Frequently Asked Questions

2. WHAT IS YOUR WATER CHEMISTRY?

We use regular city tap water (filtered, of course) and try to maintain a pH between 7.2 and 7.4. We do not use R/O water (reverse osmosis) on any of our stock. This way the fish will acclimate quicker to your water conditions. They can do just as well in 7.8 pH as they can in 6.0 pH. They are very hardy strains. Our water hardness is about 80-110. But then again they can tolerate a wide range of water conditions.

3. HOW MANY ANGELFISH CAN I PUT IN MY TANK?

An adult Angelfish requires 10 gallons of water. All of our breeding pairs are kept in either 20 gallon high or 29 gallon tanks. Juvenile Angelfish need at least 2-3 gallons of water per fish and we would never recommend keeping more than 8 to 10 angelfish in a 20 gallon tank, just remember, they will soon outgrow their tank. Once they are quarter size we would not recommend anything less than 3 gallons per fish. You can have more as long as you do many water changes and keep the water CLEAN! Once your angelfish mature and start showing signs of pairing off they will require much more space as they will become very territorial. We use 55 to 70 gallon tanks to pair off our angels. We will put 6 to 8 mature fish in a tank order to have them pair off.

4. WHAT KIND OF FOOD SHOULD I FEED MY ANGELFISH?

We recommend a mainly flake food diet. We use our Angel Flake for all fish (young and old). We will feed frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms to our breeding stock so that they are conditioned well, which gives them the nutrition that they require in order to spawn on a regular basis. If you want to give your angels a treat and feed them frozen foods, just be sure that you rinse the food so that it doesn't foul your water.

5. DO YOU SELL BREEDING PAIRS OF ANGELFISH?

Yes, we occasionally have breeding pairs for sale. We will only sell Young Proven Pairs, not old tired pairs. When we have more pairs than we need of a specific variety, we will offer any new pairs for sale. You will need to email us sales@angelfishusa.com to find out what we have available.

6. HOW DO YOU TELL THE MALE FROM THE FEMALE?

The only SURE WAY of sexing angelfish is watching them spawn. During their spawning, the male will have a much smaller and thinner (almost like a pencil point) tube while the female has a much thicker and larger tube. The tube is located between the ventral and anal fins. There are other ways to sex angelfish for the experienced angelfish breeder but it will never be 100% accurate. Small angelfish are impossible to sex.

7. WHAT SHOULD THE TEMPERATURE OF THE WATER BE?

We recommend a temperature between 80 and 82 degrees. They can tolerate a much wider range (up to 90 degrees), but prefer 80 to 82 degrees.

8. I'VE HAD KOI ANGELS BEFORE BUT THEY ALWAYS LOSE THEIR ORANGE COLOR.

Here's how to have your orange Koi Angelfish look their best! This is the only way that your Koi Angelfish will have beautiful intense orange/red colors and maintain them. Without the proper foods they will only fade out within time. They will always have some orange to them but not to their full potential. The Koi Angelfish all contain a gene that allows them to retain caroteniods in their scales and body tissue. Caroteniods are a pigment that make carrots their beautiful orange color. When you properly feed your Koi Angelfish they will store this pigment in their tissue and it will bring out their beautiful orange colors as they grow. If your Koi is just one of our standard Koi's with 30% wild blood for added strength, they will still be able to have darker oranges in areas of their crown, however we breed our Deluxe Koi's so that they can retain this pigment better and have intense colors when fed properly. You need to feed your Orange Koi's foods that have this carotenoid pigment in it almost exclusively to bring out the best color of your Koi angelfish. Once they are mature, food with caroteniods is no longer required, but we still recommend feeding it to them occasionally. Foods that contain caroteniods are: color enhanced flakes, dried krill, dried ocean plankton, baby brine shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and spirolina algae flakes. There are a lot more available and all you need to do is check the contents by looking at the label on the fish food.