Angelfish koi brilliant DNZ - Pterophyllum scalare

Pterophyllum scalare Koi Brilliant is a particularly beautiful breeding form of the sailfin or angelfish from South America. The breeding form Koi Brilliant Angelfish is also known as Koi Diamond. Their basic color is a shiny glittering silver, the markings are black. Pterophyllum scalare grows up to 15 cm long and can reach a fin height of 26 cm. In the aquarium angelfish can live up to 10 years.

The angelfish comes from South America. These aquarium fish belong to the South American cichlids or cichlids and live mainly in blackwater streams and rivers of the Amazon, Rio Negro and Oyapock. The long-finned cichlids prefer rather calm bank zones in their habitats, where they like to stand in deadwood accumulations or between plants. With their striped pattern, angelfish are perfectly camouflaged in this environment.

It is very difficult to distinguish the sexes in angelfish. Adult males are more bulky and sometimes have an easily recognizable hump on the forehead, but some females may also develop such a hump. The sexes can be determined with certainty when a pair is found and spawns.

Our Koi Brilliant Angelfish are shipped mixed sexed, depending on how they swim in the landing net.

Angelfish should be kept in a group of 5 fish upwards so that a pair can find each other. Only this way you can be relatively sure to get both sexes. You can mix different color varieties in this group, but if you want to breed specifically, you should keep your angelfish better color-pure.

If a pair is found under suitable conditions, you can soon observe courtship and spawning. First the spawning substrate is cleaned. Then the female Angelfish spawns in rows, and the male Angelfish fertilizes the clutch. In the community tank the breeding of the young angelfish unfortunately usually does not work out. For specific breeding success you should therefore transfer your angelfish pair with the clutch of eggs into a rearing aquarium until hatching. Afterwards you put the parents back into their aquarium and raise the young fish with Artemia.

A group of angelfish should be kept in an aquarium of 300 liters upwards. Pterophyllum scalare has a particularly large fin span and therefore needs a correspondingly high aqu arium. The tank must not be lower than 60 cm !

The aquarium setup must offer the angelfish many hiding places - finely branched roots, dead wood and also an appropriate border planting with swimming space in the aquarium center are good for the beautiful ornamental fish. Echinodorus species are well suited as planting, whose large leaves the angelfish like to use as substrate for their spawn. However, the aquarium for angelfish does not necessarily need plants. You can also keep the angelfish in a black water aquarium with lots of well branched wood.

The socialization of the large South American cichlids with armored catfish, loricariids and larger tetras in the classic South America aquarium works great. Small by-fish are eaten by the relatively predatory cichlids, as are shrimps. Fish or crayfish that like to nibble on the long fins should not be socialized with angelfish.

The Koi Brilliant Angelfish prefers to eat live or frozen food. A special food for carnivorous cichlids such as our NatureHolic Cichfeed is also well suited. Food for omnivorous aquarium fish can also be fed to sailfin - NatureHolic flake food or granulated food is suitable here, for example.