I just thought I'd take a minute to share the good news (I think its good news, lol). My geophagus iporangensis pair spawned again, the eggs hatched about an hour ago (another 400 - 500 of them)... and last week one of my pairs of angels spawned (yet again) and now I have approx. 200 angel fry in the 90 gallon community tank. The first of the angel fry is starting to try swimming tonight, they're adorable to watch. I have a fry tank ready to pull some of them out once they are free swimming, so fingers are crossed. After a yr of watching them spawn every 3 wks like clock work, it sure would be nice if this pair got it right this time.
The red tail shark and barbs that share the 90 gallon with the spawning angels are going nuts wanting to eat the fry, but the parents are doing a great job of keeping them all away. It was interesting where the angel parents moved the fry to this time around, and even more interesting to see how they redecorated most of the 90 gallon tank before spawning. In all my yrs of keeping angels this was the first time I've ever seen them literally grab a hold of and drag the big silk plants to where they wanted and then dropped them there. Over the course of 2 wks they managed to remove all decor except a few rocks on the bottom from the 1/3 of the tank they decided is theirs. All of the decor was moved to the dividing point and no fish are allowed beyond the edge of those plants without a fierce attack by both parents. The parents seem to have mastered teamwork. :-)
I want to say thanks to Ray for all of the info we exchanged about my angels over the past months. I think I have the premature hatching problem under control now. The other pair ate their eggs again last night, so they're still trying... but I am seeing mostly fertilized eggs now from them too, and no more premature hatching. I'm still not sure what resolved the problem, I didn't do anything different and am not noticing anything changed in water params or temp, but whatever it is I am hopeful we are going in the right direction this time.
I'm still not sure where I'm going to put all these new babies... the tanks are full now and its still too cold to ship anything yet, but I'm enjoying the extra "work" in taking care of them all. The 510 in the 120 gallon tank are all hand feeding and are so much fun even my dog is fascinated at how they all race to the front corner of the tank when she approaches, expecting food and getting a nose on the glass instead. I think I need a bigger house! ;-)
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