Angelfish. David A. Lass
some altum blood, this fish is really just a scalare with a slight upturn to the nose. The idea that angelfish crossbreed is confusing if you accept that part of the definition of a species is that its members won’t breed with fish that are not their species, but species crossbreeding also occurs with the cichlids from Lake Malawi in Africa. Sometimes, if the choice is between passing on your genes by breeding with a species you may not be sure of but who looks enough like you that it could be a conspecific or not passing on your genes at all, there is only one thing to do. Most tropical fish aren’t that finicky about minor points such as the definition of what a species is, and so we get wild natural hybrids—but in the hobby we also get monstrosities such as the bloody parrot cichlid and the Flowerhorn. (Sorry, I let my biases slip.)
ANGELFISH “FLAVORS” AT YOUR LOCAL STORE
Let’s look more closely at the different types of angelfish you are likely to find in your local fish store. In my wholesale business, I refer to these as the different flavors that angelfish come in. The first successful breeding of angelfish was in the 1920s, and for many years everyone was happy just to be able to breed the wild fish, known as silvers, then the F1s (first generation of progeny) from the wild fish, then the next generation, and so on. When I first started keeping angelfish in the 1960s, a few new strains were just being introduced. These were developed from wild fish with genetic mutations that affected their appearance and from selective breeding that sought to introduce or emphasize some variant characteristic in subsequent generations. The first new types of angelfish were what are called black lace—fish with a grayish dark cast to the body rather than the pure silver of the wild fish. There were also marbles, which are fish with a random mottling pattern of black and white all over the body and fins.
The August 1923 cover of Aquatic Life magazine demonstrates the popularity of angelfish, as they are shown alongside easily recognized fish of the day. The cover remained the same from 1916 through the mid-1940s.
In addition to the black lace, breeders soon came up with a pure black angelfish. This fish, at the time of its first appearance in the hobby, was as difficult to keep as it was beautiful and virtually impossible to breed; apparently the genes that make this angelfish pure black also make it a very weak fish. Today’s black angels are really what are called double darks; they do not have the lethal gene of the original, but they are not the midnight black that the original black angels were. Soon we had other strains of angelfish, including the gold, the pearlscale, and the koi, all of which are very popular in the hobby today.
As mutations of coloration were cultivated in different strains of angelfish, selective breeding also developed angelfish with longer fins, leading to what are called veiltails, consisting of very long and flowing fins. The veiltail trait has been taken to the extreme in the varieties known as heavy or double veiltails. These fish have such heavily veiled fins that they are, to many people, unattractive. And the heavy fins have functional disadvantages: they make it difficult for mature double veiltail angelfish to swim. The fish drag their fins along the bottom of the tank, which leads to all sorts of problems with tearing of the fins. This, in turn, leads to fungus problems and other maladies. Fortunately, the heavily veiled fish are rarely seen today in the local fish stores, and they appear to have only a minor presence among the serious angelfish hobbyists.
These angelfish demonstrate the wide variety of fish that are available in the hobby; one fish is solid black, whereas the other is a solid gold coloration.
Several strains of the fish mentioned above are now commonly available throughout the hobby. We will take a look at each of the most popular strains below.
Silver
The normally occurring coloration of the wild angelfish is a silver body, sometimes with a bluish cast; distinct vertical stripes running through the eye, the center of the body, and the rear of the body into the dorsal and anal fins; and often a stripe at the caudal peduncle, where the tail joins the body. Silvers used to be the strongest fish because they were the closest to the wild fish, but angelfish today have been so interbred that the silver angels you can get at your local fish store today are no hardier than any other variety. Silvers are, however, usually the least expensive of the varieties, and they are certainly the most commonly available at your local fish store.
This young silver angelfish is perfectly proportioned and will grow into a fine adult, perhaps even one of breeding quality.
Marble
The entire marble fish is colored in uneven speckles of black and white (silver). There are heavy and light marbles, depending on whether there is a lot or a little black on the fish—the blacker fish are considered heavy marbles. There have been many attempts to fix the marble pattern, including those by yours truly, but no one has ever been able to produce a regular pattern of the marbling. I had some marble angels that had heavy marbling at the head and tail of the fish, with the middle of the body being almost clear. I worked for a while on fixing this trait in the fish but was unsuccessful.
This marble angelfish belongs to a very hardy and popular strain of fish.
This double dark black angelfish is a sturdy fish and does not have the problems of lethal genes common in the early strains of black angelfish.
ANGELFISH STRAINS
By selective breeding, commercial fish farmers and individual hobbyists have developed all of the different strains of angelfish in the hobby today. New strains have not been developed in recent years, and we may have exhausted the genetic variations possible for angelfish. Breeders continue to improve the existing strains, especially the koi and gold angelfish.
Black
These angelfish are almost completely black, although to avoid the lethal genes of the early black angelfish, today’s blacks have a slight shading of less than pure black. These fish are often referred to in the hobby as double dark black to differentiate them from the black angels carrying lethal genes.
Black Lace
As we have discussed, the black lace was one of the first mutations to be fixed into a strain, and it consists of a dusting of dark gray all over the fish. The black lace trait occurs in varying degrees; some fish are just slightly dusted, and others appear almost black.
Blushing
This fish, also called stripeless, is basically a shiny gray color. The name blushing comes from the fact that the gill plates lack color, allowing the red of the gills to show through. Blushing angels have never been particularly popular fish in the hobby, although they are still widely available at local fish stores.
Gold
This is a solid yellow-gold fish. The gold angelfish appears in many shades, ranging from a bright yellow to a deep reddish orange. Every so often someone comes up with a new strain of special gold angel, such as the Naja Gold, but these fish have not taken hold in the hobby, although I think their genes have led to the development of the koi angelfish that are so lovely and abundantly available now.
This gold angel shows the purity of color typical of this variety, with the beginning of darker gold-orange on the head.