P. Altum Angelfish keeping

[Morledzep]

if you keep the tank the way it is, your fish are not going to be happy. you CAN NOT use pure RO/DI water. it is not safe. add that and crushed coral, and your fish are going to be swimming in calcium soup. it would be better to mix it with the tap water and not worry about the ammonia because you can neutralize it.

is the tank even cycled beyond the bioload of the snails? how do you plan on changing large amounts of water if you do actually go through a fish cycle? how much water can your RO filters make every day?

explain why they won't be happy with the water they have? i was told that P. Altum angels like clean pristine water. the filters were established in another tank, i had fish in it last week and i did a 100% water change on Sunday, the only thing keeping the bio alive is the snail waste at the moment. But i was afraid of putting fish in there before the altums come home because they are so delicate.

my filters can make more than 150 gallons per day. it's only a 60 gallon tank. but i don't see why this is an issue.

should i be testing for calcium? does API make a test kit for that? wouldn't the PH test show that the 'calcium soup' is making the water harder?

i'm a successful fishkeeper, i keep several types of cichla, a few P. Scalare, an RTC, a TSN, Petenia splendida, Aequidens rivulatus, synodontis petricola and red jewel cichlids, silver arowana, a couple oscars, and a few odd africans that my son wanted because of their pretty colors, not to mention the many and varied plecos and other tank janitorial staff. I have 11 aquariums up and running and have had for several years.

what i am asking is what i have to do differently and what other things should i be testing for to keep the P. Altum angelfish successfully. Everybody tells me they are difficult to keep and i don't want to kill off fish because i didn't have the right info. i was actually hoping for someone with experience raising P. Altum angelfish to give me some insight.

 

[wataugachicken]

it's a matter of osmosis. when using pure RO water, which has nothing or nearly nothing it it, it will tend to pull minerals out of the fish. things will move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration because stability is the natural order of things, as least when talking about this issue. the use of pure RO can lead to poor health, skeletal deformities, electrolyte imbalance, and death. Even when trying to achieve a low TDS or very soft water, there still needs to be *something* in the water that the fish can use to replenish the minerals lost during their normal metabolic processes.

"clean" water is free from pollutants, ammonia, nitrite, excess nitrates, and any other toxins or harmful chemicals or minerals. RO water, while clean, is also devoid of the trace minerals that fish (and people) need in order to live.

as for the rest of your response, i am not saying that the calcium will hurt them, just that calcium will be the only mineral in the tank. also, if you established the filters on another tank to seed them with bacteria, most of that bacteria has already died off if it's been more than 3 or so days. without nearly constant food the colonies will die back just to where they are supported - in your case, by the snail population. there will be no excess to cover the addition of the angels. your cycle will go faster than if you had started from nothing, but you will still cycle.

 

[Morledzep]

ok, well.. i've tested the water again, adding the 5 gallons that evaporated and the readings remain the same except the TDS went back down to 99 PPM.

I'm going to call it good and add a large tube of Bio-Spira when i add the angelfish.

thanks for your input.

 

[number1sixerfan]

I don't care what anyone says, if you are not buying WILD fish, they will be fine with tap water. Period. Discus, altums, rams, etc. As long as the water is pristine and they are acclimated properly then they should thrive. RO is simply not needed and is an unnecessary expense. Most discus keepers don't use it because the importers and breeders aren't using it.

Different case for wild altums and discus.

 

[Morledzep]

Different case for wild altums and discus.

what does that mean?

maybe i'm asking my questions wrong. i know the water quality i have, and i'm NOT spending any more money for the RO/DI water than i do my tap water. i filter my own water. and i've been keeping fish in these water conditions for a long time. i ONLY want to know what i need to do differently for wild caught P. Altums.

i need to know what water conditions P. Altum angelfish need.

can anyone tell me this? :hang:

 

[number1sixerfan]

what does that mean?

maybe i'm asking my questions wrong. i know the water quality i have, and i'm NOT spending any more money for the RO/DI water than i do my tap water. i filter my own water. and i've been keeping fish in these water conditions for a long time. i ONLY want to know what i need to do differently for wild caught P. Altums.

i need to know what water conditions P. Altum angelfish need.

can anyone tell me this? :hang:

For Wild caught altums or discus, you will need water that matches their environment, OR, take the risk of carefully acclimating them to your tap water. They may thrive or they may not. With tank bred fish, it is much less stressful to use tap water with them.

It's hard because if you are getting wild, chances are you are getting them imported. Therefore, they will have been in their bags overnight so you will want to get them out ASAP(because of the built up ammonia). However, if you are acclimating them to a completely different type of water they will need to be drip acclimated slowly.

For Wilds, I would try to match their water parameters as close as possible. So do some research on altums' environment.