Female scalar spawning Enlargement Photo: Norbert Heidbüchel

When spawning, 200 to 300 eggs are laid on a leaf on an aquarium pane and the liket. Sometimes the eggs are also placed on a bar heater. The eggs are about 1 millimeter in diameter. Aquariums with an air lifter are ideal for rearing.

The rearing water should be slightly hardened osmosis water with a maximum carbonate hardness of 4.

In the first two days, the eggs are whitish to yellowish or clear grey. After two days, fertilized, viable eggs become brownish translucent. Only then is it certain that fertilization has taken place.

Before hatching, two black dots can be seen in each of the transparent eggs, which are wriggling around.

At 27 – 28 °C, scalar spawn need 2 days to hatch. The young only hatch in very soft and clean, ie as germ-free as possible, water.

After hatching, the parents take care of the young together. The school of young fish is z. B. secured in two directions by the parents standing caudal fin to caudal fin. Normally, the young remain on the spawning substrate for about 5 days after hatching. The young are repeatedly placed on other leaves by the parents with their mouths.

At around 27°, the young swim freely around 5 days after hatching. In the first two days after swimming freely, they hang together in a ball, especially at night, if they are not collected by the parents anyway. After free swimming, each refugee is collected. Even floating particles are chased after because the parents mistake them for young fish.

When young fall from the leaf at night, they are still often eaten by other fish. A small night light with z. B. 8 watts can help parents better guard the brood at night.

Scalar laying eggs Photo: Nicole Beetz

After a week you can start changing the water slowly. 10 – 20% is changed every 3 days. The water can be slowly hardened up to 10° KH. When the fish are about 1 centimeter in size, the water can be slowly replaced with tap water if the animals are later to be passed on to aquarists or dealers with tap water. The chances of survival of the young are then higher.
It is better if the animals can continue to live in soft water and are given to friends who have suitable aquariums.

The young are still guarded at 6 to 7 weeks. Your body diameter then corresponds approximately to the size of a 20 cent coin.

At first the young look like normal fish larvae. The typical scalar form develops later.

When the young get too big, they start feeding on their parents’ fins. The young must then be separated from the parents. The fins will grow back, but the parents could catch a bacterial infection.

Especially young angelfish have to practice proper brood care during the first spawning attempts. Often only a few or no young survive. However, if the parents continue to get along, they quickly spawn again. Over time, they learn how to care for the brood.

Fanning the eggs is important when caring for the brood. If the eggs are not constantly fanned, fungal spores and bacteria can build up on them. These first destroy the skin and then the contents of the eggs.

Many couples have to learn how to fan themselves. A moonlight simulation, ie dim lighting during the night, can help if the parents don’t otherwise take care of their brood at night.

But there are also angelfish whose brood care instinct is permanently disturbed and who attack everything, including their partner, if the partner gets too close to the young.

Why is the brood moved several times?

In the beginning, the brood is moved by mouth several times a day with great care. Young fish feed mainly on small growths on plants, on roots, on the bottom, etc. There is relatively little suitable food floating in the water. It is possible that the brood will be transferred to nature when the previous pasture has been eaten away. This opens up new sources of food for the young.

Perhaps the caring parents in nature also attract interested predators to the brood if they keep returning to the same place. The move is then a kind of diversionary maneuver.

Misunderstandings can arise between parents when they move their beds. The male brings z. B. the larvae go and the female does not seem to agree and brings the larvae back again. But after some time the parents come to an agreement.

Food for young angelfish

As long as the young are so small that they can only slide around, they should not be fed. During this time, they still live off their yolk sac.

When the young swim freely, the yolk sac has been used up and the young need food. Microorganisms or infusoria, e.g. B. paramecia, or juvenile fish food such as Liquifry.

A handful of hay or straw from the farmer, horse club or rabbit breeder is placed in a bowl or jar. The container is filled with aquarium water. After 2 to 3 days, microorganisms have developed. The young need to be fed with microorganisms 4 to 5 times in the first two days.
Infusoria can also be grown with a potato. Protogen from Hobby-Dohse Aquaristik is a product from the aquarium trade from which microorganisms develop.

When the larvae fall off, they like to cluster around such food and appear to eat.

5-day-old angelfish Photo: Nicole Beetz

Adding TetraMin that has been processed into mud with a syringe has also proven effective. A few flakes are placed in a small jar. Aquarium water is sprayed on it with a 5 ml syringe. The mixture is sucked into the syringe and pushed out again and again until a cloudy broth with undetectable tiny chunks is formed.

This broth is injected where the larvae are. This can be fed up to the age of two weeks.

At this point, a small tank with Artemia, brine shrimp, is set up. When these have hatched, the young angelfish start swimming and eat the small brine shrimp. Artemia nauplii are fed 3 to 4 times a day from the 3rd day. The crabs are rinsed with tap water before feeding. You can tell from the round, red bellies of the young angelfish whether they have eaten. Live Artemia should at least be fed. Without Artemia significantly fewer young animals survive.

Depending on the size of the young, microfeed can be given after approx. 1 week. When the young are about 1 centimeter tall, you can slowly start feeding them dry food.

After about 4 weeks, young angelfish have reached their selling size.

At 6 months, scalars are about 6-7 centimeters high and 4-5 centimeters long. They are then no longer young fish but not fully grown either. The need for food depends on hunger and growth needs.

In any case, live food is recommended. At least for some aquarists, rearing attempts with dry food, e.g. B. dust lining, unsuccessful. When the young were fed Artemia after swimming freely, rearing went smoothly.

It is better to feed several small portions than one large amount. There is experience according to which angelfish that were initially fed every 2 hours were twice as large after 6 weeks as animals that were only fed twice a day.

Working people can usually feed a maximum of 3 times a day. Possibly more at the weekend. In such cases, feeding should be sufficient so that the animals always have something to eat for at least 1 hour.

If older animals are well fed, one fasting day a week won’t hurt. However, they should not go 2 weeks without food. When on holiday, they should be fed by a substitute about every 3 days.

Should young and parents be separated after hatching?

7-day-old angelfish Photo: Nicole Beetz

The young should be raised by their parents for as long as possible. It is always better when the young are raised by their parents. This way only the strongest juveniles survive and you don’t have to accommodate up to 300 juveniles. The young also learn things from their parents that they cannot learn in the rearing tank.

For example, scalars must B. learn the right brood care. If they are not raised by their parents, they will not take care of the brood later on. So the aquarium fish degenerate more and more.

In addition, the owner otherwise misses out on the interesting, natural behavior of the angelfish when caring for the brood.

Photo: Philippe Coulon

Only when it is clear that no other boys can grow up, because e.g. B. there are too many predators in the community tank, the parents always eat the eggs or young or because the parents do not fan their brood, it may make sense to take the eggs out of the tank.

To do this, the leaf on which the eggs are lying is simply cut off immediately after spawning.

The cut leaf is placed in a breeding tank.

The spawn must always be covered by water. No air should come into contact with the eggs. The leaf is placed in a vessel under water in the pool of origin. The vessel with water is placed in the breeding tank and the leaf is taken out under water.

Almost sterile conditions must prevail in the rearing tank and there must be good ventilation. In order for the hatching rate to be optimal, nitrite and nitrate levels should be close to zero.

Nevertheless, without parental care, one or the other egg can fungus. Such eggs must be removed by hand with tweezers. A few intact eggs usually stick to the fungal eggs. It is better to remove these as well than to leave the fungal eggs in the tank. Otherwise, more eggs will usually rot.

Breeding behavior in scalars

Male scalar caring for the brood Enlargement Photo: Thimo Hamer

Normally, the offspring of angelfish are cared for by both parents. But the couples don’t always harmonize. They then bicker with each other, do not tend the young fish, eat the spawn, etc.

In young couples, this phase can pass, but the condition can also remain permanent.

One cause can be a lack of predators for the brood.

Then it may help to put some other fish in the aquarium.

Another cause can be that the parents are overwhelmed, causing the animals to become hectic.

Then it only helps to wait and see whether the partner is allowed back to the nest or whether further spawning attempts are successful.

Male scalar caring for the brood Enlargement Photo: Thimo Hamer

Angelfish for trade have been raised artificially for many decades because the parents are said to not reliably care for the brood. It is possible that animals that have grown up in this way are permanently disturbed and do not learn how to care for the brood.

Perhaps disputes are also common in nature and the animals would simply find another partner in the waters of origin in the event of constant disputes…