Dwarf Angelfish

[melv]

Pteraphyllum leopoldi are often referred to as dwarf angels. I have four of them. Lovely little guys.

thats the ones i knew i wasn't going crazy ;-p shame that fish shop told me it was a random strain unless they just thought they were normal angels oh well at least i know now.

Also with these according to wikipedia there the most aggressive of all the angles is this the case? as was a very long time ago i had them.

 

[Star_Rider]

Yes, P.Leopoldi are often referred to as 'dwarf' angels.

of the three known species(P. Scalare, P.Altum) the leopoldi is the smallest.

it also is known for having 'attitude'

tho the reference to " the small angles always seemed to grow to full size so once that breeding pair died so did the dwarfs."

leads me to think the angels may have been small due to the environment.
most LFS's would not go thru the pain of 4-6 feedings per day with daily water changes.
this often results in the angels not attaining full size...stunting them
I have seen it before when a former angel breeder showed me her 2 yr old scalare that were literally half the size of my year old angels.
which I grew from dime size with 4-6 feedings and daily water changes

 

[Navyscuba]

Ok from two of my spawns of Angels I only had one that seems to don't want to grow. While all the rest are about 2" + this guy is still dime size. I don't get why tho.

 

[Star_Rider]

partly genetics,,also the little ones sometimes get pushed out at feeding time.

if it is getting plenty of food and it remains small..it could be bad genetics tho some may argue hormones in the water..

 

[Navyscuba]

The funny thing is that there's only one.

 

[Star_Rider]

The funny thing is that there's only one.

that's why I don't buy into the hormone theory.

more IME I find that the small fish is pushed out of feeding or simply may not utilize the food as well and grows slower.

sometimes it just bad genetics like the angel missing the ventral fins or having an odd shaped mouth.

I've seen it in the past when I use to raise angels from babies.
in the case where I saw it from a breeder.. all of the angels in the tanks were small

 

[Navyscuba]

Now that you mention the mouth been deformed I think His bottom jaw is weird but is really hard to see since he is so small. That explain everything with him/her.
Thanks.

 

[cockroach]

I had 2 runt angels and only after a while I noticed small deformities that hindered them from accessing the food as readily as the rest of the school.

 

[sonycrr]

i never knew about the Pterophyllum leopoldi. i want them now.

 

[cockroach]

They are get angels. Hardy, pretty and full of CICHLID personality.

Some pics of mine: