Altums

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Triple S

It's all about water quality
Mar 8, 2010
2
0
0
South Florida
I have recently set up a 120 XH (heavily planted) and would like to stock with Altums. I have been watching Aquabid and checked all the LFS's and not found any for sale. How often are they available?

Aquabid does have an add for Scalare Altum Angel. Does anyone her have experience with these fish? Any comments on the differences between true altums and the Scalare Altum?
 

cockroach

AC Members
Feb 15, 2010
328
4
18
41
The Chungle Taiwan
Altums are seasonal as they are all wild caught (Taiwan has bred altums but they are not commercially available yet in other countries).

They are a bit more finicky to keep than scalare but are a very rewarding fish to keep. Mine are on a high protein diet with veg treats. These fish NEED high temps. I keep my tank at 30-31C. This might be a problem in a heavily planted tank so that would sway me more towards scalare.
 
Apr 2, 2002
3,532
640
120
New York
I have altums in two tanks. I have 9 smaller ones I picked up last Dec. and then a larger pair I bought in March. I also got a half dozen fresh imports in Sept of last year and losing them all inside a month taught me a lot I should have known before hand.

Altums, as noted above, basically only come in wild. Successful spawning is rare. New imports are very difffcult to keep alive as they need very soft water initially and must be acclimated over to tap water a very very slow pace. The 8 I added in Dec had been ins somebody elses tank for a few months and I still used a 50% mix of my soft tap and distilled water. I yook 6 months to move them over to 100% tap. More importantly, then need to be put into an unseasoned tank. Fishless cycle it and d not put in any other fish to start. Smaller fish should be put into temps about 89 which is then raised to about 84-86 fairly soon. My larger pair, having been in the sellers tanks for some 3 years do just fine in 82.

The reason for such a lengthy acclimation process and using distilled or ro water has to do with the fact that in the wild they love in low pH water which is not conducive to a lot of bacteria. The result is that their immune systems are somewhat suppressed weakening their natural defenses against many things they might encounter in the typical community tank. The use of ro/distilled helps buffer them as does putting them into a new tank. Then gradually change the params towards tap over time as well as eventually adding some other dither fish should work fine.

One last note, altums are group fish. They tend to communicate and work in bunches. Some theorize that some of the communication may actually be chemical in nature and thus suggest using some Purigen in the tank initially. I did not do this. If you want altums, plan to get them in groups and look for them in the fall as new imports. Because they are not an easy fish to acclimate from the wild and do not tank breed, it is rare that you will find already acclimated fish offered. I was very lucky with the larger pair.

(Read some about them here http://fish.mongabay.com/angelfish.htm )

Excuse my poor photo skills and cheap old camera:





altums2.jpg
 
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jared1954

Registered Member
Sep 2, 2010
3
0
0
altum

Visit rainforest international.com They have plenty of altum Cost range from $35 up. I bought many but not succesful until now. Its a hardy fish to start with. But once they survive the first month its like ordinary angel fish to keep with.
 
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