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Altum Angels

6K views 28 replies 5 participants last post by  Ocean 
#1 ·
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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Organism Fish supply Twig Electric blue Fish


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#4 ·
Great to hear - do you have any pics to share?
What is your tank set-up?
 
#3 ·
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.
 
#8 ·
Very active. Looks like they're nicely settled
 
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#9 ·
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
 
#14 ·
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
 
#17 ·
Rainforest aquariums. But they're out of stock now
 
#19 ·
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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Natural environment Underwater Wood Organism World


Water Underwater Organism Terrestrial plant Fin
 
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#21 ·
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
 
#22 ·
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.
 
#23 ·
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?
 
#26 · (Edited)
Just a few update pics. Largest specimen is close to 10" tall. Smaller individuals are 7"-8" tall

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Wood Terrestrial plant Underwater Twig Plant


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#27 ·
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.
 
#28 ·
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.

Water Organism Window Fin Fish
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#29 · (Edited)
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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