Angel fish (Pomacanthidae) belongs to the same family of marine bony, a group of perch-like fish. The family includes nine genera and seventy-four species.
Angel fish are easily recognizable by a flat body, bright, colorful coloring and large stripes. Having a flat body, it easily hides in corals from predators. As a means of protection, stripes also act. Due to their presence, predators are the last to see the head of an angel fish.
In addition to these characteristic features, representatives of this family are distinguished by the presence of a powerful, thorn backward. It is located in the lower portion of the gills. In this case, the spike has a slightly different color than the whole body.
Angel fish in length can be from six to sixty centimeters. The smallest members of the family include centropig. The length of these dwarf angel fish is no more than ten centimeters. Some species have a very large mouth. When an angel fish with such a mouth swims over the coral, it sucks in food like a vacuum cleaner.
Young individuals are completely different in color than adults. It should be said that the differences are so pronounced that previously young animals were attributed to individual species for a long time. These differences are used for camouflage. In addition, a different color helps young individuals avoid aggression from adult fish. Thanks to this feature, young people live quietly in the territory of adults. Until the fish grow, they are not driven away.
Typically, at the age of a year or two, the color of the fish begins to change. This indicates that young individuals become adults. From this moment they take their place in the community. Some angel fish have a very vivid pattern in their youth, in adulthood, however, they are not so beautiful. For all young individuals, a striped pattern is characteristic.
Angel fish is considered a real beauty - not one inhabitant of the underwater world has such incredible combinations of colors. There are hundreds of varieties of color. The striped pattern is most popular, but sometimes angelfish also disguise themselves as butterfly fish. In this case, several rather large color spots appear on their body.
The habitat of angel fish is the tropical waters of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. As a rule, they live in coastal waters and prefer to inhabit areas of coral reefs at different depths (from three to sixty meters).
Among the representatives of the family there are omnivorous specimens. They feed on completely different foods, from small animals to algae. There are also individuals-vegetarians. These feed only on algae and sponges (such as cyprinids).
These representatives of perciform are very aggressive creatures in relation to their relatives. For them, personal territory is of great importance. Characteristic is the separation of the habitat. Large fish inhabit and defend from rivals an area of the order of a thousand square meters. At the same time, dwarf representatives can count on only one coral colony.
It should be noted that angelfish rarely form large clusters. As a rule, they form long-term pairs or small harem groups, which consist of several females and one male. These "harems" and couples can last a lifetime. Family very aggressively defend their territories, expelling strangers.
Angelfish, like butterfly fish, make up the main composition of coral aquariums. Moreover, the first of them get along quite badly with their relatives.
It should be noted that keeping fish at home requires some knowledge about one form or another. As a rule, fighting and fights happen because of territory. And even, at first glance, the peace-loving species of freshwater fish (angelfish or discus) can be aggressive towards each other.