Angels - PageSuite

AMAZONAS
34
Above, left to right:
Over the
generations, this
strain of what used
to be the Golden
Angel has developed
into more of a “Silver
Angel” through lack
of selection for color.
I have been breeding
this Blue Angel for a
long time.
A splendid Koi Angel
male, bred by the
Wilhelm family.
Short and splayed
ventral fins, short
dorsal fins, and
poor growth are,
unfortunately,
all too common.
Poor-quality
specimens like this
one reduce the
majestic angelfish to
an almost circular
form and shouldn’t
be allowed into
circulation.
Right: True Black
Angels are rarely
seen nowadays, but
the “Half-Black”
cultivated form is
very popular.
of their vast distribution region. The discovery of more new local forms, coupled with a lack of
any serious systematic study of this wealth of species (and not only in Pterophyllum), results in
a rough but by no means definitive picture, so I will largely refrain from systematic arguments—
they would be beyond the scope of this article and would contribute nothing new.
When I was a young boy, it was enough to know that my angelfishes sailed through life with
the scientific name Pterophyllum scalare. I was also immensely proud of being able to pronounce
the name correctly (TAIR-oh-FY-lum skuh-LAR-ee). Even the discovery that there was another,
smaller species, Pterophyllum eimekei, didn’t particularly bother me; very soon it
was thought these two forms couldn’t be separated. They were merrily crossed
with each other, even in the absence of imports.
Veiltail, Smoke, and Ghost
As it turns out, angels have a high potential for changes in
finnage and coloration. The first Veiltail Angels, which
came from a breeder in Gera (Thüringen),
have probably passed into oblivion
today—heaven be praised! Veiltail
Angels brought their breeders a
good price, since nobody cared
about things like deformity in
those days. Black Angels followed,
but these soon showed not inconsiderable
signs of degeneration. And the
same was true of a series of black versions
of other species. In Hoplosternum,
for instance, black specimens were regularly
blind. It was also not uncommon for
pure black specimens to be infertile.
Crosses between the Black Angel and the
original form produced Smoke Angels. People
repeatedly resorted to these Smoke Angels in
order to avoid deformed specimens or completely
unviable embryos.