Captive bred Altums, how common are they?

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Because that's how the fish biz works these days. Is anyone in NZ importing Tony tan altums or captive breed altimeter from Europe?

No, unusual stuff like that has to be specially imported, usually instigated by hobbyists with cash up front. The importers simply aren't interested in taking the risk with delicate/rare/expensive fish for our small and fickle market. We have imported fish from Glaser before, and I'm sure there are enough discus enthusiasts to make it worth while doing an order from Tony Tan direct rather than going through a third party on the other side of the world.

altum season is just around the corner. they should be available at your selective fish store. or ask them to get them in for you. since you're in NZ i dont think u will be seeing F1's anytime soon unless u know people who will import them in from asia. and i believe the captive bred ones were going for like $45 usd each. and i personally like the wild caught ones better then the F1's. they just look better. with that said a big group of altums would look amazing in your big tank. another options are wild peruvians. they also look nice and easy to keep

You're right, we won't be seeing F1 or any altums at the LFS any time soon either, it just doesn't happen like that here. Of the recent imports or wild discus (the first in decades AFAIK) NONE ended up in shops, and only one group of four were offered for sale to the general public. As I mentioned in my first post, we have fixed costs per shipment (for inspections etc) that go well into thousands of dollars, you can't just get your LFS to call up a collector and get a couple of boxes of wild caught altums sent in for one customer (unless of course you are stupid-rich and willing to book out an entire quarantine facility for the one shipment, and either buy a few hundred fish or pay a couple of grand per fish). To make it happen it needs someone like myself gets a group of keen hobbyists together to front up some cash to import a reasonable number of fish (along with other species the supplier may be offering that are on our "Allowed List") to make the order worth while, which is why I'm scoping out their availability and approximate cost across the globe.

I am trying to find a source of nice "Peru Altum" scalare in the mean time, but not having much luck either. :(
 
I should have said a source locally. As I've been saying all along importing fish into New Zealand is expensive and difficult at best (aside from the regular bulk wholesale orders from the Asian farms), if I was going to the trouble and expense of trying to get fish brought in it would have to be true altums or nothing to be worth my while!
 
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