AMAZON ANGEL FISH

Evening Star, Issue 22952, 9 May 1938, Page 7

AMAZON ANGEL FISH

BREEDING METHODS An event of special interest at the Zoo ;Aquarium in London is the successful. rearing of a large number of Amazon Angel Fish. These beautiful silvef-and-black fish are diamondshade with sail-like dorsal and ventral • The duties of guarding the eggs and the young devolve upon both parents. The eggs are 'deposited on the upper surfaces of aquatic leaves and on plant stems which have been previously cleaned by the-fish. The eggs—about 150 in. number—are kept in place by a sticky mucous secretion* and any falling off are immediately caught up in : the parents’ mouths and replaced. Occasionally both mother and father rush to rescue the same egg, when a head-on collision occurs.

The eggs take about a week to hatch,' and during that period both parents.aerate them by a violent fanning motion of the enormous fins. For the first few days after hatching the fry are anchored head on to the plants by the same, secretion which keeps the eggs in, place. After a few days they are cleaned by the parents, who take them into their mouths, suck off the mucous.and finally eject them. The difficulty of the fry freeing themselves was established by removing them from parental care. On hatched «it was found that the cement persisted and made their detachment from the plants difficult. On first emerging from the egg the fry might well be mistaken for the young of . most freshwater fish, and not until