angel relationships

My angelfish attempted breeding again- I say 'attempted' because they're all female, so when two pair off, one lays eggs and the other just protects the area from the third. (My kids think it's hilarious that I have lesbian fish). They usually only do this when food is rich- if I've been giving them flies or frozen mysis shrimp, etc. It's always been Miss Beautiful and the golden Precious before, with Precious laying the eggs. This time I was surprised- after some threats and chasing around the tank (which I didn't pay much attention to) in the previous week, Miss Beautiful paired off with Shirley, and my older angel laid the eggs

on aponogeton bolivianus leaf.

Shirley helped clean the leaf and chase Precious away on the first day. Next day shirked her duties and hung out in the opposite corner,

while Miss Beautiful continued to fan the eggs futilely. A day later they were eaten, of course. It made me sad to watch Miss Beautiful working so hard, with her truncated pectoral fins. (She hasn't run into the walls for a very long time now, but they never grew back completely after the last time were damaged).

I'm curious why they switched pairs, and also why Miss Beautiful was the one to lay this time- but of course I'll never know. Did Miss Beautiful get tired of Precious? Did she decide it wasn't working so time to change partners? Is she dominant in the pairing with Shirley, so she got to lay this time? No idea how they work that out between them, just interesting to think about.

angel tank cleanup

I've noticed the hornwort continues to struggle- not that it's my favorite plant, but I do miss the plumes filling up that side wall. I suspect it's because the pothos roots are growing and growing- taking up yet more nutrients. I missed the midweek water change both last week and this- yikes- and only did 36% wc on the usual day, but shouldn't have worried much, the nitrates were below ten (tested before the wc) in each instance. I like the pothos roots. Instead of cutting them back, or removing some of the vine, I decided to remove a few of the other plants. 

I pulled out the three medium-sized driftwood chunks (about as big as my two fists together). One had java fern on it, the others anubias- which did kinda poorly at the higher level to the light anyway- the ones on the tank floor fare better. Kept them in a bucket with tank water (refreshed daily) for a week, both so I could be sure I didn't miss having them in the tank before sold, also so I could pick off snails (most people don't want to get snails). I found I didn't miss them at all. A bit more open space for the angels to swim now. 

Tried to get a few fulltank shots after that, but my camera didn't cooperate well. This picture is too green/blue 

and this one too yellow! (photoshop has issues on my computer lately so I can't adjust) 

These closeups of the areas are better: far left, 

middle (where I still hope the crypt boliviana and aponogeton capuronii will eventually grow to fill in)

and right

I have other plans in the making- for subtle changes. To make a new planter basket for my vals americana, a slightly deeper one. And maybe a slightly shorter one for the crypt boliviana and aponogeton- so they are more or less all the same height.

Miss Beautiful?

Not sure what's going on in my tank. I thought things were getting better- Shirley's lip continues to gradually improve. I did a 40% wc today. I've kept the temp at 76-77° thinking the cooler temp will help get rid of what looks like fungus on her lip and faintly on a few of their fins still. But I think the cooler temp is stressing Miss Beautiful. Or she is getting bullied now. She's been hiding behind the plants under the heater all day. Came out for breakfast- after all the other fishes- but not for midday feeding. Last night I'd noticed she was only moving one gill plate- I guess from the same injury that caused the scratch on her side? did she bang into something again? 

Also alarming, all the fishes were acting twitchy after the water change today. Jerking their fins around as if to shake something off, the angels swinging their heads too. I only did one thing different- which was to pour the new water into the tank through a water bottle that has many holes punched in it (my fish trap for kuhlis) because I thought as it breaks up the water flow, less stressful for them, than how I usually to do it (pouring from a pitcher into a cup held at water surface). Was it something about that? Rascal showing stripes:

I tested the water parameters again- Ammonia zero, Nitrites zero, Nitrates just below10 ppm, pH 7.8 (normal for here). I can't think what could be wrong- I feel like I should continue to do the large wc every other day until Shirley's lip fungus is all gone- but don't want Miss Beautiful to keep acting stressed or in shock.

On the other hand, the golden sisters sure are feeling fine. Came home from an errand- several hours after the wc- to find Shirley alternately cleaning and fanning an aponogeton leaf- she looked a lot slimmer- and I watched her lay one egg, which Precious behind her promptly ate. Precious herself looks very plump so I expect to see her laying eggs soon. Or it's just because she ate them all!

Shirley worked at cleaning, chasing other fish away, fanning, even when there wasn't an egg on the leaf at all- as if she knows all the proper actions but doesn't have them in the right sequence. Useless, anyway. 

Miss Beautiful meanwhile, under the heater very close to their apono leaf, wasn't bothered at all. In fact several times I saw one or the other gold angel slide under the heater into the space with her- but not pick at her or threaten, just rest by her side companionably. Miss Beautiful's color would come back when they were next to her. The gold angel would move off and she'd go dark and washed-out again.

So I think if she's stressed from being harassed, it's by Foxface. I still really like that fish, but am starting to think I shouldn't have bought him. Some plants are showing tears and holes- he might be trying to eat them, too. I gave him a good amount of seaweed today- the younger angels will eat a bit of it, Miss Beautiful ignores it entirely, Foxface gets most. Thought it would help for him to have more greens . . . The smaller festivum doesn't pester anyone- I wonder if it turns out Foxface is male and Rascal is female, would it work better to just keep the female. But I don't know how to tell unless they pair off, and also not sure if one would do well alone w/just the angels . . . 

On another note, there's a new val americana coming up in the middle of that planter basket!

in my smaller tanks

Tidied up the tenner a bit. Planted two more stems of creeping jenny- in the back right corner- and moved one crypt parva, added a bit of substrate, moved a few vals. In ambient light:

and with the light on:

Gave up trying to keep floaters in here, but now the rotala stems have grown tall enough to trail across the top, and I kind of like it-

Also from above- short end with crypt lutea, and the creeping jenny (upper left of photo)

Crypt parva in front corner. 

In the other corner, I pulled out some anubias and moved a few crypt undulata into that spot

The anubias I took out, went into the short end of my 33L.

I trimmed and replanted some hygro stems

Moved one crypt moehlmanii from nearly under the driftwood arch next to the madagascar lace-

put it in further into this corner with its fellows, also moved to the back a few leopard vals that were growing up into the foreground.

Added a bit of substrate to some areas in here too, where it was low, and planted a few more creeping jenny stems in the background. Rinsed one of the filter sponges. Always surprised how little mulm comes out of them, either the fishes have very little output being small? or the plants are great at taking it all up.

angels update 6

Going to keep posting progress I guess until she's all clear. Still a bit of white on the lip, but noticeably less.

Nitrates 10 ppm this morning. More disagreements among the fishes. The two golden angels look ready to lay eggs- both have plump bellies and breeding tubes out. But they seem to be hanging out with each other, and Miss Beautiful is hiding in the back-

(That's the newly-planted aponogeton bolivianus in front of her. With rocks leaning on the bulb to keep it in place until the roots hold on). 

She's got a scrape on one side, and some missing scales.

I don't know who's culpable- the golden angels? Shirley has been cleaning plants and Precious has been chasing others- but Foxface has been darting rather hard at other fish too. Maybe food aggressive. Somebody on the forum told me his "oscars and dempseys used to put back a ton of food in the adolescent/ sub adult stage" and suggested I try to target-feed the festivum, train him to eat from my hand. Today I was able to give him extra bites at feeding time via tweezers.

But if he's beating up Miss Beautiful that makes me very sad, and I'll have to change something. Feeding them more or maybe adding smaller dither fish. Tricky balance though because I don't want to overfeed or end up with a lot more work to keep the tank clean . . . 

angels update

I wasn't able to find Furan-2 or General Cure at the LFS. The employee told me those medications have been discontinued- as in, the manufacturer isn't supplying them anymore? I got Kanaplex and Erythromycin. Decided to try using the Erythromycin, even though I know it's effective against fewer fish diseases, because of the redness. Miss Beautiful has for so very long shown this redness at her pectoral fin joints, and sometimes on the edges of the body too, under the skin. Like an inflammation. I treated her before with Kanaplex twice, which didn't clear it up. So I'm going to try the Erythromycin. Also because one of the younger angels is starting to show red streaks, too. 

Good news is Shirley's lip does look better this morning- the spot is smaller-

but she has a second pale patch on her tail fin, now. Probably from getting attacked by her sibling. She's been staying low in a corner-

The gold angel has been very diligent at driving all the other fish here- even the two festivums keep to the far corner now. Precious planes her body horizontal to zoom across the tank and strike at them, one time so virgorously she flipped upside down, which was funny. I'm surprised at how seriously she takes her role as protector- still pretty sure she's female? you can see the breeding tube in this photo. 

Here the redness on edge of body at base of dorsal fin, and a bit at edge of caudal peduncle, too. It's not much yet, but this is how Miss Beautiful's symptoms started . . . 

Yesterday I was surprised at their behavior. The eggs are on the top of the airlift tube, I had to remove that from the filter base to rinse the sponge. I though the angelfish would either attack me, or flee and then eat the eggs after the disturbance. They did neither. When the water level dropped below the eggs, they just stared upward at the spot, fixedly. When I took apart the filter, Miss Beautiful nipped me once, but not very hard, and then they backed off and watched. When I put it all back together, they started tending the eggs again right away- most are gone now, of course, but they remain very intent about it. 

If I'm not mistaken, and Precious is female, I wonder if they'll remain a "pair", and if next time they'll switch roles? 

But I keep dreading I've made a mistake with the treatment. I don't know, of course, if Shirley started improving because I added the medication, or because of the water changes and filter cleaning I've done. I also replaced the air stone in one sponge filter, and flow is immediately better on that side. The other filter needs a new air stone too, but now I don't want to put my hands in the tank until the Erythromycin is cleared out. 

Following what it says on the box, it's day 1: wc and dose medication, day 2: dose medication, day 3: wc and re-dose medication, day 4: dose medication, day 5: wc to finish up. It's the days without water changes that I worry about, because I've read this medicine can also impact the bio-filter, killing off some of the beneficial bacteria. Well, there's an extra sponge in my guppy tank and two in the QT that I could put in here to re-colonize beneficial bacteria after, but that might cause more problems, if I bring pathogens back into the tank (if that male guppy had lymphocystis, and whatever the new fish in QT might have)?

Another thing I did which was maybe mistake, brought a new plant home. Aponogeton bolivianus (or boivinianus? I've seen it spelled both ways and don't know if that's two different plants names or not). I did rinse it a lot, and acclimated it- which personally I think prevents some of the leaf melt with new plants

and then realized I don't have space for it, will need it's own planter basket. I have an empty one, but need to prep the safe-t-sorb substrate. So for now I've dropped it in a corner. The few days it will take to soak the safe-t-sorb in ferts and baking soda, will also give time to finish up the medication treatment in here, and then I'll plant it. A few days sitting bare root won't hurt it, I hope.

Encouraged that my aponogeton capuronii is sprouting a few new leaves! I think the slightly lower temps will be better for the apnoogetons, as long as it's not stressful for my angelfish . . . 

angel tank is beautiful

I feel it's finally reached a balance, with the new(ish) light. Last week I cleaned out lots of dead foliage from the giant vals americana, and trimmed browned tips off the twisty vals. Love seeing the cell structure in the big vals, but sad the two I clipped off runners and replanted, died. Next time I will just bend the runner into the place I want it.

Angelfish remains calm- no more startling, running into walls, twitching. I think I've actually got rid of the parasite this time. 

Hornworts got a trim- I'm still pretty happy with this system, of keeping them pegged down on ceramic rings. I don't mind the task of refastening a few each week on maintenance day.

Trying not to be excited about this, because what if it doesn't last- but my apnogeton capuronii seems to be finally growing again! There's a leaf visible in the middle. I've been pulling baby leopard vals out of the aponogeton's planter basket when they show up on runners, to avoid it having competition. 

Seems it was a good move to swap positions with the java ferns and anubias- all the patches of java ferns have new little fiddleheads now 

More new shoots on the anubias rhizomes, too (I didn't move them all). 

Kind of an overhead shot- from high angle outside the tank- of the driftwood side with java ferns, and twisty vals behind- 

the other driftwood chunk- mostly with anubias- and more vals. Still have this bunch of them just  weighed down in a gap. Every water change, whatever bits of substrate my siphon picks up off the tank floor, I drop back into this thicket. So far (weeks now) the vals are staying in place, and staying green. 

Miss Beautiful among the plants- 

I took this picture to highlight the lovely crypt balansae, but she got in the shot, too.

Now I just need to get a good current fulltank shot to show. I sit and stare at it sometimes and can't believe I have this tank. I'm really itching to get a second angelfish again, but dreading the likelihood of failure . . .