How Long Does It Take for an Angelfish to Mature from Egg to Full-Grown?

The freshwater and saltwater angelfish belong to two very different groups of fish. Freshwater angelfish belong to the cichlid family and reproduce readily in the home aquarium. They take six months to a year to go from egg to adulthood. Marine angelfishes' reproduction is not as well understood.

  1. Freshwater Angelfish Eggs

    • A pair of angelfish will typically lay their eggs on a hard surface. Traditionally, aquarium hobbyists use vertical pieces of slate to provide a breeding surface for them. However, they may also lay their eggs on any other hard surface in the aquarium, including other rocks, driftwood and the aquarium glass. Parents care for the eggs, fanning them with their fins and eating infertile eggs̵2;which attract fungus otherwise̵2;for several days until the eggs hatch.

    Hatching to Free Swimming

    • When the eggs hatch, the fry do not start moving around. Instead, they live off their yolk sac for several days. You should not feed the young during this time, since the food will only go to waste. It usually takes two days for the young to absorb their yolk sacs and start feeding. Once they reach this stage, you can feed them small live foods like newly hatched brine shrimp. The parents will continue to care for the fry for some time. You should feed young angelfish three or four times a day until they are the size of a quarter, at which point you can feed them regular fish flakes twice a day.

    Free-Swimming Fry to Adults

    • Unusual for fish in general̵2;but par for the course for the cichlid family̵2;is that freshwater angelfish care for their young. The angelfish fry can stay with their parents for up to three weeks. The adults may care for the young even longer, but most aquarium hobbyists will take the adults out of the breeding tank at this point, since the longer the adults stay with the fry, the longer the adults will put off their next spawning. The fry reach sexual maturity at 6 to 12 months, depending on the exact species, strain and aquarium conditions.

    Marine Angelfish

    • "Saltwater angelfish" is a term that describes hundreds of species. For many, the specific breeding habits are not known or documented. Of the species that have been bred in captivity, growth rates and time to maturity vary considerably. Many marine angelfish have pelagic stages, where young fish live among plankton and are shaped very differently from their adult counterparts. Hatching alone takes 18 to 30 hours for some species. However, others are large for marine aquarium fish, and don't adapt well to captivity. Additionally, many marine angelfish can't get along with members of their own species in the confines of a home aquarium, making captive breeding unlikely. Their unsuitability for the aquarium means the details of most marine angelfishes' breeding and growth are still unknown.