Re: Opal borellii... or NOT... not!!!

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

Actually, I'm not sure that Bluehead is actually a real species, or a domestic
hybrid designed to produce a nice blue fish. Originally only adult males were
offered from Asia. The Czech breeders started supplying both sexes, claiming that
they bred Asian males with wild females. The question I have is where did the
wild females come from? My guess it that they realized that this fish is a
domestic hybrid between catei- and resticulosa-like species & used a
caetei-complex female. I certainly would not call it "A. caetei". It's been
published under the names Bluehead, Steel Blue, & New Blue.

Mike Wise

Raymond Wong wrote:

> Acutally think I know exactly what this fish is
> it looks like a borelli and is sold as one all the time
> I have some pictures on my site
> and Mike Wise ID'ed it for it
> he said
> Apistogramma caetei 'bluehead'
>
> http://members.home.net/rwmw/ahongsloi.htm
>
> here's what he said in an e=mail to me
>
> It is your unknown fish. This is a fish I haven't personally seen except in
> pictures. I am pretty sure that it is a fish that the Germans call Blaukopf
> (Bluehead) in Mayland & Bork's book or Steel Blue in Römer's Atlas,  and the
> Japanese (Matuzaka, et. al.) call it New Blue. This is a domestically
> developed fish, originally coming from SE Asia. Mayland & Bork believe it is
> part of the caetei-complex, while Römer believes it is a member of the
> resticulosa-complex. The fish shows more features of resticulosa-complex
> fish, but the head profile and tail pattern are more like caetei. Matuzaka
> believes that it is a cross between species of the two complexes. Who is
> correct?  I don't know. The fish shows none of the irregular scale pattern
> in the caudal peduncle area that most cross-bred apistos show, but the
> highly skewed sex ratio points at something not being quite natural. Mayland
> & Bork mention that the species was established in Europe only by breeding
> domestic males with wild females. Where they got the wild females and how
> they knew they were the same species is beyond me. I bet that they used a
> caetei-complex female (who knows what species). This is bad husbandry if you
> want to keep a species pure. It's OK if you are fixing a color pattern, like
> in certain livebearers, but such fish should never be listed under a
> scientific name. If you like the fish and want to breed it, I'd suggest
> finding a female A. caetei and see what develops. Who knows, if crossed with
> a "Primavera" color form of A. caetei you might get males with both a lot of
> blue and red on the face!
>
> Thank You
> Raymond Wong
> ------------------------------
>
> Please Visit My Aquarium Page : (adding more pix everyday)
> (Pictures of my fish,plants,tanks)
> http://welcome.to/myapisto
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
> For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
> email apisto-request@listbox.com.
> Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@listbox.com.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!