Re: Rio Tefe

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@bewellnet.com>]

Tsuh Yang,

There are several features that make A. sp. Tefé
different from the type A.
agassizii. Primary are the dark wavy horizontal
stripes above & below the lateral
band. The suborbital (cheek) stripe on A. sp. Tefé
is more uniform in width over
its entire length than that of A. agassizii. This
is more visible when comparing
displaying fish and is about the only way to
separate female aggies from Tefés. A
row of metallic scales are normally seen in the
middle of the lateral band of A.
sp. Tefé. A similar row of scales is also seen on
aggies, but not as pronounced
or as extensive. Crosses between true aggies and
Tefé result in small broods and
the offspring usually show some deformities in
their scale rows and are mostly
infertile. This is why the original importations
into Germany in the mid 90s
weren't very successful at producing fry. They
were unknowingly crossing female
aggies with male Tefés. Now that hobbyists are
able to recognize females we don't
hear how "impossible" Tefés are to breed anymore.
Difficult maybe, but not
impossible. There is no doubt that the 2 species
are very closely related and
some hard core "lumpers" still consider Tefé a
population of A. agassizii.

Mike Wise

Piabinha@aol.com wrote:

> sorry for the ignorant question, but how are Tefe not agassizi?  they seem to
> be the same species.
>
> tsuh yang chen, nyc, USA
>
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