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Old June 7th, 2013, 06:13 AM   #1
robertprice
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Default Cichlid Profiles - Pterophyllum, The Angelfish

The Angelfish are three species of South American tropical cichlids characterized by their triangular shape, bold vertical bars, and elongated dorsal and and bottom fins, with long spindly pectoral fins. They are members of the genus Pterophyllum which means winged leaf.. The common species is scalare, which means flight of stairs. The Giant and Leopolds are superficially similar.

Angelifsh all live is acid, calm water in South America. The common type lives mostly in the Amazon drainage, while the Giant lives further north up to Colombia, and the Leopolds east to the Orinoco River and Guyana. They like pH 5 to 6.2 for the Giant and Leopolds, and the common likes pH 6.2-6.9. They can be kept at pH 7 but will not breed except in more acid water. All like temperatures 78-88 degrees. The Common is very common and has been extesnsively hybridized, whereas the Giant (altum) and the Leopolds (Leopoldi) are rare. Common Angelfsh have been kept in aquariums since 1905. They all like 78-88 degree very soft water. The Giant gets 8.5 inches long/tall, the Common 6 inches, and Leopold's 4-5. They also differ in the number of dorsal fin rays and number of scales per lateral row. The Leopold has a straight beak, the other two have indentations above the eye. They all have 4 dark vertical body bars. The Giant has the thickest vertical bars, and the second which connects the dorsal and bottom fins tapers going downward. Leopold's has a dark spot near the insertion of the 4th bar onto the dorsal fin. They are all primarily insectivores, and eat insect larvae and blackworms in the wild. The gender is hard to tell except by venting. They are usually middle of the water column swimmers.

The minimum tank size for an Angelfish pair is 55 gallons, and a single Leopld needs at least 15 and a single Common 20 gallons. They like heavily planted tanks, and are known to often lay eggs on Sword Plant leaves in clean still acid water with low nitrate levels. They also like Sagittaria. They are good parents who lay up to 1000 eggs that hatch in 30-48 hours, and the pair puts the fry in a shallow pit to protect them. In captivity, they eat blooodworms, blackworms, daphina, brineshrimp, gelatinized chopped beefheart, and even commerical flakes and small pellets. They are only suitable for quiet tankmates like peaceful catfish, loaches, and members of the Rosy tetra clade. They cannot be kept with nipping fish or Gouramis. They are sometimes kept with Discus, who like similar water conditions. Leopold Angelfish like a lot of branches in their tanks. Driftwood to keep the pH low is appreciated.

There are many color morphs of the Common Angelfish, including wild type (Sliver), Marbled, Ghost, Pearl Scale Chocolate, Black, Blushing (with red cheeks) , Blue Blushing, Koi, Sunset Yellow, Albino and any may be regular finned or veil tailed.

They are subject to getting a few diseases, including Pop-eye from Ichthyosporidium fungus which is usually not curable, and Hexamita which can be killed with Metronidazole or Fishzole. When stressed, they will go on hunger strikes. Fast moving fish stress them out.

For pictures see "Images of Freshwater Angelfish."
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Last edited by robertprice; June 7th, 2013 at 06:21 AM. Reason: spelling
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