Wild Pterophyllum scalare in Brazil

[KevinVA]

I thought this was a great video to learn a few things from. I've found that people are very much afraid to keep more than one Angelfish in a tank, despite their being a schooling/shoaling fish. This video is a great demonstration of their behavior in the wild.

[Andrews]

Woulda loved to be the guy filming, they look like they have a much different personality in the wild

[madagascariensis]

That is awesome Kevin, thanks for sharing.

I've seen lots of videos of wild aquarium fish, and it always surprises me how indifferent cichlids generally seem with each other in the wild. the high aggression levels of captive cichlids seems to be an artificial behavior caused by cramping more than anything else.

[mommy1]

Beautiful fish! I do love the wild angelfish! They are more of a social fish than schooling.

Madagascariensis you are correct. I read of a study in a National Geographic last year or the year before where they took two identical groups of midas cichlids and put them in two tanks. The tanks were identical except one was larger and only the fish in the smaller tank showed aggression. Makes you think about all the nippy tetra too.

[steeler58]

Nice find, wilds are still very desirable, reminds of my childhood when my Grandmother brought me four sliver dollar sized one's, from five hours away.

[Trillianne]

The limiting factor on keeping large groups of angelfish is aquariums is sufficient breeding spaces. We do not see the breeding behaviors in the video you showed, but angelfish do establish a breeding area and defend it. In the wild there is a significantly greater quantity of suitable area to choose from.

[KevinVA]

Isn't that the case with any fish? The larger the aquarium, the less likely you'll have aggression, because they can all establish their own territories.

Most people don't know that Angels are schooling/shoaling fish. You can see how they hover around each other by that very large log, and you can see how they swim together, when the cameraman is going up/down stream.

I've noticed that any schooling species will have random scouts that decide to leave the herd and scope things out here and there. Tetras and Barbs do it, and it seems that the same holds true for Angels in the wild.

It's just interesting to see these things in the wild and to compare them to what we think we know about them. Then, we can apply what we learn from them in the wild to the aquariums we keep. If you want to see them in their "natural" behavior, keep them in a school and keep them in a large tank. Of course, no aquarium is truly natural, so you're never going to have the perfect habitat, but I'm betting they're more comfortable in schools, than they are alone or in pairs.

[talldutchie]

I've seen lots of videos of wild aquarium fish, and it always surprises me how indifferent cichlids generally seem with each other in the wild. the high aggression levels of captive cichlids seems to be an artificial behavior caused by cramping more than anything else.

I doubt it's as simple as that. I suspect it's also about enough water to keep the smells away and reduced visibility

[mommy1]

I see your point dutchie, but it still boils down to enough space. Enough space would mean enough water to keep the smells away and enough room to properly scape for visibility.

[talldutchie]

You got a point there.