There have been no 'guidelines' from anyone whatsoever in handling Altums. They are one of the hardest fish to handle. The way I see it its the way they are handled from the wild. Fishes are all lined in nets by the rivers within the location, bagged and shipped out immediately when an order is put in. No quarantine whatsoever. Trip from the deep remote areas of the Amazon to the departing airport could take days coupled with a few extra days to reach the destination i.e Malaysia, Singapore etc. Do you know there are no direct flights for cargos from South America to South East Asia. They would have to transit in Frankfurt, Amsterdam prior to landing in Malaysia. So, being a susceptible creature they are, most just cannot handle the stress in travelling. I would think that all the pathogens would break free during shipping and upon arrival they are really really bad. To tell you all the truth, the fish is not as overly expensive as they are upon purchase, but the death rates and the freight cost added and wallaaaa......... there you have it RM80 a pop.

In such, our methods of trying to stabilise them is to keep the PH low, add some driftwood for them to take cover and plants if necessary. They would settle way better in a decorated environment rather than a bare tank. Another point to note is to have large volumes of water in circulation i.e having a real big system or tank would really help. That being said its still no guarantees.

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