We will now go over what to expect after the eggs have been laid. This is where the frustration starts. The first two issues that you will be confronted with are eating of the eggs and fry, especially by the male, and infertility. We will go over the eating of the eggs first. We will go over infertility in the next part of the series.

One problem, and the one you must get past, with breeding Angelfish is the eating of the eggs, or fry once the eggs hatch out, by the parents. The good news is that only about 30% of the spawning Angelfish pairs will eat the eggs and another 20% will eat the fry as soon as they hatch out.  This is a much lower percentage than with some other Cichlids such as Discus.  While both parents will eat the eggs, the male does it more often. This is sometimes done as they spawn and there is very little you can do if this occurs while spawning. The female will make her egg-laying run and then the male, instead of following her with a fertilizing run, will follow her and eat the row of eggs. This behavior is most common in new pairs. Many new pairs will eat their eggs in the first couple of spawns and then eventually stop eating the eggs, so do not give up on them. If you get lucky and they do not eat their eggs when spawning, there is still a chance that they will eat them before they hatch. Fortunately, if you get this far, there is something you can do. You can, at this point, take the eggs out and artificially raise them or you can take a mesh screen (house soffit screen works very well) and fit it directly over the eggs. This will allow the Angelfish to still blow on the eggs and bond with the with the fry and will still keep them from eating the eggs. Obviously, you will need to have planned for the spawning and will need to have created the screen prior to the actual spawn. If the eggs do not get eaten and are fertile, they should hatch out in two days and become free swimming in about six days.

In the next article, we will go over infertility.

In the last article we went over how to get your Angelfish to spawn. 

Above is a swarm of Angefish Fry

This is what hooked me on Tropical Fish as a young boy and I still, 45 years after my first spawn, find it fascinating.   The first sign that your Angelfish are getting ready to spawn will be their obsession with cleaning the slate or breeding cone you provided.  It will always be on a surface that is mostly vertical and if you do not provide a surface that meets that condition on which you want them to use for spawning, they will spawn on other surfaces that are much more difficult such as the side of the tank or filter tubing.  Once you see both of them cleaning the spawning site, spawning will usually follow within a day or two.  You will also see them start doing the mating dance.  They will swim towards each other at a slightly upward angle.  Once they get next to each other, they will shimmer and then swim away from each other at a slightly lowered angle.  The mating dance is not always performed.  I have found that Wild Caught Angelfish almost always do it, but  later generations of tank raised strains often do not.  The most spectacular aspect of the spawning will be the colors of your Angelfish.  Whatever their color, it will become MUCH more intense and vibrant during spawning.  This will be the prettiest you will ever see your Angelfish.  They will also become aggressive toward other fish, including other Angelfish, at this time.   They will aggressively defend the breeding site from all intruders, including you.  If you put your hand in near the spawning site when they are preparing to spawn or have already spawned, they, usually the male, will bite your hand.  While it really does not hurt much, they will do it very aggressively, it will startle you and it will be something you want to avoid.

At some point after your Angelfish start doing all of the above, they will actually lay the eggs.  It will start with the female rubbing her belly, and her breeding tube, against the surface that they have cleaned.  She will always lay in an upwards motion.  The total length of the spawning run will be between ½ and five inches.  She will lay between 1 and 12 eggs per spawning run.  They can lay over a thousand eggs at one spawning, but it it usually 3 to 5 hundred.  The more mature the pair, the larger the spawn will be.  The male Angelfish will usually then follow directly behind her in the same basic motion fertilizing the eggs.  The entire process can take between one and five hours.  The eggs will usually be beige

This is when the fun is over and the frustration can start.  The first two issues that you will be confronted with are eating of the eggs, especially by the male, and infertility.  In the next article in this series, we will go over Angelfish eating the eggs.

To catch wild Discus fish in the wild, exporters will use a bright light at night to attract the fish. Then, they slowly draw a net around them.  River guides know the best areas of the river and the parts of the river that are structured to allow the best use of the nets. There are two methods that are generally illegal but are still being used by some unscrupulous collectors.  In one method they use mild explosives such as M-80s that will shock the fish and make them float to the top and then the fish are easily collected and then they put them in containment structures to allow them to recuperate. Another illegal method is to use high voltage electricity in very short bursts to once again shock the fish and then they are collected from the top of the water and then collected to recuperate in pools (containment structures). These containment structures are designed to keep the Discus contained but also to allow free flow of river water through waters in which the Discus are kept. Both methods end up in a high percentage of the fish, not just Discus, dying.

These wild Discus are often caught from pristine forest pools where they have had no contact with chemical medications or common aquarium pathogens, making them suitable for aquariums without use of antibiotics.  Wild caught Discus usually have immunity from Discus Plague.  These Wild Caught Discus fish will typically have a stronger immune system than tank raised Discus.  On the negative side, some of them will often have parasite(s) and/or worms, usually requiring isolation and treatment before export.

In the wild, Discus fish are found in South America, particularly around the Amazon. They thrive in clean water, often swimming in small Blackwater rivers, lakes, and pools. Their natural habitat includes submerged tree roots, decayed wood, vegetation, and aquatic grasses, where they hide from predators. 

Last article we went over Spawning Tank set up. This week we will go over how to get your Angelfish to spawn.

The first thing you need to understand is that you are not in total control. If Angelfish do not want to pair off, there is nothing you can do about it. The only thing you can do is provide the right conditions so that it is more likely that they will pair off. If you have a sexed pair and they are the only Angelfish in the tank, it is likely with about a 80% chance that they will eventually pair off if left together for a long period of time. To hurry our potential young lovers along, we provide conditions that are conducive for romance. We put 12 newly mature Angelfish in a 55 gallon tank and let them acclimate to it for two weeks. We then start doing some sudden changes in the tank conditions to stimulate courtship. Some of the changes we make are • Change the water temperature to 72 degrees for a few days and then bring it up to 86 degrees over about 12 hours and then leave it at 86 degrees for the remainder of a week. • Let the tank get somewhat dirty, not doing the daily water changes for a few days and then doing a 80% water change. • Feed them heavily for a few days and then stop feeding them for four days, followed by feeding them live food for three days. • Do two 60% water changes four hours apart where the Ph goes from 6.5 to 7.0 at the first change and then from 7.0 to 7.5 at the second change. • Leave the tank dark for two full days and then turn the lights on for two full days. If we have tried all of the above and after two months they still have not paired off, we switch out six of those Angelfish and start the process over again with six new Angelfish along with six remaining. In the next article we will go over the spawning. 

Last week we went over how to get the Angelfish Breeding Pairs. This week we will go over the tank that we move the pairs into for spawning. We keep our breeder pairs in 30 Gallon tanks. Some breeders use 20 gallon tanks. We think the larger tanks are more beneficial to the breeders as they will pretty much stay in that tank for the rest of their lives. We use both an outside filtration and a sponge filter in the breeder tanks. Having extremely clean water is very important. The angelfish will breed in tanks that are a little dirty, but the chance the eggs will develop fungus after spawning is increased dramatically if the water is slightly dirty. We recommend a base temperature of 84 degrees for breeding angelfish. It is very important that the water not be hard. Hard water will significantly increase the chances that eggs will be infertile, or the fry will die when they start becoming free swimming. Hard water will also increase the chance of deformities in fry. We recommend a Ph of 6.5 and a TDS under 100. Lighting is important for spawning. We recommend that you set your lights on timers with 14 hours of light and 10 hours of dark. You should do two 40% water changes each week. We will go over how to get your breeding pairs of Angelfish to spawn in our next article.

Discus fish are native to South America, specifically the Amazon River basin.  In the wild, they inhabit slow-moving waters, including small streams, ponds, and lagoons. However, they cannot survive in most parts of the Amazon where water flows too quickly or is not clean enough. Instead, you’ll find them swimming in very clean water and in small Blackwater Rivers and lakes, deep pools, shallow streams, creeks, and small lakes off the Amazon River. These areas are characterized by immense tropical forests and long periods of rain, which provide the ideal environment for Discus fish. 

Discus fish thrive when they receive continuous flows of fresh water. They often live in small groups among submerged tree roots, decayed wood, aquatic grasses, and other vegetation. These natural hiding spots offer protection from predators. The wild Discus’ distinctive stripes help camouflage them in their surroundings. The substrate typically consists of sand-like gravel and decomposed tree leaves. Additionally, plants like the Amazon Sword serve as both protective hiding places and natural breeding grounds for these colorful fish.

In summary, the natural habitat of Discus fish includes clean, slow-moving waters in the Amazon basin, where they seek shelter among submerged roots, vegetation, and aquatic grasses.

Understanding their native environment helps hobbyists provide perfect environment for these “Kings of the Aquarium”. 

Why are Discus Fish so Aggressive??

Discus Fish are considered a good community fish.  They very rarely will chase or bully other species of fish in the tank.  The one exception I have found is they sometimes do challenge Angelfish, but by far and away, most of the time they ignore them.

In an established tank with no new Discus added in several months, they will usually be generally calm around each other and the only interaction will be a larger one chasing away a another one that comes to close and is smaller, but close to the same size.

There are two exceptions. 

First, when two Discus Fish are getting ready to spawn or have recently already spawned, they will aggressively chase away any fish that get into their spawning space.  The male is the most aggressive as the female will be  cleaning the spawning surface.  Once the eggs have been laid, the roles reverse and the female becomes the most aggressive.  This is just a general rule and the aggressiveness can vary from couple to couple.  While they will chase any other fish away, they will most aggressively chase away other Discus, especially males.

Second, when the pecking order is disrupted, they will bully until the pecking order is again established.  Firmly establishing a pecking order can take several months, sometimes even up to 6 months.  Most of the fighting is between fish of the same or close size.  Large Discus generally will mostly ignore other Discus Fish that significantly smaller than them.  That is one reason why we often recommend adding smaller fish and not ones that are larger or of the same size.

The good news is, while the fighting may seem intense, Discus Fish will almost never kill each other.  The biggest concern is that the smaller ones do not get enough food.  We recommend that you feed at both ends of the tank at the same time. We also recommend that one of the feedings is at night with the lights off.

Discus Fish can range anywhere from $15.00 for a juvenile common Discus Fish such as a Red Turquoise at an online store to over a Thousand for a fully mature very rare Discus such as an Albino Platinum Long Finned Discus.  A proven breeder pair of Long Finned Albino Platinum Discus Fish could cost around $10,000.00.  You will find the starting point for Discus Fish at your local fish store is around $50.00 if you can find them at all.