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Angelfish
Total size: 8 inches tall from top fin to bottom, about 5 - 6inches from mouth to tip of tail
Adaptable temperatures: 78-82
Swimming range: All levels
Scientific Name: Pterophyllum scalare
Life span: In some cases, 12 years.
Angelfish are soooooo cool! They live off of tetras, bugs, and dead animals in the wild, but if fed well and with lots of plants, can easily be kept with schools of tetras. They “herd” them together and keep the schools in form. It is best to get small angelfish to start out with and put them with tetras, that way they can grow up with them and are less likely to think of them as good. All angelfish except Altum angels are the same species and should be cared for the same. All of them can go together and get along, apart from territory, spawning sites, or other cichlid behaviors. They are considered new world cichlids and are just weird compared to their cousins. Discus and angels are two very strange forms of cichlids, but probably shouldn’t be kept together. Discus need a lot of attention and angelfish can become very aggressive towards them because they see them as
competition for food, which is not the case because discus are very passive. If you want to try it then go right ahead, I too was willing to try it. In the wild, blah blah, they live with A LOT of driftwood and some plants. In the aquarium they need LOTS of plants and yes driftwood. When pairing up they spawn on the leaves of Amazon swords. They like dark water, which can be created from driftwood, pete moss, and/or black water dyes. Plants are very important in the tanks especially if you keep veiltail angels (long finned) because these angelfish are weak and spend their time floating around in the plants. I have 2 thickly planted thickets of South American plants (mostly Amazon swords) of which all my angelfish like to swim through periodically. They feel safe with all the plants and wood, and it adds a lot of stereotypical Amazon jungleness to the tank. They come in many varieties now
such as the marble angels, which have broken bands, and the zebra lace, which looks like wild angels with black, speckled fins, and bright red eyes. They are both the same fish but with different strains. ANGELS ARE THE BEST FISH FOR EVERYONE. Make sure they have at least 10 gallons a piece though. Taller tanks are better because they are such tall fish, so before buying a tank, check out the options.
Good tank mates:
Altum angelfish
Other angels
Possibly discus, but due to high stress level of discus, its not easy in the home aquarium
Tetras (larger than neons are best)
Corydoras
Dwarf cichlids
Spawning:
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