I read that thread. Certainly Angels Plus has an excellent rep. But I am having a hard time accepting what Steve says. There are a few statements made by Steve that fly in the face of what I believe to be fact. I was told by somebody who has lived in Venezuela, done ichtyology there and has been to many of the rivers where Altums are found who specifically recommended using Torpedo beach sand because it was the closest thing he had seen to how the sand in altum habitats looks. Yet Steve R. claims the bottom where they are collected is black. One of them is wrong.
In that thread Steve R wrote:
This is a claim that I've never seen any evidence one way or another. I've seen the claim many times that osmotic pressure is the main cause, but I can't find anything to back this up. I do know that when I used to bring in goldfish that were kept in ponds, I'd put them through a salt bath by drip acclimation followed by adding salt rapidly until the fish lost equilibrium (couple of cups of salt in a gallon of water. I would then plunk them into fresh water and they were instantly fine. Nothing bursting from the rapid change in osmotic pressure. I figured that if it worked with goldfish it would work with angelfish since they have better osmoregulatory systems. Sure enough, no problems doing the same with angelfish I received and tried it on. I've also taken fish from Dave Hlasnick's 50ppm water and plopped them into my 500 ppm water and they don't miss a beat. Of course, the stress isn't that high since they are only bagged for an hour or so. I can say the same with pH. I've taken them rapidly from low to high when they weren't stressed and had no problems. However, what I do know is that fish in transit for a day or two, have a higher survival rate if dripped properly. I've tracked this over many hundreds of shipments where I quizzed the recipients after shipping. Why this is, I can't say one way or the other. I just know that it is what works best for fish that I ship. If anyone knows of a study that gives credible evidence of problems due to hardness, I'd love to see it.
So my response is simple somebody wrote this:
A sudden change in osmotic pressure can put great stress on the osmoregulatory system of a fish. This is of great concern when shipping fish to locations with water different from what they're adapted to. The fish arrives under great stress and is not able to regulate any osmotic pressure differences easily. This is one reason why acclimation should be slow. It also explains why treating diseased fish must be done carefully. When putting them in a salt bath, the concentration of salt should be increased gradually.
It is important to understand osmosis and how it affects our fish. It is a vital component for their well-being. Your ability to control problems, safely ship and receive fish and treat diseases will be enhanced if you pay attention to this aspect of their lives.
from
http://www.angelsplus.com/ArticleOsmosis.htm Hmm- can Steve have it both ways?
Moreover, a well respected koi site has an interesting take on salt and goldfish
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/koipond/salting_fish.html
My fish came from Pete at VillasCityofAngelfish, I went and picked them up. While the TAFF II site is a well known domestic angel site, you might want to join this site and do some reading
http://www.finarama.com/forum/ I chose not to join the TAFF II site but rather to use the Finarama site since I no longer have an interest in non wild angels. The only downside to it is you must become a member to be able to read the forum. I prefer the credentials of the admins and mod staff at finarama which include a Ph.D. in Biochemistry among others.
Harold- one last thing that really put me off about what Steve posted is this. You say you got wild Altums from Steve yet in that thread you linked me to Steve stated:
You will not be able to convince me that altums have changed in the past 10 years (last time I brought any in).
The fish in your pictures certainly looked a bit small for 10 year old Altums.