Fish Chronicles

This summer our angel fish turned a corner in their life cycle. They had quite a struggle when they first laid eggs last December. You can read about the Chaos in the Nursery here. This struggle continued every 3 or 4 weeks up until July and the female finally was able to save the eggs until they turned into free swimmers, but lost the battle to the male and they all got eaten by him. So, I found a smaller aquarium at a garage sale and decided that after he fertilized the next batch of eggs he and our catfish would go on a vacation and leave the female alone to raise her young. I was so hopeful to see a batch of their off spring. I figured they would be very pretty since she was a marble and he was a gold. Maybe I would have some looking like a koi angel fish which are more unusual. Here is the aquarium that I put the male in:

Here are the 3 aquariums that I have. The little one has my beta fish, Julia, in it. You can read about his story here.

The female now had a brood of babies to raise. Here they are in the wiggler stage.

Here they are a day before they took to the waters and started to swim. They are the dark area on the rock right below her fin.

Here they are free swimming around their mom.

It was so fascinating to see her with her young. So, very diligent and amazing was her care for them. I had baby fish food for them and I kept the water really clean. I had so much fun watching them through a magnifying glass. You could see their little eyes, mouths and tails. Each night she would gather them all together and they would settle down on the rock for the night. This is so she could protect them during the dark hours when things are harder to see coming. There was no other fish in the aquarium but that was in her programing. So amazing. To my sadness they didn't live more than 4 days. They kept dying and falling to the bottom of the aquarium. I don't know if the food wasn't right for them or if there was something wrong in the water. I decided I would just give it my best shot with this group of babies and not spend a lot of money specializing in angel fish fry. We just don't have the money right now and I don't know what I would do with a bunch of baby angel fish. The mom in me just really wanted to see some of their young make it to adulthood and see what they looked like. The female sulked for a day or so after her last babies died. I cleaned the tank and put the male and the cat fish back in the tank and Julia got a new home. I put him in the aquarium that I had been keeping the male angel fish in. Now he has lots of room to move around in:) Now, when a batch of eggs are laid on the slate stone I just lift it out of the water and wash them away. I just can't see the fish going through all the fighting and struggling for these eggs and they don't survive. So, I feel that is the kindest and best solution for now. Maybe someday I will raise baby angel fish but not now.