Altum Angelfish Care

Altum Angelfish (Pterophyllum altum)
Image by cliff1066 via Flickr

The Latin word for tall is altum, which accurately describes the Altum angelfish, the biggest of the freshwater angelfish genus. Altum angelfish come from from South America, in particular the Rio Orinoco river in Venezuela.

Altum angelfish are silvery colored with tan vertical stripes. This striped patterned helps them hide among the vertical plant life native to the region. The mouth of the Altum looks as though it is pointed. The forehead of the Altum is sharply sloped and the body is taller. Four dark, cross ways bands envelop the body, and one or two faint bands are also present. The first dark band runs through the eye; the second runs near the mid-section of the body, while the third runs from the tip of the dorsal fin, through the body, and to the tip of the anal fin. The final band runs on the caudal penuncle.

Being a such a sizable angelfish, they require a bigger and higher tank. Aquariums must be a minimum of 30″ tall and 4 ft long. To provide an perfect ecosystem for your Altums several pieces of bogwood ought to be provided, as well as a few native plants such as Amazon sword plants. Remember to leave enough room in your fish tank for free swimming space for your fish.

Perfect water conditions for your Altums would be very soft and only slightly acidic. A pH level of 4.5 to 6.5 are ideal. The water ought to also be warm, in the 82 to 86 degree range to match natural conditions. Low nitrate levels and slowly filtered water are also important to keeping Altums in good physical shape. These conditions closely match their native environment. Water excellence is a key component to successfully raising Altum angelfish because nearly all are captured in the wild.

Because the Altum is typically a wild caught fish, they can be much more complicated to care for than the more common angelfish, the Scalare. As a result, few people endeavor to raise Altums.

Hence, it can be challenging to find them in fish stores and the like. If you are looking to procure Altums, then it is recommended that you purchase them from an qualified angelfish breeder

Altums are not great community fish, but they are fairly peaceful and by and large can be kept with other peaceful fishes from the same region. Fish like Discus and Tetras normally do ok. Altums are cichlids, nonetheless, and can be very territorial. Small fish might be considered food and should not be kept with cardinal and neon tetras since Altum angelfish as all angelfish appear very fond of eating these. They ought to never be kept with regular angelfish in view of the fact that they can hybridise with (Pterophyllum scalare).

Altums have an amazingly voracious appetite. They enjoy eating live foods. As most are caught from the wild, they will prefer to devour live food. Nevertheless, you will be able to feed them food such as frozen brine shrimp, granular fish food, and live and frozen blood worms.

Even if given a good diet and excellent water quality, the Altum is still especially difficult to breed. Further, just as with the other varieties of angelfish, it is difficult to ascertain sex outside of spawning, when males have a pointed genital papilla.

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Angelfish Fry – How To Keep Them Alive

Once you have mastered the art of breeding angelfish, your next step is to successfully raise your angelfish fry. Proper location, water conditions, lighting and food are essential to maximizing your success and minimizing angelfish fry losses.

Getting angelfish to breed is not all that difficult. Today’s farm raised angelfish are well adapted to handle a variety of environmental conditions. Keeping the majority of the hatched fry alive, however, can be somewhat of a challenge. This article will give you some practical adivce of successfully raising your fry.

Mom Does the Initial Work

Your mother angelfish should handle most of the initial rearing of the fry. Once your eggs hatch it will take about three days for your angelfish fry to fully absorb their yolk sacs. The yolk sacs on angelfish are rather large and will prevent them from freely swimming around the take. Mom will try her best to keep the wiggling group of fry condensed into one tight mass of squirming, wiggling of angelfish fry.
After about three days the fry should absorb enough of the yolk sacs and they can become free swimmers. At this point you need to separate them from the mother.

Water Conditions for Your Fry

If you have kept your angelfish eggs in a meth blue bath initially you should be changing the water about 50% every day. By the time the fry are free swimming the water should be relatively clear. You need to continue to change the water, about 50% every day with high quality conditioned water to ensure to no bacterial growth develops.

Feeding Your Angelfish Fry

The majority of experts agree that for the first couple of weeks your fry should be fed live baby brine shrimp. If your fry are eating the shrimp their bellies should have a reddish tint to them. Experts vary on the amount of feedings per day, ranging from 4 to 12 times a day. The important thing is that they are fed moderate amounts at each feeding. Angelfish will eat all that is given them and thus can easily overeat. This will cause increased mortality in young fish. Your fish should be full at each feeding but not bloated.