About This Site

I'm Damitha. I've kept freshwater angelfish since 1990, and this site is where I write down what I learned doing it. There is no editorial team behind it — it's one person, and it seems more useful to say so than to imply otherwise.

What I've actually done

I started keeping angelfish in 1990 and kept them, on and off, for most of the years since. I have bred them, and it worked the first time I tried — a pair of silvers, spawning on an old clay roof tile I'd found lying around. What I never did was turn that into the consistent, repeatable operation the word "breeder" implies, so I use the word carefully. I know what a successful spawn takes and what it looks like when it's going right. I'm not producing fish at any scale, and I won't dress it up as that.

I'm less active in the hobby than I used to be. That's worth knowing when you read anything here: my experience is long, but some of it is not recent, and the hobby has moved on in places.

What that means for these guides

Where I've kept a fish myself, I say so and tell you what happened. Where I'm summarising what's generally understood, that's what it is — useful, but no better sourced than anywhere else you'd read it. The distinction matters, and most sites blur it. Long experience with a fish is not the same as having tested a claim, and I try not to let the first pass for the second.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, I'd rather know. Fishkeeping advice ossifies — claims get repeated between sites for years after the people repeating them have stopped checking, and I've certainly passed along a few myself. Corrections from people who've actually kept the fish in question are the most valuable thing this site can receive.

Where to start

The freshwater guides cover the angelfish most people keep. The saltwater section covers marine angelfish, which are a different family entirely despite the shared name — worth knowing before you buy one expecting similar care.