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Freshwater Angelfish Information

Angelfish 1 650x425 3010769

Introduction

The freshwater Angelfish is the most popular of all the tropical aquarium fish due to their unique shape and interesting personalities which is also known as silver angelfish and common angelfish.  It is native to the Amazon River basin in Peru, Colombia and Brazil along the Ucayali, Solimões and Amazon rivers, rivers of Amapá in Brazil, the Oyapock River in French Guiana and the Essequibo River in Guyana. It inhabits swamps or flooded grounds with dense vegetation, silty and clear water. It prefers water chemistry with pH of 6-7.5, water hardness of 5 – 130 dH and water temperature of 74 to 86 °F.

Freshwater Angelfish’s Overview

the angelfish has disc shaped compressed body with broad and fan shaped caudal fin. Dorsal and anal fins are elongated and sail like while the pectoral fin is extended into long filaments. Body is silvery in color with four dark vertical bars. The first bar runs in a curve from the nape through the eye to near the ventral fin. The second bar runs from the dorsal to the anus, the third one runs from the dorsal to the anal fins while the fourth bar crosses the start of the caudal fin. The snout, dorsal side and forehead are brownish yellow in color.  Besides these a few fainter bars are also seen in the upper half of the body. Dorsal fin spines are yellow-brown in color while the front parts of the ventral fins are steel-blue in color. It is an ambush predator and in wild condition, its foods mainly consist of smaller fish and invertebrates.  It can grow up to 15 cm in length and its life span ranges from 8 to 10 years or more.

Scientific Name: Pterophyllum scalare

English Name: Angelfish, Silver angelfish or Freshwater angelfish

Origin: Amazon River

Adult Size: 15 cm

Behavior: Semi-aggressive

Tank Level:  All levels of tank

Minimum Tank Size:  30 gallons

Diet:  Omnivore

Breeding: Egg layers

Care level: Easy

Water pH: 6-7.5

Water Hardness: 5 to 13° dH

Water Temperature: 74 – 86°F

Water Movement:  Medium

Lighting:  Moderate – normal lighting

Lifespan:  8-10 years

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