Meaning & use
angel fish
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A brightly colored tropical fish with a thin, flat body and large fins, often kept in home aquariums.
Grammar: The plural is usually angel fish, not angel fishes, when you mean several of them.
Patterns
- a tank of angel fish
- keep angel fish
- angel fish swim
My uncle has a huge aquarium full of angel fish.
The angel fish hid behind the plants when I walked past the tank.
She chose a pair of angel fish for her new desk aquarium.
nouncountabletechnical
A type of large ocean fish with a flat body that lives among coral reefs.
Grammar: This sense is used mainly by divers and marine biologists; the plural is also angel fish.
Patterns
- reef angel fish
- see an angel fish while diving
While diving in the Caribbean, we spotted a bright yellow angel fish near the reef.
Marine angel fish feed on sponges and small creatures on the coral.
The guide pointed out an angel fish swimming between the rocks.
Word forms
| plural | angel fish |
|---|
Common combinations
- freshwater angel fish
- Freshwater angel fish are popular because they are calm and easy to keep.
- a school of angel fish
- A school of angel fish moved together across the reef.
- keep angel fish
- It is not hard to keep angel fish if you clean the tank regularly.
- tropical angel fish
- The pet store had a sale on tropical angel fish this week.
Synonyms and how they differ
- angelfish
- This is the same fish, but it is written as one word and is the more common spelling in American English.
Word family
- angelfish noun
- A one-word variant spelling of the same fish.
Commonly confused: angel fish or catfish?
angel fish vs catfish
A catfish is a completely different fish with whisker-like feelers around its mouth, so do not use the two names for the same animal.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses the word correctly.
Choose one answer.
The plural of angel fish is usually the same as the singular, so 'three angel fish' is correct. 'Angel fishes' is sometimes used by specialists but is not the normal everyday choice, and the other options are not standard English forms.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “angel fish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.