For all those that have successfully kept Altums can you give me some advice on acclimating them to your tank once you received them and also feeding them for the first few weeks? Any advice you can give me on these topics as well as just general advice would be greatly appreciated. I have successfully kept and bred discus, but have never tried Altums. I am planning a purchase soon and want to be prepared. Thanks.
Keeping Altums
- Thread starter PB2010
- Start date
Treat them as you treat your discus. Clean water, keep them warm and feed a varied diet if you can get them to take flakes and pellets. With the water changes make sure that the new water is the same as whats in the tank. Altums dont like swings in their ph. Your first month or so is when you have to be worried. If you can get them thru that you should be in the clear with them unless you neglect them...they are a very unforgiving fish. finarama.com has a ton of great info, you should definitely check it out.
Where are you getting them from? I know a importer that told me this for newly arrived altums...
Maintain ph around 5
The reason behind this is because the altums come from water that can get down to a ph of 4 or lower. The lower the ph the lower the bacteria you will have in the tank therefore the chance of a bacterial outbreak will be lower. The altums immune system isnt that strong and the lower ph levels help with the outbreak of infections. If you can get your ph down that low by using peat moss or something like that then thats ok. DONT use chemicals to try and get the ph down that low, nothing good ever happens when using chemicals on a delicate fish such as altums. Its better not having to alter your water with stuff other than peat moss. Peat is also good cause it will help mimic their natural black water habitat.
DONT feed frozen bloodworms the first month or so
I know a lot of people will disagree with this but bloodworms have a tremendous amount of bacteria that comes with it. You dont know if they have been thawed in the shipping or whatever. If you get smaller altum then you shouldnt have to much of a problem getting them to take flake or pellets.
Keep the water cooler the first few weeks
I know this sounds kind of wierd but when you think about it it makes some sense. Keep the temp around 78-79F the first week or so and move it up about a degree every 3-4 days. The reasoning behind this is at lower temps the probability of a bacterial outbreak is lower than at 84-85F. Also the dissolved O2 levels are higher with lower temps. I have seen it many times when even though you have a few sponge filters going that adding a few more air stones makes a huge difference in the fish. Also to if you get your fish shipped overnight then chances are the they are a little cooer anyways.
Make sure your tank is cycled
Obviously that makes the chances of ammonia and nitrate and nitrite killing the fish smaller. Also too if you arent lucky enough to have soft water where the peat moss cant bring it down to 5 then you wont have to worry about the ph swings with the water changes.
Well those are a few of the big things for acclimating altums. I know there is more but common sense prevails here. Also there are times when you can have everything perfect and only a few will make it. It is getting late in the season for altums and the later or earlier you get them the less chance of getting a good batch happens. If you can get them thru the first month or two then you shouldnt really have a problem. I have never gotten a batch of altums from a imprter that havent come down with something. Usually it involves some type of body fungus. You can use furan II for that but I have had better success with a product from nationalfishpharm called TMP Sulfa.
Well thats all I can think of for now. If you have been successful with discus then altums shouldnt be that much different. Keep them stable and in clean water and you shouldnt have to many problems if you can get them past the 2 month stage. Good luck with them
Where are you getting them from? I know a importer that told me this for newly arrived altums...
Maintain ph around 5
The reason behind this is because the altums come from water that can get down to a ph of 4 or lower. The lower the ph the lower the bacteria you will have in the tank therefore the chance of a bacterial outbreak will be lower. The altums immune system isnt that strong and the lower ph levels help with the outbreak of infections. If you can get your ph down that low by using peat moss or something like that then thats ok. DONT use chemicals to try and get the ph down that low, nothing good ever happens when using chemicals on a delicate fish such as altums. Its better not having to alter your water with stuff other than peat moss. Peat is also good cause it will help mimic their natural black water habitat.
DONT feed frozen bloodworms the first month or so
I know a lot of people will disagree with this but bloodworms have a tremendous amount of bacteria that comes with it. You dont know if they have been thawed in the shipping or whatever. If you get smaller altum then you shouldnt have to much of a problem getting them to take flake or pellets.
Keep the water cooler the first few weeks
I know this sounds kind of wierd but when you think about it it makes some sense. Keep the temp around 78-79F the first week or so and move it up about a degree every 3-4 days. The reasoning behind this is at lower temps the probability of a bacterial outbreak is lower than at 84-85F. Also the dissolved O2 levels are higher with lower temps. I have seen it many times when even though you have a few sponge filters going that adding a few more air stones makes a huge difference in the fish. Also to if you get your fish shipped overnight then chances are the they are a little cooer anyways.
Make sure your tank is cycled
Obviously that makes the chances of ammonia and nitrate and nitrite killing the fish smaller. Also too if you arent lucky enough to have soft water where the peat moss cant bring it down to 5 then you wont have to worry about the ph swings with the water changes.
Well those are a few of the big things for acclimating altums. I know there is more but common sense prevails here. Also there are times when you can have everything perfect and only a few will make it. It is getting late in the season for altums and the later or earlier you get them the less chance of getting a good batch happens. If you can get them thru the first month or two then you shouldnt really have a problem. I have never gotten a batch of altums from a imprter that havent come down with something. Usually it involves some type of body fungus. You can use furan II for that but I have had better success with a product from nationalfishpharm called TMP Sulfa.
Well thats all I can think of for now. If you have been successful with discus then altums shouldnt be that much different. Keep them stable and in clean water and you shouldnt have to many problems if you can get them past the 2 month stage. Good luck with them