Angel Fish

Pterophyllum scalare (ter o fill' um ska lar' e)

The scientific name for the freshwater angelfish is quite descriptive. Pterophyllum is derived from the Greek word for "winged leaf" and scalare means "like a flight of stairs" in reference to the dorsal fin. It is a Latin word that can also mean "ladder". Angelfish are laterally compressed or look like a disc on edge with long fins coming out of the top and bottom and have 2 'feelers' in front of the anal or bottom fin. The tail is vertically oriented and may be from scoop shovel shape to long and relatively narrow depending on the variety.

Origin : Amazon region of South America

Size: Up to 6" in length, the top and bottom fins spanning a greater distance in the Veil varieties.

Ideal Water Quality: Soft (0.6 to 1.2 dH), slightly acid (pH 6.5 to 6.9), successful breeding has occurred in pH 6.8.

Live Plants: Live plants should be included in all freshwater tanks. Water quality is monitored by live plants as they will look sickly before the fish die, they aid in keeping water clear, hinder growth of algae and add Oxygen to the water. Broadleaf aquatic plants are favourites of Angelfish for laying their eggs on. Amazon Sword Plants (Echinodorus) are in a genus that embraces more than fifty relatively hardy and adaptable species, most of which are native to the flood plains of South America. They prefer water that is neutral or slightly acid and not too hard making them perfect plants for your Angelfish tank. Vesicularia dubyana (Java Moss), Ceratopteris (Water Sprite) and Microsorium (Polypodium pteropus or Java Fern) are all compatible live aquatic plants.

Diet: Angelfish can survive on flake food alone, but they will thrive and be much more apt to breed on a greatly varied diet. Live foods such as Adult Brine Shrimp, Black Worms, Mosquito larvae, finely chopped earthworms and Guppy fry are accepted with enthusiasm and should be included regularly. If live food is not available, frozen packages of Blood Worms (Midge Fly larvae), Brine Shrimp and others are available from your favourite pet supply store and are acceptable substitutions for the live food. There are many dried foods available that will suffice too. Raw beef heart, finely ground, mixed with unflavoured gelatin and frozen immediately in small one serving size pieces is a good and economical addition to your Angelfish diet. Be absolutely sure there is no fat in the meat.

Fry Diet: Angelfish fry have been successfully raised on a diet of newly hatched Brine shrimp (napulii) for the first 4 weeks of their lives and fed two to four times daily. After that, they were gradually introduced to a mixture of finely powdered flakes and powdered dried blood worms with an occasional (twice a week) feeding of baby brine shrimp.

Tank Size: The minimum size tank for a breeding pair of Angelfish is 15 gallons, but should be 25 gallons or larger if you plan on leaving the fry with the parents. As you can imagine, a fully grown pair of Angels with 200 -300 fry to herd around would be pretty cramped in anything smaller. Another plus to having a larger tank is that there is a better feeling of security in a larger tank and the parents aren't as apt to eat their eggs or young.

Choosing Breeder Angelfish: The best way of assuring yourself at least one young pair is to choose 6 perfect specimens from a large tank full of young angels. This method is less expensive than buying proven breeders that may be near the end of their breeding careers anyway. When preparing to buy 6 Angelfish, take your time to study the fish and select only those with straight top and bottom fins and perfect 'feelers' without any bowing or bends in them. They should be strong, robust and active. Angelfish that are active feeders mean they will grow quickly, and have a high rate of egg production in the females.

Be extremely picky with your breeder selection and you will be rewarded with beautiful fry. Once you have carefully selected your 6 potential breeders, they can be set up in a 20 gallon tank minimum to grow up in and to finally pair off. If they are fed well with a good selection of live foods, they will grow quickly and reach breeder size rapidly. One sure way to acquire a true breeding pair of Angelfish is to purchase a proven pair from a breeder.

In the 70s, when I last bred Angels, I could sex them by looking at them head on, the female had a broader belly tapering to a point whereas the male was much more streamlined and "thinner" in the belly. Look at a proven pair side by side and you will "see" the difference.

When you purchase a pair this way there is always the possibility that they are at the end of their breeding career. In mature fish, breeding can be stimulated by a partial water change and a rise in temperature to between 80 and 82 degrees F. One sure sign that spawning is about to occur is the appearance of the pair's genital papillae. These look like little nipple-like projections and are called ovipositors, a word that literally means "egg-placer(s)". The female's ovipositor is larger and more blunt than the male's which is slender and more pointed. These protuberances which appear at the vent are used respectively for depositing eggs and fertilizing them.

The obvious differences in the genital papillae are the first completely reliable indication of sex determination. The pair will select a spawning site and thoroughly clean it about two or three days before actual spawning takes place. When the cleanliness of the spawning site finally meets the approval of the parent fish, the female will make a few test runs.

She will pull her ventral fins or feelers close to the lower sides of her abdomen and her anal fin will be situated so that her entire lower line is relatively straight. Her ovipositor will then be able to make full contact with the slate, leaf or whatever was chosen for a spawning site.

The male will then make a few practice runs too before the actual spawning takes place. When spawning actually takes place, the female will pass over the site and eggs are deposited which adhere to the surface. The male then moves in and scoots along over the string of eggs just laid and fertilizes them, his fins taking the same position as the female's so he can press closely to insure a higher fertilization rate.

The male and female Angelfish will take turns making passes over the spawning site until several hundred or more eggs have been laid, depending on the size and condition of the female prior to spawning. The parents will hover closely over the spawn and fan continuously with their pectoral fins to create a circulation of water over and around the eggs. Some unfertilized eggs will turn white in a matter of hours and will be removed by the parents.

Hatching Eggs Away from Parents: Should you decide to remove the eggs after spawning to raise away from the parents, a bare 15-20 gallon tank with sponge filter and a piece of slate leaned up against a side wall would be the angelfish will use the piece of slate to lay their eggs on making it easy for you to remove the entire spawn. A restaurant sized pickle or mayonnaise jar submerged into the tank and the slate with the spawn gently transferred into it is the best way to handle the delicate eggs which should be facing upward.

An air stone should be placed in the jar in such a way that the somewhat vigorous stream of air bubbles does not hit the eggs directly. The jar should be floated in the tank so the temperature remains constant and that water changes can come from the parent's tank. Successful breeders have used this 'formula' for the water in which to raise the fry: Dechlorinated tap water measuring about 75-100 ppm hardness or about 5 DH and a pH of about 7.4 and kept at 80-02 degrees F. A one gallon pickle jar was used and tilted, filled 3/4 full and 3 drops of 10% Methylene Blue was added. The aeration was vigorous and each day after hatching, one-half the water was replaced with aged tap water of the same temperature. Aeration was slowed down after the fry were free swimming.

Hatching should occur in about 36 to 48 hours depending on the temperature. If you should see some eggs fall off the slate, you may elect to pick them up with an eyedropper and squirt them back on the slate or leave them to hatch where they are. There will be a period after hatching and before free swimming when the fry will stick together. At this time increase the aeration so ALL the fry will have access to sufficient oxygen.

Do not put food in the jar until the fry are free swimming. This will only serve to foul the water and they won't eat while they still have a yolk sack to live on. After about 3-5 days when they are free swimming, you may introduce newly hatched brine shrimp into the jar for the fry to eat.

Many years ago, (approx 1978) I successfully hand reared these fry; what I used was a 12" square section of a 3' tank. He cleaned the section thoroughly, added clean fresh water and methylene blue with vigorous aeration and took the Amazon Sword leaf that the parents had laid their eggs on and placed it into this section. When approximately 90% of the eggs hatched, he kept a close eye on the fry until they became free swimming then he added infusoria obtained from banana skin in water as well as shop bought tubes of infusoria, in small doses, and the fry soon began to grow. Once they were about three or four times birth size, he introduced, in very small proportions, crushed Aquarian flake food.

This was eagerly devoured. Of all the fry successfully hatched, none were lost after hatching. The results of this were published in the Aquarist magazine of the day. He received a letter from Barbados, of all places, thanking him for the method, which the sender had also tried successfully. I am not sure but I think that Angels back then were much tougher than current species.

Leaving Fry with Parents: If the parents are to be left with the eggs, it is best to provide as much peace and quiet for them as possible. You may want to set up their tank in your bedroom or a spare room where they will not be unnecessarily disturbed. Other than that, they should be treated as you normally do. Some aquarists cover the tank with paper or black plastic and use peep holes to observe the fish. This can cause more disturbance than without the cover because there is no warning for the fish when the lid is going to be opened for feeding or for any other reason. The best system for filtering a fry tank is a seeded corner sponge filter.

Start your new Rotifer bacteria colony by putting the new sponge filter with aeration into an established tank. This should be done long before you have to use it so that all you have to do is pop it into the fry tank when the time comes. The sponge will begin to discolour when you have the start of your colony.

The circulation of water is gentle, the fry won't be sucked into the sponge and even baby brine shrimp are safe with a sponge filter. Clean the sponge in a bucket of siphoned off aquarium water to protect the Rotifers from dying, wring it out a couple of times and it's ready to go back to work even in a completely bare aquarium.  Under gravel filters also work biologically, but are not as convenient to use in this instance.

A scrupulously clean aquarium is essential for proper growth and health of your Angel fish fry, but with an under gravel filter, this is almost impossible to do. The water can look crystal clear while the space under the filter can be filthy with uneaten food and fish waste. This in turn causes ammonia and nitrate build-up which is dangerous or even fatal to fish. It is obviously very difficult if not impossible to keep a fry tank with an under gravel filter in it perfectly clean. I used a tank with no substrate at all for raising the fry.

Baby Angel Video

Angelfish Varieties

While most mutations are lost in nature because they are different, the aquarist can provide added protection for the creature and possibly breed it selectively to establish the new strain. Click on the link above for references to varieties.

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