# Culling



## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

As you all may know, I've been trying to raise the first spawn from my pair of silver angels (there are 11 of them now) and they have been moved to the 33gal since 2 days ago. I now have another batch of wrigglers in the 5.5 gal about to be free swimming by friday (will be much bigger group now that the eggs have mostly been fertilized unlike last time!)

But here comes the problem, maybe it is because of the small sample size (the 3 that died 2 days ago were in perfect shape)... more than half of the first batch seemed to have some sort of deformity (2 have stubs for their feelers, about 4-5 with lop sided or really bent feelers... with less than half of them having symmetrical fins (and quite a few of them seem to be super veil and have curved dorsal and angel fin which is not my preference but isn't too bad.

I will observe the second batch to see what the ratio of deformed vs normal offsprings are like before I decide if I should even save any future batches of eggs (don't know if it is bad genetics from the parents or maybe it was just bad luck with the first spawn and the small sample size of the first batch)

But here lies a problem, how much more time should I give the fries to try and see if they are just late developers? And after which time would be a good time to cull them. They are now too big to be fed to the adult angels humanely, but the next best thing I can do would be to freeze them... although it is a horrible feeling to cull them after raising them from eggs (best case scenario would be if I can find someone to adopt them)... any pointers for what I should do and when I should start doing it? The first batch are getting close to their forth week free swimming.

Everyone's input would be much appreciated


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## Shrimpette (Feb 17, 2015)

I can't speak to making the decision if/when to cull them, but if you do, please don't freeze them. I believe clove oil is a more accepted way to humanely euthanize fish.


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## Plumberboy (Jun 2, 2014)

I feel the best (or most 'natural' way) is too have something in another tank that will eat them. That's the way nature deals with it, and it's great food for whatever 'predator' you have to feed. I feed all my culls to my africans. I have heard the clove oil thing works too. It is something you will have to get used to as a breeder. Weak/deformed fish would never survive in the wild, and shouldn't be passed on to other hobbyist's. Just my opinion.


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## Rjjm (Jan 1, 2012)

Are you stock bought from one place? If so chances are they are related ( brother sisters from the same batch). That would definitely cause the deformity and weak genes. As for deformed fish, I would agree with plumberboy in regard to feeding them to bigger predator fish. Well, good luck


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Do t pass them on to another hobbyist as that's why so many local Angels have bad find and low quality. Cull them. It doesn't necessarily mean the next batch will be the same. It can be caused by water conditions and another batch could do fine. If it happens again then I'd say split the pair up. 


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## jiayaw (Jun 10, 2011)

Thanks everyone, good to know. I'll see how the next batch turns out and I'll cull the ones from first batch that are deformed


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Good plan. I know its hard when you've put in all that time and effort and they're your little babies, but it's for the best unless you plan to set up a huge tank to raise all your culls together.


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## KTown mbunamani (Jan 1, 2016)

Good on ya, for being prepared to cull! Not enough people with the guts to do this when it should be done. I've seen way too many fish that should never have been raised to sell...! For sure, not a fun part of breeding fish, but they should be treated like livestock...what needs to go, should be dealt with.


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