Since 1911 when the first freshwater angels were imported into Germany (and the U.S. through the Brooklyn Aquarium Society in 1925), this South American Cichlid has gone on to become a staple in our hobby interest. Or should I say staples due to the many sport mutations, colors, finnage... varieties produced by earnest aquarists? Indeed, by many estimates the freshwater angel, Pterophyllum scalare, is THE most popular freshwater aquarium species. And rightly so... the Scalare is a real beauty, and with so much successive breeding very adapted to aquarium use.

Classification:

    The three valid species of freshwater angels, genus Pterophyllum ("tare-oh-fill-um") are members of the Cichlidae, with some  1,300 described species, the second largest (after the minnows) family of freshwater fishes. Pterophyllum eimekei Ahl 1928 and P. dumerilii (Castelnau 1855) are invalid, synonyms for P. scalare. Apart from occasional shipments of "the" wild angel, P. altum, all domesticated freshwater angels are of the species P. scalare. For a discussion of the nomenclatural history of these species please see Leibel, 1996. Pterophyllum altum (Pellegrin 1903), Wild Angel. pH range: 4.8 - 6.2; dH range: 1.0 - 5.0, temp.: 27 - 31°C. South America: Rio Amazonas basin, in the upper Rio Negro drainage; Rio O ...