Angel Fish

Angel Fish are one of the most beautiful kind of tropical freshwater aquarium fish. They also have a strong personality and it is a pleasure to care for them. They like to attract attention when somebody is nearby, or at feeding time. They are one of the first fish which were brought from America and they are very popular. They were brought to Europe around 1820 and in 1930 Angel Fish were bred in captivity in the United States for the first time. Because of the mentioned advantages and extraordinary look, Angelfish are highly demanded and are for sale in almost every pet shop.

Picture

They have a quite round and flat body, but their dorsal and ventral fins are long, each is almost as long as the body is. They can grow up to 15 cm vertically. There are many freshwater variants such as:

1) Golden - a light shade of yellow.
2) Silver - silver bodies and black vertical markings. They can be dark, light, solid, or broken.
3) Koi - red-white with patches of black or gold markings. Young fish can have red markings under the eye.
4) Smoky - a shade of silver on one half, and a dark grey or ebony on the other half.
5) Pearly Gold - a dazzling shade of gold.
6) Black - solid ebony.
7) Black Lace - black, but sporting wide light to dark stripes.
8) Zebra - a black body with white stripes.
9) Marble - marble-like swirls of silver and black on their bodies, black markings on their fins and some have golden patterns on their heads.
10) Blushing - a shade of white, and golden markings on their heads. Young fish can have a red marking under the eye.
11) Blue Blushing - grey in colour, outlines in black. Young fish can have a red marking under the eye. Amazing on this variety is their ability to become darker or lighter according to how they feel.
12) Veiltail - very elongated fins and they can be in many colour variants.

Habitat

In nature Angel Fish live in the Amazon River in South America. They can be found in bulrushes where they can find shelter. They grow and live in big crowds but this fact doesn’t mean, that they can’t swim free. Because of their flat body they have no problems if they are squeezed close to each other. They come out from the bulrushes when they want to play. But when there is any sign of an enemy, they swim back into the rushes. There they are well protected, because it is like they are behind a fence, so the enemy can’t get through to them.

Fish tank and care

Angel Fish need a large tank. This is because they are quite big fish. The aquarium should be high, because they like to swim up and down, and they are tall too, so they need space horizontally, not just vertically. I think that a height of 50 cm is quite good. If you want to breed Angel Fish, the minimum size of the tank for a breeding pair of Angelfish is 70 litres, but if you want to leave the fries in the tank with their parents, it should be 110 litres or larger. Just imagine: 2 fully grown Angel Fish and 200 or 300 newborns. Pretty big crowd isn’t it. The larger the tank the more security for eggs and young and comfort there is.

Like all freshwater aquariums, an Angel Fish aquarium should have plants. They improve the water by keeping it clean, hinder algae growth, add oxygen into the water, and give shelter to the young fish. Angel Fish like broadleaf aquarium plants because they like to lay eggs on them. Amazon Sword Plants - Echinodorus are the perfect plants for an Angel Fish tank. The pH level should be between 6.0 and 9.0, and the temperature should be around 25°C. High temperatures cause rapid growth and early death.

Generally speaking you should keep more than just a few Angel Fish in an aquarium. If there are only a few fish, the strongest will make the others miserable and they will feel lonely. But in bigger groups they will behave better. However, as I have wrote already, they need a lot of space. Especially if you have more fish.

Tankmates

Very good tankmates for Angelfish are various Tetras (such as Black Skirt Tetra for instance) as Tetras don't fit the Angelfish' mouth. If possible, the tankmates should originally come from South America. Bristlenose Catfish and Cories are just a tip. In general, don't combine Guppies and Angelfish as Guppies would nip Angelfish' fins, and vice-versa Angelfish would eat Guppies. If they're kept together from juvenile age they may be peaceful. Fish of similar size from Asia may be considered too. Angelfish usually don't fight for territories with other species, but this rule doesn't apply to small aquariums.

Food and feeding

Flake food is enough for Angel Fish, but it is better for their health to give them a variety foods. This is especially important when they are breeding. They like live food such as Adult Brine Shrimp, Black Worms, Mosquito larvae, finely chopped earthworms, and Guppy fry. But they can also eat frozen Blood Worms, Brine Shrimp and others. They can be also fed dried foods like dried crabs.

Breeding

When genital papillae appear, the Angel Fish is about to spawn. These little nipples are used for depositing eggs and fertilizing them. Then they choose a spawning plate and clean it two or three days before spawning. After a few days the female lays eggs and the male fertilizes them. After few hours unfertilized eggs turn white and the parents will remove them. After little Angel Fish hatch they should be fed with powdered flakes or dried blood worms for the first 4 weeks 4 times a day. After that time they can be fed with Guppy fry. It is a very nutritious food. But they grow best if they have a varied diet.

Diseases

Some diseases which attack Angel Fish are:

• Exophthalmia or Pop-Eye. The symptoms are: bloody spots, tumors, body sores, black spots, loss of fins. Causes are: not enough cleaning fish wastes, infection by some parasites, bacterial infections. Another cause is worm cataracts, when the eye becomes cloudy.
• Ichthyophthirius or Ich - white spot disease. It is caused by parasites.
• Hunger Strike; lost of appetite.

Feel free to visit the article about the most common diseases in freshwater topical aquarium fish as it describes them very well and it wouldn't make any sense to repeat the already written content on this page: aquarium fish diseases.

Selling Angelfish

If you've succeeded breeding Angelfish, you'll find out that there are plenty of babies swimming in the tank. If fed properly (very good food is Artemia Salina), they will grow and at least 50% should survive. In some cases only 10%-20% survive, in some cases even 80% of newborns survive. Later you'll face the problem called "overpopulated aquarium" and you'll have to sell some specimens. The best time to make your Angelfish available for sale is when they're 3-4cm long. Always tell the buyer that Angelfish won't stay 4cm long! If you're going to earn more by selling adult specimens, you can earn even $20-$30 per one. Sometimes it can be more, however this depends on the variant and colouration.

If you're selling Angelfish to a person who haven't seen the parents, make sure that you take and show some pictures to such a person when selling. It will help you to avoid unhappy and angry customers!

Pictures

Thanks to Lorna Marie Kemble for the picture.



Thanks to Tamri Shavi too!

The Angel Fish

has been viewed times since June 30, 2009.