As the Fish of the Month for December, there will 2 lots of bags of 2 adults (most likely a male and female but haven't spawn) Pterophyllum scalare around 8-10cm available at the PCS Meeting for auction. These are special lots to raise money for Stuart Grant Fund for Cichlid Preservation and have kindly been donated by one of our PCS Members - Terry. Terry has been breeding South American cichlids for decades.
Freshwater Angelfish
Pterophyllum is derived from the Greek word for "winged leaf" and scalare means "like a flight of stairs" in reference to the dorsal fin. Angelfish are laterally compressed or look like a disc on edge with long fins coming out of the top and bottom and have 2 'feelers' in front of the anal or bottom fin. The tail is vertically oriented and may be from scoop shovel shape to long and relatively narrow depending on the variety.
There are three species that are seen in the hobby
Pterophyllum altum deep Angelfish, altum angel size 10 inches and more.
from Orinoco, Rio Atabapo, middle and upper Rio Negro
Water paramters: Temperature : 28-30ºC, pH:5.8-6.2, Hardness: 1-5ºdgh soft acid water.
Pterophyllum dumerilii, P. leopoldi longnosed angelfish (size 4 inches)
water parameters: Temperature : 24-28ºC, pH : 6, Hardness : 5ºdgh soft acidic water.
Pterophyllum scalare angelfish (size 6-7inches)
Water paramters: Temprature : 26-30ºC, pH 6-6.9, Hardness : 1.2-5ºdgh soft acid water.
Classification
Order: Perciformes Family: Cichlidae
Distribution
Amazon and its tributaries
Sex
There is no sexual dimorphism among angelfish. During spawning, females develop a rounded genital papilla while the genital papilla of the males is pointed.
Diet
Live feeds such as bloodworms, mosquito larvae, tubifex worms, daphnia. Frozen and freeze dried live feeds.
Commercial fish feeds.
Feeding frequency
Feeding quantities depends on the amount of the feed being consumed in 5 minutes. 2-3 such feedings each day is advised.
Maintenance
Needs a well planted tank with Amazonian plants.
Water changes
weekly 1/3rd water exchanges has been recommended.
Character
Slightly territorial, but still a shoaling species. Does well in both species and community tank .
Spawning
The Scalare is easy to breed and millions of tank-raised specimens are sold every year over the world. Different colour and finnage varieities have been developed such as marble, albino, platinum, ghost and veil tail varieties. Once a pair is formed, the pair isolates itself. Both fish will take turns to clean a vertical substrate such as breeding slates or tanks wall or broad leaves of Amazon. Once the site is clean, the female with the broader papilla will lay eggs in a rows and will be followed by the male who fertilizes the eggs. The pair fan the eggs and remove any undeveloped eggs. The fry take 48 hours to hatch and another 48-60 hours to be swim freely.
Some pictures of my own angelfish spawning.
Some Europeans have bred altums in captivity.
References
Baensch Aquarium altlas Volumes 1 and 2 br Dr Rudiger Riehl and Hans A Baensh
The enclyclopedia of freshwater tropical fishes by Axelrod, et al.
Breeding aquarium fishes by Dr. Herbert R Axelrod
www.finrama.com
Photos
from google and few of my own.