Baby angelfish fry

Question
Hello  I have raised thousands of angel fry back in the 80"S and am giving it another go....My problem is this..I have no problem getting my angels to spawn..I take the egg slates and hatch them in gallon glass jars until they are free swimming then I put them into 10 gallon tanks. Usually after 2-3 days I start to lose a few fry. I feed them baby brine shrimp 3 times a day but after the the day I seem to lose up to 50% of them. They do eat I see their stomachs distended with food. I seem to be able to raise my silvers angels and a few others but My pure albinos seem to be too delicate?..Their eggs look smaller and the fry are smaller. Should I try infusoria as a 1st food for a few days and then baby brine?...my sponge filters are seeded and I keep ammo chip bags in the tanks just in case, my temps are 82 degrees and my ph is 7.0. I am at odds to figure out the problem...any suggestions?

Thanks
Dan

Answer
Dan,

 The first thing I would change is the movement of the eggs. I would try to get the breeding pair in the tank that you are going to raise the fry. So, that would mean having the breeding pair in your 10 gallon tank. If you can, I would breed in a 20 gallon but the 10 will be ok. The larger the tank the less movement involved. Once the pair have bred, you move them back to the main tank. Doing it this way will help maintain the fry. The less you have to move them the better. I have never bred the Angel fish, but I do breed Betta fish and that is what I do. Every time you move them, even in egg form, you run the risk of losing fry to shock and stress. In most breeding, it is very common to lose half the fry and then a few more as time goes on. You can try feeding them vinegar eels or micro worms. That is what I used to start my fry off with. They are cultured foods so it takes about 2 weeks to get them going. The micro worms do tend to die off but once you make a culture of vinegar ells, they will go on forever. You can try infusoria. What I do is drop a lettuce leaf in a container, close it up tight and leave it in the sun. You should be able to feed it to the babies in 2 weeks. You can also add a live plant like Java Fern. They grow micro organisms that the fry can eat. I have those plus Java Moss in my fry tanks and I only have to supplement them with processed food. You shouldn't have to use the ammo chips. I am not too sure about angels but I know with my fry they don't need it. My theory on breeding is, the less you have to add to the tank the better. I hope this has helped and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.