Lightly Medicated | Panda Angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare)

What “Lightly Medicated” means

This is the same animal as our non-quarantined listing, held briefly in our systems and given one short prophylactic course — a light treatment for ich and for internal and external worms — then observed eating in front of us before it goes home.

A light course knocks the parasite load down. It does not guarantee full removal, and we will not pretend otherwise. Ich is only killed in its free-swimming stage, and a short treatment window can miss cysts entirely; worm burdens can survive a single dose. Clearing an animal takes the full quarantine window — 40 to 90 days depending on the species — which is exactly what the Quarantined listing is for. This tier buys you a lower parasite load and a fish we have watched eat, not a cleared animal.

We condition the fish on our end. Every animal we medicate is brought back onto prepared food on our own systems and is eating before it leaves — in practice it is rare for a lightly medicated fish to ship out and arrive sick. Do the same at your end: get it eating in your aquarium before you count it settled.

When it ships

Plan on 3–5 days on our systems for the treatment course, and it does not leave until it is eating. If the animal is not already in our systems we source it first — allow up to two weeks for it to reach us before that clock starts. From the day you order, plan on roughly two and a half weeks in total.

The guarantees

• Shipped orders: 24-hour live guarantee from confirmed delivery.
• In-store pickup: 7-day live guarantee — bring a water sample from your aquarium so we can test it before your livestock goes home with you.

Want the full program — treated, observed, confirmed eating, and covered for 28 days on pickup? That is the Quarantined listing. Run your own quarantine and just want the fish this week? The non-quarantined listing is cheaper still. The whole ladder is explained in Quarantined vs Non-Quarantined.

Panda Angelfish get their name from the high-contrast black-and-white patterning that gives them a bold, graphic quality other angelfish color forms don’t match. A true panda strain shows black saddle markings against a clean white base; some specimens show more diffuse dark patterning that reads as smoky rather than sharp contrast. Either way, it’s one of the more visually striking angelfish in the trade and one that holds its coloring particularly well against the greens of a planted aquascape.

The biology is unchanged from any other Pterophyllum scalare: a tall-bodied, slow-moving Amazonian cichlid that evolved in warm, soft, slightly acidic water under heavy vegetation. They need tall tanks because they grow tall — up to 6 inches from dorsal to ventral fin on a well-developed adult — and they need clean, warm water because cichlids feel water quality acutely. Peaceful enough in a proper community with adequate space, but territorial once a pair forms and claims a spawning site.

Scientific name: Pterophyllum scalare (panda/black-and-white strain)
Origin: Amazon River basin, South America
Water parameters: Temp 76–86°F · pH 6.0–7.5 · Soft to moderately hard water
Tank requirements: 30 gal minimum; tall tank preferred
Diet: Omnivore — quality flake, pellet, frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp
Compatibility: Peaceful community when young; semi-territorial when paired
Husbandry note: Avoid high-intensity white-spectrum lighting if you want the panda contrast to show at its best. Full-spectrum or slightly warmer lighting makes the white appear whiter and the black appear deeper — the pattern reads completely differently depending on the lighting setup.