Black Angelfish

The black angelfish is one of the most lovable and popular fish among aquarium enthusiasts. They are known for their fragile, long fins at the top and bottom side of their body. Black is its primary color and few have silver patches over them. Black angelfish or Pterophyllum scalare are just about 4 inches in size. Their fins have a transparent webbing over them. They steals the hearts of many with their graceful and calm swimming style. These are community fish that can be kept along other community fish of an aquarium.

Facts
Its Latin name Pterophyllum is derived from the Greek word, 'winged leaf' and scalare means 'like a flight of stairs'. This name is in reference with the dorsal fin of the fish. They are originally from the Amazon region of South America. Some fish have also been caught in Columbia and Brazil. They can grow about 4 to 6 inches in length. In the Veil varieties, the top and bottom fins can reach even longer in length. The body is compressed and disc shaped. It has dorsal and anal spiny rays that increase in length from anterior to posterior region of the fin. They are found in swamps or flooded ground regions that have dense aquatic and riverine vegetation.

Care
Proper care will help keeping your fish alive for a longer time. You should use a 30 gallon tank with some rocks, pebbles and live plants. You should clean the tank with a dish cloth that is soaked in hot water. Then fill the tank with water and put your angelfish in it. The water should be at about room temperature. The ideal temperature of the water should be about 75º to 82º F. Water pH should be 5.8 to 7.0 and dH of 1 to 5. The tank should be fitted with a low light. Keep the tank clean with a filter and maintain the temperature with a heater. You can place some live plants in the tank. These plants can include broad-leaf aquarium plants, as this is where the angelfish lays her eggs. You can decorate the tank with some driftwood and rocks. Make sure you give them with sufficient hiding places.

Food
You can feed your black angelfish with the tropical fish flakes sold at pet shops. You can even try feeding your fish with bloodworm, mosquito larvae, brine shrimp and black worms.

Breeding
When you are trying to breed them you can use a 15 gallon tank for the breeding pair. A fully grown pair will lay about 200 to 300 per fry. It is very difficult to differentiate between male and female angelfish, but experts notice which one lays eggs and who is fertilizing the female. However, before spawning, one may notice difference between the papilla of the sexes. The male has smaller papilla than the female. You can observe the papilla between the anal fin and the ventral fin. The female papilla will be blunt and gravid with a large budge in the region around the papilla.

When your pair displays a building belly and an aggressive behavior in the males is observed, it means the pair is ready to spawn. The pair will also begin grooming each other indicating typical breeding behavior. The pair begin to flash their fins, face off, lock their mouths and twist around. The pair will then choose a spawning site and begin cleaning it together.

The angelfish will lay her eggs in a neat and evenly spaced line. The male angelfish will fertilize the eggs by following the female and touching the eggs with his papilla. In case of all female angelfish, one female might act as a male and touch the eggs with her papilla. These eggs do not fertilize and will soon turn white.

After the eggs are laid and fertilized many breeders tend to remove the pair from the tank. If there are other fish in the tank, then they are all removed or less dominant males are removed. Some also remove the non-gravid females from the aquarium. The best way is to put a spawning slate in the water that can be removed after the fertilization takes place. You can use a clay pot or piece of smooth tile or poly pipe as a spawning slate. Remember the eggs survive only for a moment outside water. So be quick to transfer the slate from one tank into another.

If the eggs survives 24 hours without turning white, it means they have been successfully fertilized. The inhabitants of the tank may eat up the eggs or fungus may infect the eggs making them fuzzy. However, if you observe small wiggling fry tails after 48 hours, it means your eggs have survived. On the third day, tadpoles shapes with large yolk sacks will be seen. These tadpoles will be attached to the slate and on the fourth day tiny eyes will develop. By the fifth day, the yolk sac will shrink and soon the fry will begin to swim freely.

The fry can be kept in a tank that is no larger than about 2 gallons. You can keep the parents along with the fry. The water temperature should be similar to the parent tank temperature. Most of the fry will die and the dead fry need to be removed 3 or 4 times a day. The angelfish pair takes care of its young fry and may even lay eggs again. These eggs become food for the already present fry. When the fry is 5 to 6 weeks old, they start eating the skin and fins of the parents. This makes the pair very weak and may lead to their death. However, some pairs are too aggressive and may eat their young. You should single out such pairs and separate them from their fry.

They are semi-aggressive fish and do well with other tank mates. The tank mates may include guppies, rainbowfish, cory catfish, tetras, rainbowfish, cory catfish, plecos, mollies, platies, swordtails, rasboras and gouramis. There are many aquariums and pet shops which have black angelfish for sale. You can ask about fish for sale in your local pet shop and choose a healthy, injury free and disease free pair.