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Thread: Are lights needed?

  1. #1

    Are lights needed?

    If I have a breeding tank with only two angels that lay eggs,do I need a light in the tank?

  2. #2
    Not really, if they are breeding on their own without the help of lights then no you don't need them. With my breeders I use the light of the sun only. If your angels are full of eggs and not breeding then yes you can leave the lights on overnight or for a few days to get them to lay their eggs along with water changes that mimic rain (colder water). Now if your doing designer angels that is when you leave the lights on for a few months with your fry to reduce the pigments thus making them look spotted or no lines at all, yet when bred back those pigments come back.

  3. #3
    Most of my tanks only get ambient lighting. It isn't required for breeding, but plants do need some added light.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by rb1219 View Post
    If I have a breeding tank with only two angels that lay eggs,do I need a light in the tank?
    Light triggers fungus so indirect light is best or put a transluscent "sheild" on the area above the eggs. When I pull a spawn and incubate them away from the parent pair, I do not light the tank and simply use ambient light. In parented tanks where the pair tends the eggs 24x7, you'll definitely need light so they see what they're doing. In addition, once free swimming, they tend to panic when abrupt light changes occur. In pitch black, parents will snap at anything moving and that will inxlude their spawn darting all over the place due to the abrupt change in visibility. Ever wonder why there's less babies the next day when you turn the tank's light back on?

    In anycase, what it boils down to is you need some lighting, not necessarily direct but at least ambient light if you want to have a parented spawn 24x7. Lastly, until they begin to grow fins, free swimmers are attracted to light (just like newly hatched brine shrimp) - this makes it easier to clean a tank full of fry since all you have to do to make maintenance easy is shine a light on one side of the tank and clean the areas that the fry vacate as they move towards the light.
    Last edited by terrapins; 03-10-2015 at 05:57 PM.

  5. #5
    OK so do you suggest that once the fry become free swimming,to leave the tank light on at night for a couple of weeks?

  6. #6
    My friend said Every time she turned the light off they would eat them. I don't know jack but I remember hers did that

  7. #7
    I try to mimic nature,,,shade in the day, moonlight at night. Works for me.

  8. #8
    Would they still eat them even though there are no other fish in the tank?

  9. #9
    That is asking for speculation, so I would say most likely yes. I only have one pair that I would trust as I have never lost any fry with them. All other pairs I do not trust. The cost of running a low wattage night light is worth the insurance. The reason I say that is that in nature Angels are ambush predators, in our tanks they become opportunistic predators. And as Ted mentioned " In pitch black, parents will snap at anything moving and that will inxlude their spawn". jmho
    Last edited by Danburns; 03-09-2015 at 12:16 PM.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Angels forever View Post
    My friend said Every time she turned the light off they would eat them. I don't know jack but I remember hers did that
    Yes (at least circumstantially). If they merely died in the tank, you'll see bodies; at the very least, underneath the sponge filter or on the intake of an outside filter. Since there's no evidence then one can conclude that they were eaten by their parents. Why that behavior is can only be conjectured in the same sense that being bothered by disturbances while in the early stages of spawning can trigger the pair to eat the eggs.

    Quote Originally Posted by rb1219 View Post
    Would they still eat them even though there are no other fish in the tank?
    Quote Originally Posted by Danburns View Post
    That is asking for speculation, so I would say most likely yes. I only have one pair that I would trust as I have never lost any fry with them. All other pairs I do not trust. The cost of running a low wattage night light is worth the insurance. The reason I say that is that in nature Angels are ambush predators, in our tanks they become opportunistic predators. And as Ted mentioned " In pitch black, parents will snap at anything moving and that will inxlude their spawn". jmho
    Yes and why that is can only be conjectured upon since no one has really done any in depth ethological studiy relating to angelfish procreation and nurturing other than what we know to-date. Since there's neither been any definitive study of whether it occurs in the wild or whether it's an anomaly only occurring in a closed system, the behavior can neither be attributed to pathologic behoaviior, cannibalism, defensive behavior, insecurity or feel threatened. All we can go on is an observable outcome which is:

    Lights on = stable spawn survival;
    Lights off = significant loss of head count.

    The latter is as significant as losing up to 3/4 of the entire spawn in a single night and that isn't an exaggeration at all.
    Last edited by terrapins; 03-11-2015 at 04:03 PM.

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