F1 Leopoldi (pic heavy)

This is a very close crop of my aquarium. Dinosaur since removed, ignore it!


On the 8th of March I travelled to Hull on the train to meet a great guy named Pete. With him, he had a big white box, and in his big white box were six very special fish! These Leopoldi were raised from fry in his tank, but sadly they needed more space. Enter me with a 350 litre Trigon and some foldy cash.
This Trigon was "made over" by George Farmer in November for a PFK magasine article. After asking what I wanted to keep (angels!) George made it into an Amazon specific tank!
I was entrusted with a CO2 system and unfortunately there was a massive algae outbreak which wiped out most of my plants (and happiness). Just this month (with help and advice from a Mr Hill) I got a handle on it and what we see here is all fresh regrowth. Once it's back up to spec we will look at plugging gaps, but one step at a time.

The Leopoldi took over a week to settle, despite being big, strapping fish. I think they were used to a different shaped tank, as my 90 degree bowfront certainly confused them. I haven't yet done a proper shoot with them as they are still very skittish.

When they first arrived they were pale and shy. Some had strange "scuff marks" on them. Some had a little fin damage. I don't know if that is from 3hrs+ transport or if they used to do something silly in their old tank. They certainly took turns the first afternoon in my tank trying to fit between the heater and the glass (silly).


A few hours later they were colouring up a bit. Here you can see the difference in scales, shape and build from a scalare.. They certainly shoal tighter than any fish I've ever kept. Even two weeks on. My father remarked it was like they are held together on a small thread. When the lights are off they do go their separate ways, though.


A show of their scales. Using a flash usually means you'll screw up your photo (and upset your fish), but it does demonstrate the sheen. The later two pictures are from this week. Look at those lovely red fins!


My Leopoldi are very proud of their barring, and will save the stripes for various occasions. This is the biggest one, and "he" uses them to summon the other 5 fish. Or to beg for food. he also seems to blush red along his back, which I don't know the purpose of.


Assorted tarty pics, showing gill plates and tarts.

Great photos, and lovely fish.

Hi
Great pics, leopaldi are looking good you can see the tank will be awsome when it fully recovers hopefully you will share some more pics later with us.

Kim

Wow, wow, wow, , they are stunning! The colours, the shape everything! Fantastic images & truly beautiful Angels!!!!
Lisa

Very nice indeed, i've had wilds that settle down very easily to tank life so you should have no trouble at all with yours.
It makes me laugh every time i read about these as being the smallest Angel strain, i have seen Leopoldi as big as full grown Scalare and they are massive when fully grown and look even more impressive!
Good luck,
Mark.

chiligum wrote:Very nice indeed, i've had wilds that settle down very easily to tank life so you should have no trouble at all with yours.
It makes me laugh every time i read about these as being the smallest Angel strain, i have seen Leopoldi as big as full grown Scalare and they are massive when fully grown and look even more impressive!
Good luck,
Mark.

They are hilarious in general. They keep colliding due to being somewhat silly.
I am a total convert form scalare now.

Rare Aquatics have some smaller Leopoldi and same size Leopoldi in, I am sorely tempted to buy two to try and widen my gene pool.
I just don't know how many angels is too many in 350l.

You can fit stacks in there,
obviously it all depends on your water regimes and how much decorations etc are in the tank as well but i would put about 12 in there.
That's just me but others will have other idea's.

Would tend to agree with chili