Angelfish: A Behavioral Study Within Two Tanks

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Angelfish A Behavioral Study Within Two Tanks

• By Julie Barker

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Pterophyllum Scalare or Angelfish

• Originally found in the Amazon region of South
  America
• Pterophyllum is derived from Greek meaning
  winged leaf
• Scalare is translated as, like a flight of
  stairs, or latter in Latin and is a quality
  that is reflected in the dorsal fin.

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Qualities of the Angelfish

• Angelfish are more disc-like in structure, they
  are long and narrow but slender on the sides
• Have two fanned fins on both the top and bottom
  of their bodies
• There are two feelers that lie in front of this
  bottom fin
• Depending on the variety, the tail may differ in
  shape, yet is always oriented vertically.

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Varieties of Angelfish

• Silver
• Zebra
• Black lace
• Black
• Half Black
• Veil tail
• Marble
• Golden

• Gold marble
• Pearly Golden
• Blushing
• Pearl Scale
• Blue blushing
• Koie
• Other lesser common varieities

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Silver Angelfish

• Most common variety in wild
• Displays 4 dark vertical bars running along its
  sides
• First bar runs through the eye
• Second is located in front of the top and bottom
  fin
• Third is at the back of these fins
• Last will run through the tailfin
• Body is silver in color and the head can be
  brownish in color
• Stripes may break, be less pronounced than others
  and some may not even be solid

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Zebra Angelfish

• Like Silver, but with more stripes
• Stripes extend through the tailfin
• Can have a black body with alternating small
  zebra stripes
• May also be a hint of glittering gold at the top
  of the body

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Black Lace Variety

• Black body with black fins
• Body features dark and light black stripes
• Black lace is also like the silver variety, yet
  contains an intense color
• Color difference is most noted in the fins where
  a lace pattern appears.
• Co-dominant genes produce produce 25 black, 50
  black lace and 25 silver when interbred

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Black and Half Black

• Black angelfish are solid velvety black, there
  are no streaks within its coloring
• Half black varieties are half black or dark gray
  on the rear of the body and silver in the front
  of the body , segmentation occurs through the
  upper and lower fins as well as the body

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Veil Tail Angelfish

• Have elongated fins and may come in every color

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Marble Angelfish

• Marble angelfish have an array of broken black
  and silver. The head may have golden coloration
  and the fins may contain rays of black and white

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Golden Angelfish

• May have the coloration anywhere from solid
  silvery white to a golden color with no other
  markings
• head and back usually contain a mantle of gold
• Often have a shiny pale yellow body
• not born with its coloration, yet as the fish
  ages, the color will appear.
• At a young age, this variety is often
  misidentified as a blushing or koie

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Gold marble Angelfish
Gold marble angelfish are like the golden variety
yet there are black streaks on the body and/or
fins
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Pearly Gold Angelfish

• Contain a base color of pearlesque gold
• Have a rough, aluminum foil like body
• Coloration reflects light revealing a wondrous
  display of light and color

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Blushing Angelfish

• Have a red cheek area with no other distinctions
  on their body
• rest of the body is colorless, or white
• some display gold appearance on the head
• reported to be the most delicate
• When young, display a red coloration under the
  eyes
• coloration is actually the appearance of their
  red gills that disappears with age

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Pearl Scale Angelfish

• Have bumpy, rougher scales
• May come in several colors

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Blue blushing Angelfish

• Gray and usually contain a black trim
• Can see red under the eyes, as in the blushing
  variety, and is less pronounced as the angelfish
  matures
• As the fishs mood changes, the body and fins
  display a very light color.

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Koie Angelfish

• White with black patches
• Can contain golden on the head area
• May display the red coloration of the blushing
  variety that will fade with growth

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Parallel Symmetry

• Angelfish tend to stay parallel to each others
  bodies
• When one fish turns, then the other fish will
  realign itself to the same parallel direction
• Both of the heads are faced the same way, or a
  tail is faced the same way on one fish as the
  head of the other fish.

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Observed In My Tank

• In tank A, where one angelfish is larger than the
  other, it is noticeable that the smaller fish
  will align its body to the direction of the
  larger fish

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Reasons For Parallel Swimming

• May be a defensive gesture
• Angelfish have eyes on the sides of their heads
  and may not see predators approaching from the
  sides
• If their slender bodies are facing the same
  direction, predators may appear smaller in size
• If the predator approaches from sides then the
  angelfish would retreat showing its small tail

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Intuition or Learned Behavior?

• Seems to occur in 4 week old angelfish

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Curiosity

• Interest with regard to food
• Human the marble angelfish in Tank A always peeks
  out at the human, as if to beg for attention
• When a finger is placed outside of the glass of
  the tank blushing angelfish will first approach
  the object and follow the finger

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Larger Fish Dominance

• If larger marble angelfish approaches, the
  smaller blushing angelfish will move to a
  distance of a few inches from the marble
  angelfish
• Marble angelfish then continues the behavior of
  the blushing angelfish
• blushing angelfish is always by the marble
  angelfish at a parallel

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Feeding Controlling Behavior

• When food is introduced to the tank, the
  angelfish are the first genus to know that food
  is coming to them and be waiting as soon as the
  lid is raised
• Once feeding has taken place, the angelfish no
  longer exhibit a response to an object outside of
  the tank
• When a few hours have passed, the response is
  once yet noted.

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Blushing A Shy Guy?

• Blushing angelfish are known to be the most
  delicate
• Blushing angelfish in Tank A is highly aggressive
  towards the food source unlike larger marble
• When large pellets of food are introduced to the
  tank, the blushing angelfish attempts to eat them
  even though its mouth is too small to grab the
  pellets

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Does Size Really Matter?

• The blushing angelfish will eat much more quickly
  than the marble fully grown angelfish
• Is this due to the fact that the blushing is
  still growing?
• In Tank B, both a golden angelfish and the sliver
  angelfish are of the same size as the blushing
  angelfish in Tank A and demonstrate the same
  feeding behavior as the blushing angelfish.

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Curious Lip Locking BehaviorIs It Love?

• Behavior arises spontaneously
• Begins when the two angelfish lock lips, almost
  looking like they were being very intimate
• As the behavior continues, it is notable that
  this is not an affectionate locking of the jaws,
  but is one of aggression

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And In Corner OneThe Fish Fighting Stance

• Once they lock jaws, they push as hard as they
  can towards each other
• Typically take intermediate breaths and rest
• After locking jaws many times and returning to
  get oxygen, the silver angelfish retracts its
  feelers and then bounces them down in display of
  dominance

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Pecking Orders

• Silver angelfish then begins to peck around the
  bottom of the gills, underneath the mouth on the
  golden angelfish
• Reoccurs several times.
• The golden angelfish begins to raise its mouth
  anticipating the pecks from underneath
• The silver then swims two circles around the
  golden angelfish
• Pecking then continues on the golden angelfish.
  Both fish return to the surface for air before
  the silver then circles the golden angelfish
  twice more
• Pecks then are repositioned to the golden
  angelfishs head
• Golden angelfish anticipates this peck and bows
  down to the silver angelfish before the peck is
  given

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Dominance of Territory

• The silver then pecks on the side behind the eye
  
• Golden angelfish retracts and swims away
• Silver angelfish then follows in parallel
• Continue in opposite directions
• Silver then sneaks upon the golden angelfish and
  begins to peck it on the tailfin
• Silver pecks
• Gold retracts
• Probably due to dominance