They begin as eggs on a leaf or vertical surface.
After they hatch, the parents move them to a clean location, where they dangle from their heads until they grow strong enough to pop off and swim.
When they first begin to swim, they don't look like angelfish at all but like little white torpedoes.
It's only after a couple of weeks that they begin to grow their trademark vertical fins.
The ideal angelfish is twice as tall as they are long. If they are squat, it means they have been overcrowded.
The angels in the picture above are smaller than the size of a dime from the top of their fins to the bottom. They will begin to get their colors now. When they are first born, they are very transparent - which is needed to keep them from being eaten by predators.
