Traders Selling Scalare As Altum

[blue acara]

Some people are selling peruvian scalare as altum so they can charge more for the fish. The links are to a couple of the sellers. The fish in these adverts are scalare, not altum.

http/www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/php/...il49_143392.php

http/www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/php/...il58_141168.php

This link shows the 3 species of fw angelfish.
http/finarama.com/tba/identification.htm

 

[helterskelter]

They look like altum's to me!
only a couple of fish in the pic's have a good look.
you look they ghave the slightly up turned mouth look

Poor pic's may be the problem here.

 

[blue acara]

The things that gives them away are body, fins and barring colour. altums anal and dorsal fins are longer compared to body size and stand up at more of an angle than other angels fins. Altums barring pattern and colour is different to peruvian scalare, bolder. That bottom link you can see the differences clearly.

 

[helterskelter]

I know what your saying and agree, but their not mature and probably stressed so not in perfect looks.

a few there do look true so should advise to viewing before ordering anything.

 

[blue acara]

The ones in the second link look more like altums but their just not...very nice fish but not altum. Hopefully Tolak will comment

 

[blue acara]

my baby altum, even at this age you can see the length of the dorsal and how straight it stands. Its barring is very scalare like at this stage.

 

[Tolak]

Probably easier to refer to this topic with some of the questions. Saves my fingers some typing.

Usually the first thing to deteriorate on altums, and any angels in general are the fins from shipping or poor care. It's not unusual to see altums with shorter and slightly ragged fins, these tend to grow back as they mature.

I've also kept & bred some scalare with the fins that are identical to the picture in post #6. A buddy of mine breeds marbles with fins like that, they certainly aren't altums. I'll have to dig through poictures to see if I can find one that looks similar.

As I stated in the above noted topic, a definite ID is hard to come by in person, even harder by a picture. A serious ID requires scale & ray counts, and as mentioned there may be some crossing over in the wild. As far as the counts, I do have some scans from an old book explaining this.

 

[Tolak]

Another thing to take note of is the slight difference within the species, as can be seen in the OP's Finorama link. Fish, like all other living things, are not exact cookie cutter duplicates of each other. Here's a tank I have running;

Those are wild caught Rio Negro scalare, from the same importer, collected from the same area. You can see some real differences in the striping, as well as body shape. Red eyes are very common in wild angels, none of this shipment have that trait.

So, to answer the original question, I have doubts to those being altums, not so much the fins, but the body shape. It doesn't mean they aren't I just have my doubts. In the wrong water altums will go pale, we have no clue as to the water parameters those fish are in. I saw mine in Chicago tap water, not happy fish. World of difference in soft water with a low pH. Stressed altums look like stressed domestic silvers.

The seller may have also gotten them in believing they are altums, when they are wild scalare. When it comes to more difficult to obtain fish you really do have to trust the supplier, in these situations I don't trust the seller unless I've known them personally for a long time.