Santa Isabel Angels

[FinVision P/L]

Just thought i would post some picks of these fish they come obviously from Santa Isabell on the Rio Negro not to to far from the Rio Branco juction where it meets the R Negro. They are almost Altum like , also no photo inhancements implemented

[scott bowler]

wow they are awesome , what are they worth ?

[giorid]

omg i want one, too beautiful to pass.

[ILLUSN]

they're massive in the us, the big breeders are using them as broodstock to enhance their domestic lines have a read here

http://www.angelfish.net/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=24441

be nice if they breed true and keep those colours.

[FinVision P/L]

SANTA ISABEL ANGELFISH P.Scalare OR P Altum,,, Thats the Question

These Santa Isabel Angelfish are said to be a Cross between the P Scalare and the P Altum, although not conclusive but the evidence is compelling, whilst still remaining speculative. Please see the Abstract posted from a recent article; (below) . I will add that these fish are much harder to obtain than any other Pterophyllum by far that’s including Altums. It is estimated, that their have only been less than 2,500 supplied to the world market to date. The aren’t found in big numbers and only found in one small area, They apparently aren’t found in schools and a caught singularly. The remote are where they are found is said to be a 41 mile hike along a man made track to the river where they are found. When they are captured the fisherman has to trek back on foot through the jungle and back the way they came, whilst lugging them by foot is hard enough but keeping the alive is something else. This is part of the reason for their scarcity. Another is that this region is on an Indian Reserve and has only just been opened up to outsiders and only 3 permits have be granted pr annum so far (from my understanding) for this fish to be collected. Another reason is that the fisherman can make much more money collecting discus that are more abundant and less terrain to navigate with easy access which means More money pr fish

Please see abstract about the Santa Isabels (P Scalare?) Below

Dr. Meliciano has placed SI's in the Altum Clade as evident in her phylogeny chart shown at http://www.finarama.com/forum/viewto...r=asc&start=30 (via courtesy of Dr. D. Bellstedt). But to do so, she mainly considered morphometric and meristic characteristics in which SI have more in common with P. altum than with P. scalare. Now, since Dr. Meliciano did not have any Orinoco MtDNA to compare with (if she did, the conclusions would be solid in one way or another), she basically relied on size, scale count, fin ray count and other phenotype related factors to draw partial conclusions and in addition, found that half the DNA differs from that of P. scalare, as we genetically know it. She would need to have P.altum DNA to know for sure whether the difference is a product of actual hybridization with this species, or another species, or may it be a distinct species.

These observations go way back to the 70's when we noticed that the more we travel up the Rio Negro, the larger, the more fin rays, the higher scale count, the higher fins, Pterophyllum showed, maximum expressions in the Orinoco Basin (Pteropyllum altum). And though some renown authors even deny the existence of Pterophyllum above (the Falls of) Sao Gabriel Da Cachoeira, several other have reported collections parting from the area of the mouth of the Casiquiare/Guainia (Birth of Rio Negro) down to the mouth of the Rio Vaupes (on Negro).

I think we can at least conclude that the species with most probability to affect the genotype of the Pterophyllum of the SI and BV area and that make them distinguishable in phenotype from other common P. scalare is, none the less, P.altum... this is only because there are no other Pterophyllum except altum, upstream of this area.

To definitely know for sure beyond suggestion, that SI/BV share P.altum genes, we will have to wait a couple of more years.

[FinVision P/L]

The Sao Gabriel Red Altum or Scalare is another Angelfish in Question. Their are many P Scalare that have Red and this is another one Altum or Scalare,, mmmm it don’t know. The bars dont look wide enough to be an altum.. It is a very big Scalare anyway! Your opinions. This PScalare is found in the area of the birth of the Rio Negro