Surprise eggs!

Hi, I am very new to b/n's and have only had my gorgeous adult pair for about 6 weeks, got up this morn and checked my tank and holy moly, the male is gently fanning what looks like a good cluster of eggs! which is great but very unexpected, so what next? Any tips for a novice would be great. Female is off doin her own thing in the plants but the male has not budged an inch all day.

Hi,congrats on the spawn.The dad will stay pretty much where he is fanning until the babies all leave the cave which will take approx two weeks altogether.The mum will have nothing more to do with them.The male will probably not even leave to eat although some do.

If you have any worries or questions please ask away.


Bristlenoses

Hi, Thanks for the reply, indeed dad has still not moved and mum still seems happy enough, eggs all appear to be healthy, was due to buy some cherry shrimps but am now not so sure they wont eat the bn fry. posts i have read seem to suggest they will b ok apart from 1 which suggested the cs took the bn fry! any shared experience on this would be most useful. Had a couple of glass/ghost shrimps one of which had eggs but the two adults have vanished but i have seen two very small gs last night! hoping these will b too small to pray on the bn fry. cheers steve

they fry will be fine

A girl in my fish club told me that she saw ghost shrimp eat her angelfish fry. Though I have never seen BN fry, I imagine that they are bigger than angel fry and better protected by the father.

I've never kept shrimp, but yes newly hatched angelfish wigglers are tiny things compared to BN, so I imagine shrimp could eat them.

Angelfish parents that care for the eggs are normally VERY protective (some strains have lost parenting skills to some extent) but even good parents do seem to vary in their ability to perceive danger to the eggs/wigglers.

All my Angel pairs keep any size fish away, but only some know that snails need to be knocked down if they come near. They are very obvious and deliberate about it, while others will guard and fan a spawn obliviously while a snail munches away at it.

That may be the case with shrimp, some Angels may simply not recognize them as a threat.

I'm just curious as to how/why the shrimp weren't eaten by the Angels in the first place???? I'd love to keep some, but didn't think there were any an Angelfish wouldn't see as, well SHRIMP,,,,YUMMY!

I think adult ghost shrimp are bigger than a lot of people realize. Mine never seem to get eaten in my tanks even years ago when I had angels.

ktk05 wrote:

I think adult ghost shrimp are bigger than a lot if people realize. Mine never seem to get eaten in my tanks even years ago when I had angels.

Really? OK, thanks, I'll definitely check them out!

Not sure the pricing in New York but here in Florida I can buy them 12 for a dollar + tax.

Thanks to all the replys, all still good at the mo, dad still hasn't budged and is fanning away happily! hoping the eggs will hatch today or tomoz, will keep u all posted. cheers steve

Ok the eggs are hatching and can just about see some fry in the cave with dad if has any tips for me pls feel free to reply. cheers steve

Hi Steve, Congratulations!

New babies are always exciting, the best advice I can offer right now is to resist the urge to keep checking on them if it involves disturbing things in any way, (such as shining a light into the cave- Dads, esp new ones, HATE that ).

You may want to write a post describing your set up; tank size, type of filtration, temp., substrate, water parameters, what you feed, etc. Anything you can think of is useful, and I'm sure you will get plenty of helpful feedback.

Again, good job and enjoy, right now Dad has everything under control, he knows exactly what to do in most cases.

Sarah

Hi Sarah, thanks for the reply think im a tad over excited lol so ill leave dad to it. Plenty of fry from other fish over the last year or so but this just seems more of an achievement . ill post my set up shortly. cheers steve

No problem, Steve. I know exactly how you feel, I've bred thousands of Angelfish and guppies, but that first batch of Bristlenose babes was special (and I bugged the hell out of Dad constantly trying to get a peek at them ).

Rest assured you should also have plenty more spawns in the future, so start planning for homes if you intend to raise them. Once a pair starts, they rarely stop!

Keep us updated, and again, enjoy- it's a great hobby!