Pterophyllum altum

The Orinoco angelfish i have are very similar to the pictures posted by a forumer in cichlid-forum.com. It was considered by some (including Bleher) as the Rio Negro altum, which isn't a true altum. It is according to another, a natural cross between P. scalare and P. altum. although much later, the person acknowledged by Bleher as the only person to have spawned the real P. altum in captivity (documented), stated that the pictures were similar to his own P. altum.

The P. altum is described to have wide deep/dark brown or gray bars/stripes instead of the usual black bars in p. scalare. The vertical stripes in P. altum are also bordered with thin white strips. The rest of the body actually has a greenish hue. But, the P. altum may not always be brown and white; it can also have the silver of a P. scalare. The fins of altum are without markings. Meanwhile the tail fin is said to be fan-shape. In comparison, wild P. scalare is silvery with green iridescence as they mature and the bars or stripes are black and thin. There are other variants of P. scalare like red spotted and red shouldered depending on the source or collection site. Overall, the main body color is silver.