible to refuse food, and even the death of a pet.
If you really want to bring young with certain traits, you can try to plant a male and a female of a suitable gender and size in a separate aquarium. Sex in young fish is quite difficult to determine, there are several common signs:
- Males have a more elongated long dorsal fin.
- The number of transverse contrast bands on the dorsal fin of a female is no more than 6, and that of a male is more than 7.
- Males are usually larger, they have a round body. In females, the body is smaller and not so round, rather angular.
- The male has a more convex round forehead, which will acquire a golden color with age. In females, the forehead is sloping and visually passes into the dorsal fin.
In addition, the sex of young fish can be determined by observing their behavior; males are always aggressive and assertive. Females keep flock and are more engaged in the search for food.
Once in the same aquarium together, the selected fish will make friends, and soon it will be possible to observe how preparations are under way for the start of spawning.
Breeding conditions
In order for the selected pair to successfully lay eggs, they need to create optimal conditions. Despite the assurances of the producers, it is better to feed fish before spawning with live food (bloodworms, cyclops, daphnia), then the pets have a brighter color and a desire to breed.
For spawning, you need to plant an aquarium with live plants with large dense leaves. Most likely, one of these sheets of scalar and lay eggs in the aquarium. It is good if duckweed or other small plants float on the surface of the water, they will provide a comfortable twilight and additional vitamins for producers eating greens.
Without hoping for plant leaves, you can lower a piece of dark plastic or a smooth ceramic pot into the aquarium. Of course, they must first be thoroughly washed. Maybe a couple will spawn these surfaces for spawning and caviar will soon appear on them. Although the predilections of the parents are unpredictable, and you can see the eggs of the scalar on the filter, and not on carefully prepared items.
Temperature and water changes
For stimulation, the water temperature should be increased to 28 ° C, in fish at the gene level, this will be an indicator of the beginning of the warm season and spawning time. In nature, it is with the onset of heat that young individuals begin to vaporize and lay eggs.
Still need to regularly 3-4 times a week to make water changes, replacing about 10% of the total. Importantly, distilled or pre-boiled water must be added to lower its hardness. And the temperature should be close to that in which the pets are used to living.
Scalar caviar in the aquarium
Fish of this species before spawning should not be planted from a common aquarium. Of course, if they do not have large neighbors with a good appetite.
Signs that the couple is preparing for spawning will become visible in a few days. They will zealously guard the part of the aquarium, driving away all neighbors from there. Usually the male does this, and the female carefully cleans the selected surface.
An inexperienced aquarist can easily miss these signs and only by chance notice that scalars laid eggs in a common aquarium. Having discovered this, you need to observe how the parents behave and how serious the gastronomic interest in the caviar is shown by the neighbors.
Spawning
The reason is still not clear, but scalars prefer to spawn in the evening, closer to night. On a selected and thoroughly cleaned leaf or object, the female lays a row of eggs. Sails a little, giving way to a male who fertilizes eggs. Then they again change places, and so several times. These harmonious movements resemble an underwater dance.
Spawning can last from forty minutes to one and a half hours, during which time the female will lay more than 500 eggs. In an adult large individual, the number of eggs can exceed a thousand. And all the time the male will be there.
Scalar caviar looks like small transparent grains densely covering a leaf or glass of an aquarium. In fact, in the yolk sac of this tiny ball, there are enough nutrients for the appearance of a full-fledged small fish.
Angelfish lay eggs: what to do?
The first two days after spawning, the parents guard the future offspring by driving away uninvited guests from it. They improve water circulation, fanning eggs with dorsal and pectoral fins, and carefully clean the rows of balls, pecking whitened dead samples. This prevents the damage to neighboring fish eggs.
After a couple of days, larvae begin to hatch. It looks like this: from the eggs of scalars appear thin movable tails, resembling transparent threads.
During this period, a pair of parents by mouth gently transfers the moving eggs to the adjacent leaf. Thanks to an innate instinct, this is how they protect offspring from death, because the proximity to perishable empty shells is very harmful.
The development of larvae continues for another 7–12 days, during which time the supply of nutrients in the yolk sac runs out and, finally, fry from scalar eggs appear.
A pair of parents protects their offspring and cares for them until small fish begin to feed on their own.
Actually
Despite the fact that parental care is extremely important for the development of small fish, adult individuals do not take care so often. Even having sent the selected pair to a separate aquarium, there will be no guarantee that the parents will care for the caviar. This is especially true for young individuals.
And there is simply no chance of hatching from eggs in a common aquarium in angelfish (fry) without assistance. In the best case, the couple will try to protect the eggs for the first two days. But the stress of spawning and the intervention of gluttonous neighbors leads to the fact that part of the offspring will be eaten, and the rest will disappear.
It happens, with the onset of darkness, the parents themselves are lost and eat recently laid caviar.
There are several options for what to do with scalar caviar in a common aquarium. You can leave everything as it is, then the pets will receive an additional portion of food, and the couple will be ready for the next spawning in about a month.
And those who set out to grow a flock of small fish have two options: put their parents away with caviar or equip a small aquarium and temporarily turn into a nanny.
Caviar with parents
You can plant a couple with eggs in a separate aquarium, then the fry will have more chances to hatch. For the health of small fish, parental care is very important, but difficulties can occur during transplantation:
- Additional aquarium. Few aquarists, especially beginners, can boast of having another tank with a capacity of 50–80 liters. And in a smaller volume of water, two large fish will not feel comfortable and take care of the offspring.
- The water parameters in the new aquarium should be as close as possible to the water in general. Optimally, take 30-40 percent of the water from the general aquarium, and add the rest of the volume with distilled or boiled water.
- Adult fish can react poorly to relocation to a new place, and stop caring for caviar.
Optimally prepares for spawning in advance: put a couple of producers in a separate aquarium in advance, feed them properly and monitor the water parameters.
However, after the fry hatch from the eggs of the scalar, adult individuals need to be put back into the general aquarium. Parental feelings for small flickering fish will weaken, and adults can eat their offspring.
Separate aquarium for fry
A good option would be to prepare a small aquarium for juveniles, in which you need to transfer caviar. Transport should be done carefully, along with the item to which the eggs are attached. If the grains are on a leaf of a plant, you will have to sacrifice a leaf and carefully separate it from the stem.
In order for the fry to appear successfully, the aquarium for them must meet certain requirements:
- It can be small, 10 or 20 liters, but always cleanly washed and disinfected with the Aquacons antiseptic conditioner. It’s nice to add a few drops of this preparation to the water for fry.
- Take half of the water from the general aquarium, add the rest with boiled or distilled.
- In the aquarium there should be no soil and scenery, but it is necessary that the lighting lamp burns constantly.
- Be sure to place the heater and air spray there. Wait about an hour and transfer the item with caviar. It is necessary to arrange it so that the eggs are washed by the flow of water from the aerator, but the air bubbles do not touch them. This will create the same effect as fanning the calves with the fins of the parents.
- Small plants, such as duckweed, will be allowed to surface, they will quickly grow in the light, and will create shelters, and then food, for small fish. In addition, the presence of living plants will prevent a jump in nitrate levels when fry begin to grow actively.
Several times a day, tweezers need to remove frozen eggs, being careful not to damage neighboring grains. If all goes well, in two weeks the first small fish will begin to appear.
Baby Care
Raising young animals is much more difficult than caring for adults. For the first feed, a trifle of ciliates or daphnia is suitable. Approximately on the fifth day, you can give small brine shrimp brine shrimp, they can be removed independently or purchased at a pet store. Do not feed the fish with egg yolk, it quickly deteriorates and becomes covered with a fungus, this affects the parameters of the water.
Fry should be fed five times a day, at regular intervals. It is very important to carefully remove the leftover food from the bottom with a small siphon.
On the fifth day, you can install a small filter, this will help regulate the purity of the water. Just so that the fry are not pulled into it, first wrap the filter with a thin cloth or nylon stocking.
After about a month, the fish will acquire a characteristic shape for scalars and gradually begin to eat chopped food for adults.
A few weeks later, you can put the young growth in a common aquarium or start looking for a new home for the fish. In many pet stores, you can exchange healthy young fish for food or the necessary equipment.