Domestic Angels With Wild Pattern?

[onidrase]

When I visited the aquarium store place the other day, they had a bunch of angelfish that looked just like those wild altum angels that are oh so fragile. But they weren't being properly tended for in the tanks, and they weren't kept with each other, but rather had 1 or 2 in each aquarium. I doubt they had the water quality needed to keep them alive if they were wild. They were definitely pretty, though.

Were they likely just domestic angels? Would they be any more hard to take care of them your average black or calico spotted overly domestic angel? How do you tell the difference between a wild angel and a domestic angel with wild markings?

 

[thereverendturtle]

Altums are more brown. More than likely just domestic scalare, they are still pretty common, even with all the other varieties. Yes they have the same requirements for care as the others.

 

[mattlee]

their price tag should tell you if they are true altum angels or not. expensive = true, cheap = scalare.

there are your more common angels aka scalare that come in a striped form quite often labelled as zebra angels, there are also leopoldi angels that are also striped but are a different species of angel and there are also peru altums which are also striped and seem to demand a higher price due to their name containing the word altum......

in my opinion striped angels are the much nicer and more natural looking fish. i would say that as i currently have a group of 8 leopoldis

 

[DrRob]

Aye, I much prefer the more natural looking striped angels. I remember the days when pretty much every angel in the hobby was a striped scalare and the marbled ones were a premium.