An Exciting Week!

This has been an exciting week for me because for the first time in two years, I have a breeding pair of angelfish.

If you've been following my posts for awhile, you may remember that Lindsay Buckingfish and Stevie Fishnick had so many successful clutches that I lost count. But after Stevie passed away, Lindsay was uninterested in anyone else. Angelfish usually mate for life.

I have a black angel and a silver angel in a community tank that includes a marble angel, a pleco, about two dozen tetras and about a dozen corydoras. When they decided to lay eggs on an intake, I didn't give it much thought because with so many others in the tank, there would be little chance that they would survive.

However, John and Christie McFish (of Fleetfish Mac fame) have surprised me. Their eggs hatched within a few days and I now have several dozen babies ready to swim.

Once the eggs hatch, the mother or father catch the babies in their mouths and spit them out someplace where they can get plenty of food. In this case, it's on the intake itself where algae has formed. The angelfish stay glued to this by their little heads. In this stage, they are called wigglers.

As they grow, they become strong enough to eventually pop off and swim on their own. This is a dangerous time because they could get sucked into the intake itself, or they could be eaten by another fish. They are barely the size of a hat pin, and they are translucent. They are also shaped like bullets and not the shape we identify with angelfish.

During this phase, the parents will need to keep them corralled. Normally, I would have had them in a tank by themselves with a piece of foam over the intake to prevent anyone from being sucked into it, and there would be no predators in the tank. However, because they are in a community tank, I inserted a small screen between them and the others; it only reaches partway but it prevents a direct line-of-sight. I also removed the third angelfish to another community tank. The pleco was found dead the morning after they laid their eggs; I suspect during the night, the pleco attempted to eat the eggs and the parents viciously defended them.

The tetras and corys are remaining at the far end of the tank and both angelfish check frequently to make sure they stay on their side!

The next phase is called the Invisible Phase. Many of the babies will seem to disappear; they are actually living on the bottom of the tank, in the gravel, where predators are less likely to discover them. I do have an infant tank at the ready, filled with water from the original tank, and I will attempt to capture at least a few. Then I'll see what the survival rate is between those that are in the dedicated infant tank versus those that are kept with the parents.

And what do babies eat when they are barely the size of a hatpin? I will feed them First Bites, which is manufactured specifically for baby fish, and finely crumbled brine shrimp. As they grow over the course of the next eight weeks, they will eventually be weaned onto finely crumbled fish flakes, and then onto regular fish flakes.

Between the age of eight and twelve weeks (depending on their size) they will go to the local pet shop for sale. Although some breeders will sell the babies when they are the size of a dime, I wait until mine are the size of a quarter. By then, their coloring has taken effect and they have the beautiful lines of the angelfish.

To read more about my angelfish breeding, check out other blog posts at www.vickisangelfish.blogspot.com.

p.m.terrell is the author of more than 18 books in several genres. Her award-winning Black Swamp Mysteries features CIA operatives who use fronts as angelfish breeders to conceal their real identities. Visit www.pmterrell.com for more information and to read sample chapters.

Why CIA Operatives are Fish Breeders

In the Black Swamp Mysteries Series, CIA psychic spy Vicki Boyd and CIA operative Dylan Maguire have a front as tropical angelfish breeders. But why are they pretending to be fish breeders? Why not be office staff, financial advisors, website designers, book editors, or a host of other career options?

The idea came to me because I breed freshwater angelfish as a hobby. If you haven't checked out my other blog, Vicki's Angelfish, you'll find videos, pictures and information including some adorable pics of baby angels swimming with their parents - or hanging by their wee heads on leaves.

But whenever I began talking about my angelfish - or any fish for that matter - people's eyes glazed over. (At left: Lindsay Buckingfish, who is a flamboyant ten inches tall.) I discovered that I could actually bore a person in ten seconds flat. That's when I realized it was the perfect front for a CIA operative.

Neighbors would think they were the most boring couple in the world, and they'd likely leave Vicki and Dylan alone.

They could work out of their home, so no one from an office setting would miss them when they disappeared for a few hours - or a few days.

They would have no storefront and no one would ever have a reason to meet with them. They would sell their baby angels wholesale to pet stores - all done online.

There are a few challenges, however.

They have to feed the angels and keep those tanks clean. Fish don't breed in dirty water, and angels are particularly finicky. They want the conditions perfect for their fry.

They also need to feed the fish on a regular basis. I feed mine daily; however, breeders will often stop feeding the fish three days prior to shipping them so their water will remain clear during transit. Luckily, Sam (their CIA boss) has filled in for them when they've been out of town on assignment.

If you were an undercover CIA operative, what business would you choose as your front?

Thursday Thoughts - Life Imitating Art

Today my other blog, Vicki's Angelfish, has been awarded a blog award. If you haven't visited this blog, you might find it interesting.

You see, while I was writing Vicki's Key, I had several angelfish. Vicki Boyd, one of the main characters in the series, uses a front as an angelfish breeder to cover her real job as a CIA psychic spy. And each time I wrote that she was tending angelfish eggs or angelfish babies (known as fry) some of my own angelfish laid eggs.

Flash forward nearly two years, and I have nine aquariums, two of which are honeymoon suites and infant wards. Angelfish, it turns out, mate for life, live to be around 10 years old, and make terrific parents. Some of the babies have grown to create families of their own.

Vicki's Angelfish chronicles my experiences raising angelfish. It includes videos of the angelfish as they hatch and hang on by their heads until they're strong enough to swim... All the way to adulthood.

Shown at right is a male angelfish ten inches tall named Lindsay Buckingfish. He and Stevie Fishnick, a hot platinum angel, have had several clutches of angels. A video of their latest is shown below.

Vicki's Angelfish

So many people have asked me about the angelfish I raise that I've decided to begin a new blog for animal and fish lovers. The name is Vicki's Angelfish and I hope you'll pop in today to see my first post at www.vickisangelfish.blogspot.com.

My fish keeping inspired scenes in my Black Swamp Mysteries series, in which Vicki Boyd and Dylan Maguire are angelfish breeders--which is actually a front for their real jobs as CIA operatives. I thought most folks' eyes would glaze over when they heard Vicki or Dylan speak of their angelfish business, which was perfect for two people who wanted to fly under the radar.

But in reality, each time I appeared for a talk or signing, I was asked about the angelfish. And the truth is, each time I wrote about them, my own angelfish would begin spawning again. The result has been a mushrooming little industry that holds a great deal of fascination for many. (Shown here is a rare blue angel and an even more rare Siamese angel in the background. All fish shown in my blogs are from my own collection.)

So if you'd like a peek into a relaxing world, come along with me and get to know the personalities, traumas and lifetimes of my angelfish. Along the way, you'll meet my rescue dogs, hear of their stories, and enter a world you won't soon forget.

Come along with me to Vicki's Angelfish... And be sure and sign up for notices when the blog is updated, as the mailing list is separate for the angelfish!

Angel Breeding

At a recent book talk, I was asked how I knew so much about breeding freshwater angelfish. In my latest book, Vicki's Key, Vicki Boyd takes a summer job helping an elderly woman with her angelfish breeding business. She arrives to find the woman has suffered a stroke and her Irish nephew is there to train Vicki how to care for and breed the angelfish.

The information on fish breeding comes from experience.

I love freshwater angelfish. Contrary to what some books and pet store owners will tell you, they are very difficult to keep, primarily because they need special vitamins and they have a high mortality rate when they are young. But apparently conditions in my home are just right for them because every two weeks, I tend to get about 300 angelfish eggs laid.

Angels mate for life and they often live for ten years. In the video below, I have two pair of angels in one 70-gallon tank, along with some tetra to help provide them with a calm environment. The marble angel is a male named Lindsay Buckingfish. (I know. I name my angels. It's quirky.) The platinum angel in the right background is Stevie Fishnick. Stevie has just laid eggs on the filter and Lindsay is helping her guard them. The problem occurs when Pipsqueak Littlefish, the Band Manager (koi angel) wants to sample the sushi bar.



A close inspection of the fish afterward showed no damage to either of them. And today they are the best of friends, hanging out like guys do. The silver angelfish in the left side of the video, by the way, recently lost his mate, Christy McFish, a smoky leopard. I have a few more angels coming in this week so hopefully John McFish will find a new mate he can love and have eggs with.

In Vicki's Key, Vicki is a CIA operative who decides she wants to leave the agency and start anew. But after she moves Lumberton, North Carolina, her CIA boss finds her and convinces her to come back. Through the rest of the series, she will remain an angelfish breeder as a front for her real job as a CIA operative.

Why is she a fish breeder, you might ask? Because I needed to give her a job that sounds boring. It had to be something solitary; she couldn't work in a cubicle and leave in front of coworkers who might question her absences as she's pulled into missions. She works out of her home with a building in the back of the property that serves as the "fish house". As she's pulled into social settings, she can numb them quickly with talk of water parameters, which makes it unlikely for her vocation to be of much interest to anyone else.

So while the neighbors think she's living a totally boring life, she's actually experiencing quite a bit of drama, including murders, espionage and international intrigue.

p.m.terrell is an internationally acclaimed, award winning author. Her 13th book, Vicki's Key, was released in the spring of 2012 and is a nominee for both the 2012 International Book Awards and the 2012 USA Best Book Awards. Her 14th book, the sequel to Vicki's Key, will be released this fall. For more information, visit www.pmterrell.com.