Angelfish cobalt green mirror - Pterophyllum scalare

Pterophyllum scalare are better known as sailfin or angelfish. The breeding form Cobalt Green Mirror Angelfish fascinates with its coloration. These angelfish have bluish fins and shimmer metallic green. Pterophyllum scalare can reach up to 15 cm in length and 26 cm in fin span height and can live up to 10 years in the aquarium.

The angelfish is a cichlid from South America, from the black water of the Amazon, Rio Negro and Oyapock. These cichlids prefer the calm shore zones of the rivers and like to stand in dead wood accumulations. With their stripe pattern they are perfectly camouflaged in it.

It is difficult to distinguish the sexes of angelfish. Adult males appear beefier and often have a distinct hump on their forehead. However, there are also females with these characteristics. You can be really sure about the sexing when a pair is found and starts spawning.

In order to find a pair, we recommend keeping angelfish in a group of 5 fish upwards. So you can be relatively sure that both sexes are present. You can mix the color variants or keep the animals purely colored - especially if you want to breed, we recommend to stay with one variant of Pterophyllum scalare.

If conditions are suitable, a pair will soon be found and start courtship. First, angelfish clean the spawning substrate, then the female spawns in rows. The male then fertilizes the clutch. In the community tank, unfortunately, it often does not work out with the rearing of the young animals. You should transfer the pair including the clutch of eggs into a breeding aquarium.

A group of angelfish needs an aquarium size from 300 liters. Because of the long fins of Pterophyllum scalare the aquarium should not be lower than 60 cm! The aquarium furnishing should meet the requirements of angelfish for hiding places. Roots and stones are important here, also dead wood with fine branches is very suitable for the beautiful ornamental fish.

An aquarium for angelfish can be planted or set up as a blackwater aqu arium with finely branched wood without plants. Various Echinodorus species or Vallisneria are well suited for planting. Angelfish like to use the leaves of larger sword plants as spawning substrate. Sufficient free swimming space is especially important when keeping angelfish.

Corydoras, loricariids and larger tetras are suitable for socializing these South American c ichlids - a classic South America aquarium. Because the large growing angelfish are predatory as cichlids, the accompanying fish should not be too small. Fish or crayfish that nibble on fins are also not suitable for keeping with angelfish.

The Cobalt Green Mirror Angelfish is best fed with live or frozen food, but will also happily eat a special food for carnivorous cichlids - for example our NatureHolic Cichfeed. Our NatureHolic flake food or granulated food for omnivorous aquarium fish also works well.

Our food recommendation: The NatureHolic Cichfeed has a grain size of 1.5 mm and is therefore also suitable for larger fish. The NH Cichfeed is a soft granulate for mainly carnivorous ornamental fish. It has the same consistency as small crustaceans and insect larvae that fish naturally eat, and the soft granules protect the fish mouth from micro-injuries that can result from hard feed granules.

Our plant recommendation: For planting, use NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planarians and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend when keeping the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and husbandry.