The freshwater angelfish is a tall South American cichlid from the Amazon basin, known for its laterally compressed body and trailing fins.
Despite a calm appearance, it is a cichlid with genuine territorial instincts, especially when breeding.
Angelfish reach around 15cm long and up to 20cm tall, so they need a deep tank to accommodate their height.
They are rewarding intermediate fish that pair-bond and breed readily in the home aquarium.
Housing
Provide a tall, well-cycled tank of at least 200L for a small group, with enough height to suit their body shape.
Keep water warm at 25-28C, soft to moderately hard, and slightly acidic to neutral (pH 6.5-7.5), with gentle to moderate flow.
Decorate with tall plants, driftwood and broad leaves that mimic their flooded-forest home and provide spawning sites.
Keep ammonia and nitrite at zero, nitrate low, and perform regular partial water changes.
Stable, warm, clean water is essential.
Diet
Angelfish are omnivores that do well on a varied diet built around a quality cichlid or tropical pellet and flake, supplemented with frozen and live foods such as bloodworm, brine shrimp and daphnia.
Some plant matter rounds out their nutrition.
Feed once or twice daily in modest amounts.
Quality protein supports growth and colour, while variety helps bring fish into breeding condition.
Avoid relying solely on flake, and do not overfeed, as uneaten food degrades the warm water quickly.
Health
Angelfish are generally robust when well kept, but are prone to hole-in-the-head disease, ich, fungal infections and an angelfish-specific virus, often triggered by poor water or stress.
Watch for clamped fins, loss of appetite and white spots.
Maintain warm, stable, clean water and quarantine newcomers, as angelfish can carry disease without obvious symptoms.
A varied diet and low stress keep them healthy.
Treat ich and parasites promptly, and avoid sudden parameter swings that weaken their immune response.
Temperament
Angelfish are semi-aggressive cichlids that establish hierarchies and become territorial, particularly when spawning.
Raising six or more juveniles together lets a natural pecking order and pairs form, which reduces bullying.
Avoid keeping them with fin-nippers such as tiger barbs, or with tiny fish such as neon tetras that may be eaten.
Suitable tankmates include larger tetras, corydoras and peaceful catfish.
A bonded breeding pair will defend its eggs firmly and may need its own tank.
A good fit for
Aquarists wanting a centrepiece cichlid
Keepers interested in breeding behaviour
Those with a tall, roomy tank
Community keepers who avoid tiny or nippy fish
Common mistakes to avoid
Tanks too short for their body height
Housing with fin-nippers or bite-sized fish
Underestimating cichlid territoriality when breeding
Buying many juveniles without space for adults
Is your enclosure big enough?
Minimum volume200 litres (53 US gallons)
CompanyCannot be kept alone. The minimum is 5, and the space above is for that group.
In a fish tank the patient is usually the water. Test before you treat — dosing a healthy tank for a disease it does not have makes things worse.
Go now
Any detectable ammonia or nitrite in a stocked tankLarge water change now with dechlorinated, temperature-matched water. Stop feeding. Test again in 12 hours. Both are directly toxic. How toxic the ammonia reading is depends on pH and temperature, so the same number can be harmless or lethal.
Now
Fish gasping at the surface, or crowding the filter outflowIncrease surface agitation immediately, then test the water. Either the oxygen has crashed or the gills are being chemically burned. Both are hours-scale problems.
Now
Sudden deaths, more than one fish in a dayTest ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and temperature before doing anything else. Do not add medication yet. Multiple simultaneous deaths point at the water or the equipment, not at a pathogen.
Now
Today
Flashing — repeatedly scraping against decor or substrateTest the water, then look closely for parasites. Irritation is either chemical or parasitic; the test tells you which before you medicate.
Today
White salt-grain spots over the body and finsBegin the appropriate treatment today and check the temperature. The parasite's life cycle is temperature-driven, and it multiplies with every cycle you wait.
Today
Soon
Clamped fins, hiding, or refusing food for more than two daysTest the water and review recent changes. Usually the earliest visible sign of a parameter drifting.
A few days
Never add a new fish to a tank that is not fully cycled, and never treat blind. A test kit is cheaper than the fish.
This is general guidance for a healthy adult, not a diagnosis. An exotics vet who knows your animal always overrides it — and the time to find one is before you need one.
What it really costs
Setup, monthly, first year and across a whole life, itemised and with the electricity worked out from the actual wattage. Published figures for the same animal disagree by a factor of four, so the calculator shows ranges rather than picking one.
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