ID angelfish, Altum vs Scalare

C

CBWMN

AC Members
Oct 11, 2007
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El Paso, TX
Good morning,
I'm getting 6 DD black super veil tails in this afternoon.
Just curious, is there a way to distinguish Altum vs Scalare?

I do have 2 Gold super veil tail angels now. They are 6-7" long including the tails. I've had them about a year. They were 50 cent size when I got them.
Thank you
Charles
cbwmn
 
Altums are much less common, are tougher to breed in captivity and generally look like a taller P. scalare but w/ more pronounced brown counter stripes, thinner black bands than the wild type P. scalare.

Pterophyllum_altum.jpg


When i rescued my lg angel, I asked the same Qs...
 
2 Gold super veil tail angels

would not be P. Altum

I agree with Squawkbert in the general description difference the brown counter stripe on the Altum is also wide than on P. Scalare.
the Peruvian P.Scalare has the brown counter stripe but it is more narrow than the same Band/stripe of the Altum.
 
CBWMN said:
Squawk,
Thank you.
So I've got/getting Scalares.
BTW: years ago wasn't there a P. Eimicke (SP)?

Thank you,
cbwmn
Click to expand...

there are currently three confirmed species of angelfish

P. scalare- the most common
P. altum- uncommon. you'd have to be pretty lucky to get an altum by mistake, since LFS's that get them in know they have, since they can charge so much more for them
P. leopoldi- pretty rare to find, much less even labeled as a seperate species to scalare. looks like scalare, but stays smaller and the fins are not as long and elegant.

there are two other debated species including emekei (sp?), that some claim are different species, while other just say are varations of scalare
 
jm1212 said:
there are currently three confirmed species of angelfish

P. scalare- the most common
P. altum- uncommon. you'd have to be pretty lucky to get an altum by mistake, since LFS's that get them in know they have, since they can charge so much more for them
P. leopoldi- pretty rare to find, much less even labeled as a seperate species to scalare. looks like scalare, but stays smaller and the fins are not as long and elegant.

there are two other debated species including emekei (sp?), that some claim are different species, while other just say are varations of scalare
Click to expand...

I find the Leopoldi more common than the Altum. but in general these two are the most difficult to find at times.

there is much debate as to other possible species even the Mormon Red spot has been included in this.
 
I googled P. leopoldi & found a picture. They look sick to me.
Their dorsal and anal fins are folded back. P. Altum seem to have the most erect fins.

Charles
 
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