Tank Raised Altum Angelfish experiences

[apistomaster]

Hello fellow members,

I am seeking feedback and would enjoy seeing photos of any tank raised Altum Angelfish you may have recently acquired.
There has been an introduction of a very large number of tank raised Altum Angelfish entering the trade in the past 6 months I would like to hear if they did well or not.
Breeders have been trying to breed wild caught Altum Angelfish for decades yet until now, only a handful of reported successes have been documented. There has never been a supply of 1000's of pieces on the market until very recently.

This majestic Pterophyllum altum has long been considered the king of the Angelfish but many have tried and many have failed to just keep them healthy let alone breeding them. The tank raised Altums presently being distributed appear to be no more difficult to keep than any other wild type Angelfish. This is most unusual although a welcomed development.

Disclosure: I am a moderator on an Angelfish forum, www.finarama.com.
I am trying to understand what makes these new Altums so much easier to keep. Wild Altums have broken the hearts of many a skilled and well informed wild Angelfish lover and establishing a tank raised, aquarium strain of purebred P. altum is a long held, shared dream of those of us who prefer the wild type Angelfish species.

[Jitticus]

Could these have been from the Malaysian breeder whom someone recently posted pictures of the setup recently?
IIRC, the altums come from various (3) localities with the Rio Atabapo variant being the most difficult to keep and spawn.
Perhaps these are from the other locatilies?

Rumor has it that the breeder only sells overseas, so perhaps those in circulation are Malaysian bred.

Sorry if this goes against forum rules, but this is the only link I know.
http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/sh...ighlight=altum

[apistomaster]

Jitticus,
Those are exactly the same TR Altums we are seeing imported into the USA.
I am very surprised you have not had them available in your area first.
They are produced by Tony Tan.
I had hoped they had been first introduced to the SE Asian hobbyists so I could learn more about their experiences keeping them.
They are selling for about US$40 each in the USA and importers must buy 1000 pieces.
In only a few month the wild altum season opens and there will be very small altums available. We have found that the very small specimens adapt better than the larger sizes. but they are still difficult fish to acclimate and keep.
Thank you for your post.

[Jitticus]

Larry, it's no surprise that we never get any fish locally until everyone else in the world gets access to them, especially if it's a new strain. I'm wondering if this could spell the end of the altum's notoriety, especially since the domesticated ones look really healthy.

I agree that the small wild ones are easier to acclimatize but once that has been achieved, they are pretty much as indestructible as the normal scalares, IMHO.

I look forward to hear about your purchase of the bred altums and your thoughts on their locality of origin.

[apistomaster]

I am mainly trying to learn about other peoples' experiences with these TR Altums.
I may be a moderator on an angelfish forum but I do not have any angelfish since I sold my 8 wild Peruvian Scalares which included 3 mated pairs.

My weakness is for wild Discus.
I have 10 F1 Nhamunda Blue Discus which should begin pairing and spawning later this summer.