New P.Altum tank 453L/120GL

[Cyberddp]

Hi all.

Im new to this forum and i come from Slovenija (so sorry for my english). I am going to set up a aquarium: 155cm x 45cm x 65cm (high) that is about 453L or 120 GL. There will be a inside filter (glass) 15x45x65 = 43L / 11GL
the swimming room will be 140x45x65. There is going to be a second filter outside.

I would like to ask all of you if you could help me with some information about how to breed them, so i dont do any serious mistakes.

I am getting 5 or 6 F1 altum orinoco from Germany.
Foto:

http://www.shrani.si/t/3L/Zd/1lHcsPoJ/1/altumarten-003.jpg (http://www.shrani.si/?3L/Zd/1lHcsPoJ/1/altumarten-003.jpg)

Good day!
Denis

[plecocicho]

Kuku lele!:D

[tacks]

Hello and welcome. This isthe best site for discus mainly but a good site for altums is www Finarama.com. I have 11 altums and have found this site to be very helpful. Ed

[Cyberddp]

Hello and welcome. This isthe best site for discus mainly but a good site for altums is www Finarama.com. I have 11 altums and have found this site to be very helpful. Ed

The for the info..will take a look.

plecocicho: hehe ti bom že dal :)

[JeffreyRichard]

Great looking fish. http://finarama.com/forum/index.php is definately the best site for discussion of altums, perhaps the most knowledgable altum keepers are there.

You should know that only a handful of Altum spawns have ever occured in captivity (Heiko will claim zero ...), so breeding is not very probable. However, you should continue to try ... and let us know how you are doing. Finararma has a lot of good advice on keeping altums.

[Cyberddp]

cool i will look :)

I read something about feeding them life food to spown them? Someone told me that the trick would be feeding them Guppy, mollys and so on? Is this true? I thought that i would bring a colony of red cherrys (neocaridina red) and yellows (neocaridina yellow) in the tank before the altums come, so they would have "life" food. I have alot of those schrimfs at home :)

Btw tacks i do breed diskus too, have a 500L akvarium with a pair of diskus.

http://www.shrani.si/t/9/Np/MPo1CfC/2w2.jpg (http://www.shrani.si/?9/Np/MPo1CfC/2w2.jpg)

http://www.shrani.si/t/1H/x2/1NAMNGPz/52w2.jpg (http://www.shrani.si/?1H/x2/1NAMNGPz/52w2.jpg)

[Moon]

They should do well in your 120g tank. I had 9 of them for a few years. They showed some signs of pairing and that's all. I eventually sold them.

[Cyberddp]

Moon how big was your tenk? Did you ever had eggs?

[Moon]

I had them in a 100g with some young Geo. Altifrons. There was some pairing and site protection. That's all.

[Cyberddp]

I will use symbiont and siporax for the biological filtration and sponges. Schould i keep the ph under 7 or is 7 ok? I will add Catapa leavs in the tank too. :) in 2 day i get the tank :P cant wait!!!

[Apistomaster]

The leaves are a nice touch but for their long term health Altums should be kept in rather acidic water with very little hardness.
The pH can be as low as 3.5 and only 10-20 ppm TDS and your Altums will thrive. The higher the pH and greater the hardness, the further away you are getting from the types of water they prefer. I know of many exceptions but I know of many more failures among those who force their Altums to live in higher pH ranges and harder water.

I am a moderator on finarama.com so I am familiar with the practices of those who have good success and those who have not with their Altums.

I do not believe Mr Bleher insists that Altums have not yet been bred in captivity but only that it is an exceedingly rare event. Maybe someone is beginning to sell tank raised Altums?
I know that there is some room for doubt. More about that can be found in discussions on finarama.com.

I know that last year was among one of the very best in the recent past for obtaining very small, young and healthy specimens which had excellent survival rates. Mainly larger and older fish(body sizes of about 2 or more inches) tended to arrive in poorer condition and have much higher loss rates.
This may seem counterintuitive but it is a fact.

[Cyberddp]

Thank you Apistomaster. I am thinking of keeping the ph about 6 - 6,5 hardnes KH:2 and GHmax 4-5... I just found out that my tank will arive in 2 day. So i will post fotos on the forum when i start seting it up.

P.S: today i bought aditional siporax so i have about 5L of siporax,2x 30x15x10 sponges (blue) and symbiont (1kg).

good day!
Denis

[Apistomaster]

Dennis, I think your water is fine for receiving them but eventually try to make is much softer and lower the pH to about 4.0.

Both Cherry Shrimp and the yellow form belong to the same species and should be kept separately because when they cross their resulting young revert back to the plain colors of the original wild stock from which they were derived.

[Cyberddp]

Yes i know that, the are all neocaridina. Inthis tank i mixed them together to have a larger grup because of the life food for the altum. At home i have 4 smaler aquariums (50L) only for the schrimps. Red,yellow,white and blue all have their own aquarium.

http://www.shrani.si/t/2M/Ve/3bE30lLX/1/dsc00134.jpg (http://www.shrani.si/?2M/Ve/3bE30lLX/1/dsc00134.jpg)

The foto is now 1 week old :) next week i will add a black beckground to the tank and then make a new foto.