# Altum Angels



## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

I'm starting this thread to record my experience with Altums, tank set up as well as feeding. I am also putting out the invitation to any other members who keep Altums to join in and contribute their experience and set ups.

As you know - on-line information is relatively scarce for Altum's so if we can learn from each other's experiences (good and bad) that would be great.

Here are a few pics. In my next post I will go into tank setup with more detail.


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## kevin22 (May 12, 2010)

hi, I have kept Altums for years, and a few different batches.
the latest group is from Charles and he imported them in feb this year.
bought a group of 12 and lost three.
the rest of them have been doing great


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

Fishman21 said:


> I'm starting this thread to record my experience with Altums, tank set up as well as feeding. I am also putting out the invitation to any other members who keep Altums to join in and contribute their experience and set ups.
> 
> As you know - on-line information is relatively scarce for Altum's so if we can learn from each other's experiences (good and bad) that would be great.
> 
> Here are a few pics. In my next post I will go into tank setup with more detail.


Looks like a nice tank, excited to see more details. Beautiful discus in there, as well.


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

kevin22 said:


> hi, I have kept Altums for years, and a few different batches.
> the latest group is from Charles and he imported them in feb this year.
> bought a group of 12 and lost three.
> the rest of them have been doing great


Great to hear - do you have any pics to share?
What is your tank set-up?


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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)




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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)

You asked me before if I had pictures of my altum, so here's a video 🙂


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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)

Some pictures


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Ocean said:


>


Very active. Looks like they're nicely settled


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Background: 

Late last year I bought a single remaining Altum and added it to a new discus tank. He (she?) quickly took to feeding off frozen brineshrimp and bloodworm and at 1 year age he is now about 10” tall

I initially kept the recently acquired 3 Altums (approximately 3.5” to 4” tall) in a separate section of the main tank where they quickly adapted to a diet of freeze dried black worm and frozen bloodworms. After 2 weeks I removed the section, anticipating aggression I kept a close eye on the big guy, however everyone settled down without a fuss. 

Tank set-up is as follows:
210g tank
Temperature 27-28
Ph about 6
Water change 30% twice weekly
2 x fx6 filters 
1x sponge filter

My approach is to understock the tank and provide high volume turnover for filtration which allows for less frequent water changes 

Stock levels
3 x 5” discus
1 x 10” Altum
3 x 3.5-4” Altum
2 x 4” ghost knife fish
7 corydora cats
1 clown plecostamus 
4x dwarf neon rainbows

Hope this is useful for others planning to setup


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## kevin22 (May 12, 2010)

sorry for taking so long.
the video was taken 6 months ago and they are now bigger


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## tredford8 (Apr 22, 2010)

kevin22 said:


> sorry for taking so long.
> the video was taken 6 months ago and they are now bigger


Nice, they're looking pretty healthy and happy!


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Great looking specimens

What size tank are they in?



kevin22 said:


> sorry for taking so long.
> the video was taken 6 months ago and they are now bigger


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## kevin22 (May 12, 2010)

120 gallon. water change every 2 weeks


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Took delivery of 10 more Altums today to complete the collection. Currently in quarantine tank. They arrived looking healthy other than a few ragged fins. Will be holding my breathe for the next few days to see whether any issues present. 

Fingers crossed


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## josephl (Apr 21, 2010)

Fishman21 said:


> Took delivery of 10 more Altums today to complete the collection. Currently in quarantine tank. They arrived looking healthy other than a few ragged fins. Will be holding my breathe for the next few days to see whether any issues present.
> 
> Fingers crossed


Sweet. Where did you get these from?


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## kevin22 (May 12, 2010)




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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Rainforest aquariums. But they're out of stock now



kevin22 said:


>


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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)

Hows your altums doing?


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Ocean said:


> Hows your altums doing?


Tank has settled now. Had a bad case of finrot shortly after arriving - very difficult to treat and lost a few fish as a result. The remaining 6 are great and growing really quickly.


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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)

Thats good things settled. I found that using API aquarium salt helped keep mine alive. Nice home they live in, lots of swimming space.


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Yeah. I believe in understocking. Way less issues along the way. 

Besides I could not maintain daily water changes on a tank that big. So low stock allows for weekly changes instead 

Salt - never heard of that approach for Altums before


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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)

Ya my setup is the exact opposite Haha. I have 4 in a 48g with 8 rummynose, 12 Cory's and some plecos. And I don't do water changes just top ups. I heavily rely on aquarium salt but looking into a bigger tank in the future. I started using uv sterilizer I think it helped alot also my rummynose red noses are much brighter.


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Rummynose are great - I have them on my list to add. Just concerned they might get eaten if too small. The biggest angel is about 10" tall and has a BIG mouth!

How old are your angels?


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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)

Rummynose are great, they let you know how the living conditions are in the tank. 

I have had them for 7+ months.


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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)

Wow that's a huge angel fish haha


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Just a few update pics. Largest specimen is close to 10" tall. Smaller individuals are 7"-8" tall


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Tank update:

Took a vacation over summer, had a friend come in and look after the tank. Feeding went well but water conditions were problematic. As a result I came back to mild fin rot affecting all of the angels. Normally not a problem but now with no more access to antibiotics through pet shops it’s become more of a challenge. 

Working through several options with no luck I eventually went with an extended 3 week treatment of melafix which seemed to do the trick. Fins are showing good recovery growth. 

At the same time I’ve added Purigen to both filters - this is experimental. Over the past year, even when the tank was healthy, at any given time there’s always one or two fish that would have part of their pelvic fins missing. It seemed as if fins would get to a certain length and then melt away half way up the fin to a point where it would break off. As you can imagine this was frustrating. I suspect that even though I have been carrying out 30% water changes very regularly (2x per week) the water conditions might not have been optimal. Even with low stocking levels. So I am trying purigen to help lower ammonia levels even further. 

So far I’ve been using purigen for 4 weeks and fins appear to be regenerating without sign of decay so early results look promising.


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## Fishman21 (Apr 26, 2010)

Purigen is a definite win. (This does not substitute for water changes but merely complements water changes). Fish are noticeably happier and lively. No more fin melt issues.


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## Ocean (Nov 20, 2014)

Wow nice fish. I found that when I was keeping altums API aquarium salt kept them alive. Especially when they were scratching themselves. I also rarely changed water but just did top ups. I have since changed to at least weekly 50%+ water changes. Great to see your still keeping them.


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