Angel Fish
Common Name: Angel Fish
Size: up to 6" (15cm)
Tank: 48 inches
Strata: Middle
pH: 5.0 to 7.5
Hardness: Soft to medium.
dH range: 1-20
Temperature: 73ºF to 84ºF (23-29°C)
General Body Form:
Disk-shaped. Angel fish’s Dorsal and Anal fins Are elongated and sail-like, the Pectoral fins are stretched into long filaments. The Caudal fin is fan shaped and broad. The outermost fin rays are prolonged. In older Angel fish the forehead bulges. Including the fins the Angel fish may reach a length of six inches and a height of ten inches.
Tank Size:
The minimum size tank for a breeding pair of Angel fish 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 Angel fish 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 Angel fish parents aren’t as apt to eat their eggs or young.
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 favorite 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 unflavored 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.
Choosing Breeder Angelfish:
The best way of assuring yourself at least one young pair is to choose 6 perfect specimens from a large tankful of young angel fishes. This method is less expensive than buying proven angel fishe breeders that may be near the end of their breeding careers anyway. When preparing to buy 6 Angel fish, take your time to study the angel fish and select only those with straight top and bottom fins and perfect ‘feelers’ without any bowing or bends in them. Angel fish should be strong, robust and active. Angel fish that are active feeders mean they will grow quickly, and have a high rate of egg production in the females. Do not buy Angel fish from a tank with either dead fish in it, with fungus or parasite infestations. Resist the urge to ‘come to the rescue of the little ugly duckling’ because it will only grow up to be a big ugly duckling and will be totally unsuitable for breeding purposes. Be extremely picky with your breeder selection and you will be rewarded with beautiful fry. Once you have carefully selected your 6 potential Angel fish breeders, they can be set up in a 20 gallon tank minimum to grow up in and to finally pair off. If Angel fish 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 Angel fish is to purchase a proven pair from a breeder. When you purchase a pair this way there is always the possibility that they are at the end of their breeding career.
Spawning:
In mature Angel 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 (oh vi poz’ uh turs), 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 Angel fish 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 Angel fish 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 Angel fish 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.
Source: Badman’s Tropical Fish
February 3rd, 2006 at 2:18 pm
i have an angel fish about a year and half old now i’ve had angel fish before and i wanted to know how can i tell the sex of my angel fish i once was told you could tell by the top of there head one would have a bump like on top of it’s head and the other not is that true or is there a way to tell witch is witch ty
February 6th, 2006 at 8:12 am
it’s really difficult to tell which sex your fish belongs to normally. It’s only obvious when it come to spawning n lay eggs.
If you wish to breed your fish, it’s recommended that you keep 5 angel fish together for them to pair up themselves. Good luck to u!
March 10th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
I have a general question….i have a 55 gallon tank with a mated pair of green severums who have laid eggs numerous time and allowed them to hatch four times only to eat them….(we are now prepared to remove the rock they lay on) they currently have a batch of babies. Now the problem, i just noticed that my pair of angels have laid eggs on the side of the tank towards the top. I have no idea what to do that is provided they allow them to hatch. They laid once before on the power filter tube the last time about a year ago but ate the eggs. We managed to suck a few severums out after they hatced, if the angels hatch can i put them in the same tank as the severum babies using the same method? I cannot believe this…..I want to save them all……
March 12th, 2006 at 7:45 pm
hi joan, thanks for visiting my site.
from my experience, angel parents are able to take care of their child. they can be put in the same tank PROVIDED THAT during the egg and hatching time, DO NOT disturb ur fish, if you disturb them, they will eat their child. The reason y they eat their child and egg in your case probably because you unintentionally disturb them. Try leave them alone and don’t scared them.
good luck to u!
March 20th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
My angel fish layed some eggs on the side of the tank and started swimming around I took the parents out and took the rocks but the water was real dirty. I took the pump out and I tried cleaning the water and had the water tested it was good. I moved them to a bucket with a heater and air bubble. They are still dying off it did not help that the heater got unplugged. I tried feeding them ground up flakes there was about 60 or so now I think I am down to about 45 since I just took 10 dead ones out and 5 the day before are they suppose to stay on the bottom and not be swimming around. It looks like the parents are going to breed again and I want to do a better job of taking care of them next time. I would like to keep what I have left a live. Do you have any suggestions?
March 20th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
Janice: do not move the child they are quite sensitive towards the environment. especially when u change your water, any mistake can kills all of them.
try to feed them using egg yorks or Brine shrimp. Beware that Egg york might polute the water. although i havent tried the later but i recommend Brine Shrimp cuz many of my friends tried tat and they said it’s good.
Normally the child doesn’t move very often for the 1st month, they are still young. Try to avoid strong powerful pump, it might kill them indirectly.
Good luck to u
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:30 pm
Thank you for your information they did all pass away they have new ones. I am thinking about leaving the parents in with them right now they are going crazy with keeping them on the wall of the fish tank they layed them on the filter and then moved them to the side of the fish tank under a sticker that is on the outside so we did not see them at first I thought they were dying off. I turned the filter off and I am going to go purchase a sponge filter to put in with an air stone and I hope these ones live. I put salt in the water the day before yesterday. I purchased some baby brine shrimp. I also have some betas that had some babies but they do not seem to be growing like they should they hatched the first of February and they are not growing. Do you know what would cause that I am feeding them the baby brine shrimp? They do not eat much. Do you think they are defective?
April 3rd, 2006 at 8:59 pm
“I turned the filter off and I am going to go purchase a sponge filter to put in with an air stone and I hope these ones live”
You make a right move. but make sure do not scared the parent when u install your new filter. Female Angel fish are very good in taking care of their babies, so do not remove the female. If the male is naughty then take it out :p
Fish Babies do not eat much. Do not put too much brine shrimp into the tank, just enough for the babies to consume. too much of brine shrimp is not good, it might attack ur betta babies.
Good luck to you.
May 7th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
Hi, the baby fry’s are still alive I have about 30-40 and they have been eating frozen baby brine shrimp. Can you tell me when can I start them on dry flakes and when can I change over from the sponge pump to the regular whisper pump? The babies are still in a 10 gallon tank I did purchase another 29 gallon tank when should I move them?
Unfortunately, I lost the parent I had moved the father to another tank and mother seem up set so I put her in with him and the heater blew up and over heated their tank they both died.
May 7th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
i’m sorry to hear tat
for baby fry to take dry flakes, u need to wait for the babies to grow till 1″~1.5″ inch with the angel fish shape. May i know what’s the babies size now? if the size of the babies is big enough then u can start to move them to ur new tank.
May 19th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
does the angle fish eat thier own eggs because the last time i check the eggs were getting less and less… there was also fur on the eggs so is that a good sign also or are the eggs diagnosed??
May 20th, 2006 at 7:53 am
Ya angel fish will eat their own eggs if they are scared or they feel there is sth that will harm their eggs. so if ur fish lay eggs do not scared them as they are very sensitive during that period.
Fur on eggs??? i never see that before, i only know that good eggs will look transparent and there will have a black dot in the middle of the egg.
August 2nd, 2006 at 7:32 pm
i think the fur she is talking about is fungus. i am havng a problem with my angels. They just starting laying eggs and then started eating them all. so i took them out of the tank this time (20 gallon tank) and woke up the next day, all the eggs were off of the spawning slate except the dead ones. do you think they are still in the tank or that they might have gotten sucked up by the filter? i have no idea. I cant leave the parents in with the eggs cause they have eaten the last 5 batches. what should I do?
August 23rd, 2006 at 10:36 pm
As what i said before,
when your angel fish breed,
do not scared them.
Just a big movement will scared them off!
If i know the fish is breeding,
most of the time, i’ll leave it there and i’ll not disturb them.
Just feed them once a day tat’s enough.
some of my friend even wrap their tank with paper and seems this method works for him
September 30th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
My angel fish is floating around and very weak it keeps going to the top of the tank. The ph was low so I’m gradually bringing it down. The temperature is 75 degrees and I did treat him for ich which has seems cured. Please help save this baby angel fish it’s almost an inch in size.
Thank you
June 14th, 2007 at 12:14 am
I have a mated pair of angels and this is the second time that they have laid their eggs , there is no place in my town that has baby brine shrimp. last time I tried hatching them myself from eggs and don’t know if I was very successful.. at any rate the babys ended up being lunch for their parents. They were very tiny and I could see their eyes mostly when I shined a flash lite on them. Can you give me some advice on the brine shrimp hatching? and a time line for when I should feed the babies. They are still clinging to the spot they were placed and not free swimming as yet. Need that timeline also. when will they free swim?
August 29th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
i have angel babies swimming but i dont know if i should seperate them from the parents can u help me?
October 11th, 2007 at 5:29 am
my angels just laid eggs should i just leave them alone in same tank or move them after they have been fertilized
October 11th, 2007 at 9:49 am
chris: let ur babies follow their parents, angel fish parents will guard them from attacking from other fishes.
sue: dun move them, angel fish parents will guide their babies. just like wat i told chris
December 25th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
it is christmas day and i have just discovered my angle fish have bred for the first time, what a fantastic christmas pressie
December 27th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Why is my mommy Angel sucking up her babies and spitting them out all the time?
December 27th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
the angel fish mom will move their babies to a safe place by hidding their babies in their mouth and let them out some where they find it save.
December 28th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Thank you for responding.
Mommy Angel has been doing this ever since they were hatched. Then the babies got bigger and swam aroung (about 2 weeks old) and mommy Angel and babies are in a separate tank with no other fish.
Today I checked on them agian and all the babies are gone! Do you think mommy may have eaten them?
December 28th, 2007 at 10:58 am
Yes probably the mom eat all of their babies.
May be when u look at them, they feel threaten.
Whenever they have babies,
it’s good for u to not disturb them (ex: always look at them, always go near the tank, etc etc).
My friend used to cover the tank when his angel fish breed.
Once the parents feel threaten or danger,
they will eat all their babies.
December 28th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
oooops…
Durring the Christmas gatherring, a lot of people were adoring the baby Angels……
Thanks for the information. I hope others learn from our mystake.
Do you think the parents will produce more offspring soon if we put them back together?
December 28th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
It’s good for u to put them back together,
then let them dates each other again.
Hopefully will breed again 2 months later
this is wat my friend did and his angel fish breed again after 1.5 months.
March 11th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I have a pair of breeding angels. I have become very educated while reading your blog. I removed my algae eater and two juv angels when the pair started their breeding ritual. I noticed this morning that there are not as many eggs as there were last night. I assume it is because I disturbed them during the laying period? Imight cover the tank because I also have a cat that watches them intently all day. What about cycling the light? I normally turn on at 7:00AM and out at 7:00 PM - should I leave light on or off?
March 12th, 2008 at 8:50 am
u can just switch off the light if your tank has no plant.
just leave them aside and don’t disturb them.
Once get disturbed they will eat their own eggs.
just don’t feed too much during this period of time as they normally didnt eat.
this is to maintain the water condition and to avoid changing water during this time as it might scared ur fishes.
March 17th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Hi hoping you can help, had two angel fish for last 18 months in tank, had other fish which died / got eaten. For the last 6 months just had the two angel fish (about 10cm long and perfect condition) and a sucker loach (about 5cm now).
Decided to get some new fish for the tank and added a rainbow fish (3cm), 6 small ciclids (0.5cm each) (dont know the name), and a small loach (1cm).
Been in for one week and fish1 started chasing / attacking fish2 a little. Then last 2 days fish2 started attacking fish1 but only one side of the fish which has two stripes and leaves the other side, fish1 does not swim away or defend itself. Fish1 now has ripped scales along its body but keeps coming back for more!
I just added 20% more water today and fish1 started sporning (first time ever) on wooden branch in tank. Fish2 started eating all the eggs.
I have now put a plastic temporary partition in to stop fish2 attacking fish1 but all fish1 wants to do is go back to fish2 and try and break the partition.
What should I do?
Q 1: Is fish2 another female who knows the other angel is going to spawn and attacks fish1 then eats the eggs?
Q 2: Could fish2 be a male, if so why is it attacking fish1 and eating the eggs?
Q 3: Should I remove the new fish into another tank and leave the angels on their own (is there certain fish eg. the loach that can stay with the angels?
Q 4: Is there a proper partition I can buy for the tank and where from?
Any other advice?
March 18th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Hi sam,
I’m not about which fish1 n 2 u r talking.
are the fish1 and 2 is the new batch that u put in 6 months ago?
i assume they are the new one.
q1: no, possibility is not high
q2: fish2 might be male but u need to check how to differentiate them. the reason it attack fish1 not really sure, but if got scared or feel threaten then they will eat all the eggs.
q3: if ur fish spawn then u should remove all the other fish to other tank. this can avoid ur other fish eat those eggs. and release the tension of the parents.
q4: normally angel parents will take care of their babies and stay together. but if the male is too fierce then u can separate it using plastic separator. i’m not sure where u can get, but for i can easily get those plastic from my LFS (local fish shop). do ask the shop if they sell
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
Hi! I am setting-up a 50-gallon freshwater community tank with 4 angelfish, together with some dwarf gouramis, tetras, dwarf cichlids and cory catfish. I read somewhere that angelfish live in peaceful schools when young, but pair off at about 9 months of age, after which the pairs typically become quite territorial and aggressive.
Considering that they’d be much bigger than the other fish in this community, should I go ahead with this community? Or should I limit my community to only one angelfish?
May 6th, 2008 at 8:38 am
Hi Edgar, first of all, thanks for visiting my site.
50 Gallon tank (i think it’s around 2 feet width right?) is quite small for this community especially when all the fishes grow bigger in size. It seems a bit congested and angel fish will attack other small fishes too.
If you planning to breed your fish then you should be ready to get a additional tank when they pair up. this is to avoid the egg being eaten and the fish being disturb by others.
It’s not a good idea to limit your angel fish to 1 unit. try to get a pair else she will be very lonely.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
What are angelfish adaptations? diet? and lifespan?
May 24th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Hello!
I have a 55 gallon tank with 5 angelfish, two giant angel fish, one medium sized angel fish and two smaller almost dime sized angel fish.
The two giant angels paired up and laid eggs on the filter tube, most of them are brown and fertilized, only a few of them are white and no good.
Only one of the angel fish seems to be guarding the eggs, the other one doesn’t seem to care about guarding because he swims around the tank, sometimes no where near the location of the eggs.
I’m not sure what to do next, in the tank I also have two rosy barbs, one giant danio, one male beta and one algae eater.
In my tank I also have small rocks on the bottom which I hear might trap the baby angelfish once they become wigglers.
I don’t want to disturb them by taking out the other fish to put in a separate tank, I don’t know what to do. The other fish will eventually eat the baby angels once they start swimming around if the parents don’t eat them first.
Help? Thanks.