Angelfish
Classification- Angelfishes are one of the most beautiful and vibrant creatures in the ocean. In this information report, you will find out about their appearance, habitat, movement, food, behaviour and life cycle.
Picture above: Angelfishes have the
most beautiful colours.
Appearance - Angelfish are around 45 cm in length.The angelfish is compact with a head that is circular and obtuse. Their body is shiny blue and yellow. There is a big blue blemish at the muscle base of the fin. Big angelfish have a purplish blue colour with scales that are yellow green mixed. This colour can be found under their eyes. Some of them will have a forehead that exposes a crown type of look.
They are the size of your palm
Habitat- The angelfish can be found in the Amazon River in South America. They prefer the slower moving sections of water, and they hide amongst the roots and driftwood to ambush small prey. Many angelfish are found heavily vegetated pools and flooded regions during the flood season. The Amazon River carries more water than any other river in the world.
They live in the Amazon river, South America.
Movements- Angelfishes uses their fins to swim in the ocean. Angelfish aren't strong swimmers; fast moving water creates stress, uses up their energy and slows their growth. Angelfishes swims deep down the ocean where there are coral reefs. The pelvic fins helps them to move a lot. They swim real slow and graceful.
Food- The ‘Angelfish’ normally eats algae, jellyfish, plankton, tunicates, hydroids, and bryozoans. However, their main food is sponges and they eat all these when they are out in the wild.They have 3 feedings a day. Young angelfish will help the adults remove any skin eating parasite by feeding on those parasites when they are on the adult skin. Young angelfish eats parasites when they are about the age of 2. Their food are found in the tropical reefs below the surface of the ocean.
Algae Jellyfish Plankton Tunicates Hydroids
Behaviour- Angelfish are known to be a very good leader, type of fish that is very violent. Angelfish have a tendency to fight among themselves because they either have different colours of skin or from they are from a different clan or over territories. It is important to choose angelfish that match each other skin instead of ones that fight with each other. They spawn at each other when he or she comes to their territory.
Angelfishes fights when they are from different clan or their skin colour is different
Life Cycle- The female angelfish lays about 1000 eggs on the surface of a plant leaves, heaters, aquarium glass, state, etc. A female starts to lay eggs at the age of 5 and a half to 7 months at age. The eggs are smaller than the head of a straight pin. Fertile eggs are transparent, and infertile ones grow a white fungus.After 4-5 days the eggs starts to wiggles. The parents often move the eggs or wigglers to protect them. After the wiggler stage, they try to start to swim but still have a yolk sac. When the yolk sac is completely digested, the fry are free swimming and will accept food like live baby brine shrimp. Angelfishes live up to 10-15 years. Fry is a group of little baby angelfish.
Here is a photo of the lifecycle of an Angelfish.
Conclusion- Angelfish are one of the most popular aquarium fish, and they certainly add a lot of grace and beauty to a tank. However, they are not always the easiest fish to care for unless you know about them and their needs. I hope you have learnt something new.
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