Also known as "Angel fish".
Pretty well-known cichlid from South America. Its distinctively shape is due to the habitat they are living in: A lot of trees (mangroves?) have their roots in the water in the rain forest, which are aligned vertically next to each other. So with their perfectly accomodated body shape the Angels can easily live between them, being pretty safe from any dangers.
There are a lot of bred color varients.
Once a pair has been found they will often lay eggs even in a community tank. But as open-breeders (see picture below), the eggs will most probably not develop until the larva state in a community tank.
To raise the eggs to fry, very soft water is required. I successfully bred with the pair below after I had done all water changes with rain water for approx. 2 months -- so the water was very soft. The pH was approx. 6.0. If the eggs get white and no larvas have been developed after 4 days, you should try to change the water conditions.
If the water is correct, after 2-3 days the eggs should have developed into larva. This looks rather funny, as you will have a lot of moving small larvas on the breeding substrate - which is a petal of one of the flowers in the tank below. The parents will take care of the larvas, and often move them from one place to another for hygiene reasons.
After approx. one week the fry will swim freely. With counts of 100-200 fries in a breeding tank this looks very very sweet ...
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