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help!,I can't tell the difference!

Its pretty easy to tell if you compare pictures:
A Male and Female "Common" or "Scalare" Angels, male on right female on left:
Petrophyllum Scalare
Altum Angel:
Altum
Altums
Altum again
I find one of the most identifying features of the Altum Angel is the tall elongated body, more like a Diamond shape than the traditional "rounded triangle" shape of the common angel.
Plus they grow larger than scalare, and I find they have very long very straight pectoral fins. These fish grow very Tall, and have a very Tall look to them.
I hope this helps some! Others may know other distinguising features.


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Major distinguishing feature: about $20 difference in price.

-Molly
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sometimes altum are bolder in their appearence.

"Major distinguishing feature: about $20 difference in price."

haha, becareful a lot of stores sell scalares as altums, they sometimes call them Peruvian Altums but they are scalares.
It's difficult to tell when they are being kept at the stores, cuz they are almost always terrified and don't display their colours. The bands are also thicker. Another distinguishing feature is the thinner caudal pendacle(fleshy part before the tail fin) in altums. Best bet if you're uncertain is to deal with a reputable seller. I'm keeping 3 altums in my 70gal right now.

Altums also have a longer mouth structure. FYI

Altums have much finer finnage, deeper body, more distinguished forehead, and a sharply upturned mouth.

Scalares are mild, have rather large (and stouter) finnage, and are not so much longitudinally compressed. "Pervuians" are not all that different, save the sloping jaw line and elongated dorsal/anal. There is currently a debate amongst teh cichlid community on whether peruvian angels are a separate species or not.

Leopoldis have a rounded forehead, without the inward sloping of the nasal region. Finnage is sloped backwards.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 08-Mar-2005 22:27

This should help:

http://www.finarama.com/tba/identification.htm

Last edited by Heaven2 at 08-Mar-2005 22:49

or you can go by how they act. they seem to shoal or school alot more then any other angels which is why you probably want them. watch the tank. if they hudle together and act kind of like a group then it could be atums. if they move arond aimlessly then probably not.

Ehhh...altums are pretty territorial figures themselves. There was one particular individual we had that would terrorize everything else in the tank. Of course, when you look at Amano's aquascapes, they're usually "schooling" (for lack of a better word), but then again, so are the scalares. This is due in part to the huge size of the tank, I suppose.