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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)
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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