Pterophyllum leopoldi

[hermes73]

Hi,

Leopold angels are probably the least well-known, least available and least sought after of the Pterophyllum species as currently classified. Not many people keep them, but I'm publishing what I know and what I guess about the species, just because there is so little data available about them. Almost all data on the Internet is copied and paste from the same few sources, and even Finarama just devotes a few lines to them.

They're probably less popular because they are admittedly less elegant in form compared to Scalares and Altums, although I think calling them "dumpy" or "long nosed" is rather mean. Photographs on the Web also tend to do them very poor justice - making them look dowdy green and grey, when they have a surprising amount of colour about them. In good condition, their characteristic greenish-blue gill plates just gleam like metal, and they have hues of maroon and mauve about their fins.



I also don't know why there are repeated warnings about them being aggressive. I find they are nasty to one another in the way all cichlids are, but not inordinately so, and definitely not to the extent of being predatory like an Oscar or Jack Dempsey. In fact, they are the smallest of the angelfish species and with the smallest mouths. I've read reports about them leaving even guppy fry alone, but my personal experience is that they WILL try to eat them if they can catch and fit them in their mouths. But Leopolds are brave fish, and I've witnessed them standing off against wild Scalares twice their size, protecting their territories.

[hermes73]

If you search Fishbase and other sources, you inevitably come across this blurb: "...is a river dwelling angelfish species that originates from rivers in the Amazon River basin along the Solimões River, Amazon River, and Rupununi River."

That annoyed me for a long while, because at the same time, Heiko Bleher was reporting Leopold angels to be common companions to Heckel discus and Heckel discus aren't found in the Solimões-Amazonas or Rupununi as far as I know. Also the Rupununi is part of the Essequibo drainage in Guyana and pretty far from the main Amazonas.

I finally unearthed an article in German, which I got translated ... below is a map which I modified from a less easy-to-read one from that article, showing locations where the species has been collected.



Clearly the commonly cited distribution of being found in the Amazonas "between Manaus and Santarem" is rather off the mark. The species seems to extend upriver almost into Peruvian waters, and downriver all the way to Belem and even the mouth of the Tocantins. They also branch south down the Abacaxis and north up the Rio Negro (which would explain their co-existence with Heckels). No reports of them in the Branco, but I'd bet they're there too, since they probably reached the Essequibo river system in Guyana by way of the Branco.

With this kind of distribution, they must be fairly adaptable fish as far as water parameters are concerned: the Negro and Abacaxis and the Arapuins near Santarem are blackwater, the main Amazonas is silty and slow, the Tocantins is whitewater, and the Essequibo clearwater.

What they probably don't like is fast current and waters that are too open and exposed. Unlike wild Scalare, which I've also kept and seem to me rather agnostic about their surroundings, leopold angels appear to have a marked preference for driftwood tangles. They also seem to keep territories closer to the substrate bottom, as compared to Scalare who happily roam and bicker over open water.

I've also experienced wild Leopolds freak out in heavily planted tanks by the way... That old wisdom about angelfish living in quiet, heavily planted environments? Well, that don't seem to apply to Leopolds. They dash amidst the water weeds and go into a state of shock, as if they were caught in a net. As an anecdotal measure: I had Leopolds freaking out and even jumping out of the tank almost every other day for ten days after they were introduced into a planted tank, and Leopolds calming down in two days (without acrobatic jumpings) when kept in bare rock/driftwood tanks.

[hermes73]

They're not picky about food - even wild ones seem to be quite happy with prepared fish foods. They do pick at algae and soft, fine-leaved plants, so they might need more veggies in their diet compared to Scalares and Altums. Considering their mouth size, they are probably far less carnivorous than their cousins and more dependent on grazing off aufwuchs. I've also noticed an odd habit of theirs, which occurs only when the surface water is almost perfectly still: they hang from the water surface, skimming it. It's not an oxygen deprivation thing... I suspect they may actually feed on surface scum as well (gross, I know).

They're a bit more shy than even wild Scalares ... they retreat under shelter of driftwood more often and are less likely to "beg" for food when they see you coming. They are also definitely not as fast swimmers as Scalares or Altums. They rely a lot on their caudal fin to swim and can only do short quick bursts of speed, or so it seems to me. Because of their resemblance to Mesonauta species, I thought for a time they were surface dwellers, but they are quite assuredly lurkers amidst brambles, and not lovers of wide open spaces.

I haven't gotten them to breed yet (a bit hard, since until recently I had but a lone male left), but will post more as and when I find new stuff about these fish.

[illumnae]

As you know, I have kept a group of 5 of them for almost a year until very recently My observations are very much in line with yours. When they were with me, they were extremely docile, even to the extent of being picked on by farmbred Mesonauta sp. Granted, the farmbred Mesonauta sp. these days available locally are exceptionally aggressive (I have wildcaught Mesonauta insignis in another tank, and they are as docile as this group of leopoldis), but even my timid Heckel discus held out against them better than the leopoldis.

These fish are definitely easy to "pellet train". I bought my group as juveniles freshly imported, and they took to NLS growth formula in less than 2 days, while still in quarantine. They are, however, more abivalent about food than I'm used to seeing in Pterophyllum species. They just don't seem to get excited about food, even when feeding typical "feeding frenzy" foods like live brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms and freeze dried blackworms. All my other fish would dash to the surface for food, while these guys just lazily approach and pick at the food eventually. They seem more "eat to live" than "live to eat" fish. That may explain the lack of "begging"

After being used to the tank, you will find that they are not so shy. Mine came to investigate me and my wife when we approached the tank. Even when guests came, some with kids that banged on the aquarium glass, they were more curious than shy, and did not dart under shelter when the kids hit the glass. Mine started to enjoy open spaces more and more over time, and I see them roam all over the tank at all levels in the water column. Even though my tank was supposed to be a primarily Heckel tank, these guys definitely had the potential to "steal the show" as they seemed the true owners of the tank, slowly cruising around the tank without a care in the world.

I do honestly feel that these guys are the "link" between Mesonauta sp. and Pterophyllum sp. I see many similarities between them and my Mesonauta insignis, from mouth shape, to body colour, to behaviour. These guys are more a "matt" body colour than the usual "silvery sheen" of wild-type scalares and altums.