Angel Fish

Introduction and short history

Angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) are popular tropical freshwater aquarium fish, it’s a pleasure to take care of them, and additionally they are considered one of the most beautiful specie of tropical freshwater aquarium fish. Angels often look outside their tank, they may react to various stimuli such as hands in an aquarium, persons standing nearby, and each specimen has its own personality. This specie is one of the first fish which were transported from South America to the rest of the world, they were brought to Europe around 1820 and they were bred in captivity for the first time in 1930 in the United States. Angelfish are highly demanded and are for sale in almost every pet store, however there are many misunderstandings and mistakes made by aquarists including lack of knowledge, compatibility issues or ignorance, so let’s explain how to look after these fish properly.

Habitat

Native environment for these fish is the Amazon River in South America, Angels are to be found in bulrushes where they can find shelter. They grow and live in large shoals but this fact doesn’t mean that they can’t swim free especially if kept in an aquarium, ideal number of Angels in a single fish tank is 6-7. However not all aquarists own a 400 liter tank (105 US gallons, 88 Imperial gallons), thus raising 2 or 3 specimens in a community or dedicated tank is acceptable. The Amazon River is known to be a home of vegetation which these fish use for hiding purposes, so it’s wise to grow live plants such as Alternanthera rosaefolia, Echinodorus amazonicus, Echinodorus grandiflorus, Echinodorus schlueteri, Ludwigia helminthorrhiza, Ludwigia inclinata, Vallisneria spiralis, Vallisneria gigantea in your aquarium. Naturally Angels must not be kept in the same tank with predators which could hunt, kill or injure them (more to be found in the “Tank mates” paragraph). Actually in the wild Angelfish’ flat bodies allow them to hide in plants quickly in case there’s a predator hunting them.

Fish tank setup and care

Basics: The ideal pH for these fish is between 6.0 and 7.0, temperature should be around 25°C (77°F), the general water hardness of 4-12° dGH is the best range. Not only these values are ideal, they should be also constant – pH must not vary, changes in general water hardness shouldn’t exceed 1° dGH per week, and high temperatures may result in premature death of the fish.
                                                                   As mentioned already, Angelfish need a large tank, preferably 40 liters (10.5 US gallons, 8.8 Imperial gallons) per specimen which is natural as these fish grow quite big and tall. Less space per specimen isn’t recommended as adult males may be territorial towards each other especially if females are present in a tank. In addition this specie will swim vertically and their fins would degenerate in case height of the tank doesn’t exceed 40 cm (15.74 inch), there are known cases when Angels even stopped growing in small aquariums. The minimum height for an Angelfish tank should be 50 cm (19.68 inch) as some space is required for substrate, moreover there’s a gap at the top between surface and lid. After all a tank that’s 50 cm (19.68 inch) tall offers approximately 40 cm (15.74 inch) for vertical swimming, this must be taken into consideration when planning such an aquarium! Lid (tank cover) is a necessity as these fish can jump out of the tank although they don’t tend to jump too often. A small gap of 2.5 cm (1 inch) is sufficient for them to jump out. Bear in mind that Angelfish can be very territorial towards each other, they use to get along much better if kept in a group rather than if kept in a small pack, say of 3 specimens.

As written above, plants are crucial to keep your Angelfish happy. Not only they improve water quality and aerate water, plants are used for laying eggs – especially plants with large leaves. Plants will decompose various debris including excrements, they also hinder growth of algae, and plants serve as hiding spots for newly hatched fish. Newborns are easy targets without having opportunity to hide themselves in shelters! Amazon sword plants (Echinodorus) should be grown in an Angelfish tank.

Even though we recommend 40 liters (10.5 US gallons, 8.8 Imperial gallons) per specimen if raising Angels in ordinary community tanks, breeding tanks must be larger because newborns produce excrements, there’s usually more uneaten food, and filtration isn’t that effective since the recommended filtration system for a breeding tank is a sponge filter. Sponge filters can be highly effective, but external canister or HOB filters are definitely better in terms of water quality.

A short summary: An Angelfish tank shouldn't be smaller than 100 liters (26 US gallons, 22 Imperial gallons), a group of 6 of these fish should be given preferably 400 liter tank (105 US gallons, 88 UK gallons).

Food and feeding

Angelfish prefer flakes over granules or pellets, however diet of your fish must not be monotonous, therefore offer them a wide variety of foods including frozen larvae, worms or insects (live should be preferred, frozen food must be defrost before offered to the fish). Brine shrimp or Daphnia are too loved by these cichlids as much as fry of Guppies, Swordtails or Mollies will be eaten if left with Angels. Additionally offer your fish dried foods, however don’t base the diet on dried foods as these may contain lower amounts of proteins and other important substances. It’s a widely known fact that the dried food contains less proteins than raw or frozen worms/larvae, so make sure that especially juvenile specimens are fed on high-protein diet. High-protein diet is crucial when breeding these fish as they’re known for producing more eggs if fed properly (the number of laid eggs and frequency of reproduction also depends on temperature, more to be found below in the paragraph named Breeding).

Angelfish aren’t messy eaters, they usually eat only a little and should be fed once or twice a day. As they’re not the smallest fish available, their stomachs are big enough to store enough food – Adult Angelfish can survive even 2 weeks without food, however you shouldn’t let them starve for over a week. Juvenile specimens should be fed two or three times a day, naturally young fish shouldn’t starve as it could negatively affect their growth rate and their health.

Amount that can be eaten in 4-5 minutes will keep them full for a day.

Suitable tankmate

Angelfish are good tank mates for many tetras, some of the most suitable ones are as follows:

• Black skirt tetra - Gymnocorymbus ternetzi
• Silver tipped tetra - Hasemania nana
• Blue tetra - Boehlkea fredcochui
• Red eyed characin - Arnoldichthys spilopterus
• Splashing tetra - Copella arnoldi
• Bloodfin tetra - Aphyocharax alburnus
• False rummynose tetra - Petitella georgiae
• Glass bloodfish - Prionobrama filigera
• Green fire tetra - Aphyocharax rathbuni

However there are other species that get along with Angelfish, feel free to consider any of these:

• Corydoras Paleatus
• Corydoras Nanus
• Corydoras Panda
• Corydoras Elegans and other Corydoras
• Discus
• Bushynose pleco - Ancistrus temminckii
• Butterfly pleco - Dekeyseria brachyuran
• Bristlenose pleco - Ancistrus triradiatus
• Bristlenose catfish

Guppies and Neon tetras should be avoided because Angelfish will hunt them. Neon tetras are part of Angels’ diet in the wild, and Guppies are notorious fin nippers – Angels won’t tolerate this and will strike back. Any peaceful fish that originates from South America rivers is a suitable tank mate as long as it doesn’t fit Angel’s mouth.

If you're adding new Angelfish into an aquarium with at least 1 Angel that's there already, introduce the new one after feeding time, preferably when lights are turned off.

Diseases

The most common diseases that freshwater Angels suffer from are as follows:

• Exophthalmia or Pop-Eye. Symptoms that characterize this disease include bloody spots, body sores, black spots on the body, loss of fins, fish may even look like suffering from tumors. Causes of this disease include lack of maintenance, infections caused by internal parasites, bacterial infections. Pop-eye can be caused by worm cataracts – the disease is characterized by cloudy eyes.
• Ichthyophthirius or Ich - White spot disease. It is caused by parasites, however background of this disease is again lack of maintenance, high levels of ammonia, stress, poor acclimatization, even newly introduced “non-quarantined” fish may spread this disease.
• Hunger strike; Loss of appetite.

Body & Varieties

There are a several varieties of Angelfish as follows:

• Golden – Bodies of these fish are yellowish, it’s a light tone of yellow.
• Silver – These fish have silver bodies which are crossed with black vertical markings. This type of Angelfish can be dark, light, or solid.
• Koi – This type is characterized by red-white body with black and gold markings. Young Koi Angels are known for having red markings under their eyes.
• Smoky – A shade of silver on one half of the body, and a dark grey or ebony on the other half.
• Pearly gold – A dazzling shade of gold is the primary colour of this variety.
• Black – These fish look like solid ebony.
• Black lace – Black, but sporting wide light to dark stripes.
• Zebra – This variety has black body with white stripes.
• Marble – Marble-like swirls of silver and black appear on their bodies, there are black markings on fins of this variety, some have golden patterns on their heads.
• Blushing – Heads of this variety display golden markings, are a shade of white. Juvenile specimens may have red markings under their eyes.
• Blue blushing – These fish are grey in colour with outlines in black. Yound fish may have red markings under their eyes. This variety has ability to become dark or light according to their current feelings.
• Veiltail – Such Angels have elongated fins, they’re actually available in many colour variants.

Additional information about Angelfish

This part is a summary which is a “must know” for every owner of Angelfish:

• Lifespan of Angelfish depends on conditions in their tank, most Angels are capable of living even 8-9 years. However fish which aren’t looked after properly may live less than 4 years.
• Growth rate of Angels depends on diet, however most of them grow approximately 0.5-1 cm (0.2-0.4 inch) per month until they’re 6-8 months old, then their growth rate slows down. Adult Angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) can reach 12-15 cm (4.7 – 5.9 inch) in length, males tend to be bigger than females. Full size is reached at 12 and 18 months of age.
• Since Angels don’t produce lots of excrements, they don’t pollute water and therefore their tank doesn’t need heavy maintenance. However if they’re kept in a community aquarium with fish which are known for producing a lot of waste (Guppies, Swordtails, Mollies), maintenance will have to be more regular. Testing water for pH, ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and carbonate hardness should be ideally performed once a week. The process of cleaning isn’t difficult, you actually have to use gravel vacuum cleaner only, add chlorine-free water into the tank once vacuuming is finished.
• Once again, Angelfish should be kept in large tanks, here’s a quick guide on recommended volumes:

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           |   Liters/                   |    50/  |100/  |  150/ |  200/  |  250/  |  300/  |  350/ |   400+  |

           |   US Gallons/          |    13/  | 26/   |   39/  |    53/   |   66/   |   79/   |   92/  |   105+  |

           |  Imperial Gallons   |    11    | 22    |   33   |    44    |   55    |   66     |   77   |    88+   |

           |  Number of Angel  |     1     |  2     |   3-4  |   4-5   |  4-6    |  4-7   |   5-8  |      6+    |

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