Angelfish Zebra Veil - Pterophyllum scalare

Our Angelfish Zebra Veils are generally also known as sailfin or angelfish in aquaristics. The zebra scalar is a breeding form of the angelfish with particularly beautifully pronounced black stripes, which has similarities to the wild form, but is much more intensely patterned. Its special feature is of course its veil, which makes it look majestic. Angelfish belong to the cichlids or cichlids from South America.

Angelfish have been present in aquaristics since the beginning of the 19th century. The natural habitat of Pterophyllum scalare extends from the Rio Negro over the Amazon basin. Angelfish in nature live mainly in calm blackwater river zones in the branches of trees that have fallen into the water.

The Angelfish Zebra Veil has impressive fins with a wingspan of up to 26 cm. The body length of the angelfish reaches just under 15 cm. You should keep zebra fins only in a group of at least 5 animals in a high aquarium of 60 cm height and with 300 liters volume or more. Angelfish can live 8-10 years and grow very fast. After half a year they are already sexually mature.

The sexes of angelfish can not be distinguished well. Some males develop a bulky forehead, but there are also females with this characteristic. Especially young angelfish need group cohesion. Therefore we recommend keeping them in a group of several animals, so that harmonious pairs can be found.

Angelfish that are ready to mate begin to preen the spawning substrate during courtship. Then the female lays her spawn in long rows, the male fertilizes them. Usually in the community aquarium the young angelfish do not come up, so you should transfer the clutch together with the parents to a rearing aquarium for brood care.

Sometimes angelfish need to clarify their ranking. You can prevent stress within the group with a good aquarium setup with many hiding places. Ideal are branches, aquarium roots and also stones, which the cichlids use to mark out their territories. In addition to hiding places, plenty of swimming space is also necessary. The aquarium for angelfish can be planted with plants or you can keep it as a black water aqu arium without plants. However, angelfish like to use the large leaves of sword plants as spawning substrate and like to hide in groups of plants.  

The Angelfish needs good water hygiene and soft to medium hard water with a total hardness between 3-15 °dGH and a pH value between 6.0-7.5. The water for an aquarium with angelfish can be enriched with alder cones, sea almond leaves or liquid humic substances to make it biotope-friendly.

Suitable tank mates for angelfish are armored catfish, suckermouth catfish and larger tetras. Please note that angelfish are predators and will easily eat small aquarium mates such as nano fish, but also shrimp. Also, there should be no fin nibblers in your South America aquarium, they could damage the beautiful long fins of the Black Zebra Angelfish.

NatureHolic's Cichlid Granules are an excellent food for the Zebra angelfish, but flake food and granulated food for omnivorous aquarium fish is also great. Frozen and live foods are also readily accepted by carnivores.