Altum angels are a different species altogether. regular angelfish are Pterophyllum scalare, whereas true altums are Pterophyllum altum. your LFS may have "Peruvian Altums", which are still Pterophyllum scalare but look slightly different...these are NOT true altums. you really need to ask where they got them from. they should tell you they were imported from venezuela or colombia. they should sell for $20 or so for tiny babies, $35 or so for quarter sized fish, and up from there. they are expensive fish because they aren't mass-bred in farms but rather almost 99% of them are imported from the wild, if not 100% of them!
things to look for to tell apart would be fin height. altums have very high fins (hence their name), compared to regular angelfish.
that's a juvenile altum. you can tell 1) very tall fins in proportion to their body size, and 2) notch above the nose that is typical of altums.
depending on the size they have them at the store they may be difficult to tell. can you get pictures?
altums also have different water requirements. ideally they should be kept in very soft and very acidic water. however some people have managed to keep them in harder water. i keep one altum in medium hard water at 7.2ph or so, and I consider myself lucky that it's doing so well! ask your LFS what water the fish are being kept in to make sure you can add them to your tank right away, otherwise you have to acclimate them to your tank's pH.
also keep in mind that provided it manages to survive, it will grow bigger than regular angels and will also be more aggressive.
though they are beautiful fish, i wouldn't recommend them to a novice as they may not last. the most difficult part with altums is the first 1-2 months. i had mine in a tank all to itself, with lower ph, feeding it only live blackworms, and caring for it like a newborn baby. it's frankly too much work unless you REALLY want one!
good luck!
ive decided to get another angel as i lost one this week due to a good beating from another angel.... in one of my lfs they have smallish angels labelled up as altums but having never owned or even seen one close up i dont think!, i wouldnt know where to begin with the differences. the angels are more expensive by quite a bit and i dont want to buy them and spend top prices on them if theyre not what they say they are.
also will they be ok with scalares? do they need any special treatment?
