Apisto sp. 'Orange'

[NaturalDTP@aol.com]

Another name for you Mike...

Here in the UK I bought a young trio of wild caught fish as Ap. sp. 'Orange'. 
 They are certainly nijsenni/cacutoides group fish.  I'm guessing at 
atahualpa, even though they are more yellow and the blue is paler and not as 
extensive as the atahualpa on the Krib website.

male: bodycolour is metallic 'old gold' with a blue sheen on the lower half 
of the body from the caudal fin forward to mid-way.  There is a checker 
pattern of darker scales in the blue near the caudal fin. Nomally there is 
only a hint of any dark markings, although under stress it gets markings 
typical of cacutoides - a cheek stripe, a wide even body stripe with the 
addition of large spot at the base of the caudal fin.  The caudal fin is 
rounded (like nijsenni) and unmarked. The dorsal fin is not especially sail 
like but the first 5 rays are extended.  These are young fish and the lappets 
are already longer than 'norberti' so the potential is for cacutoides length 
lappets.

female: the dominant female has a bright plain yellow bodycolour, with no 
bodyspots other than 7-8 dark spots on the margin between the dorsal fin and 
the body.  She has a black cheek stripe and black ventrals.  She has a large 
black spot on the caudal peduncle.  The subdominant female has more subtle 
colouring with a light brown bodystripe.

They are fairly intolerant of other dwarf cichlids in their tank (a very 
heavily planted 50 USgallon) with cardinals, Ap. trifaciata, Ap. hongsloi I, 
wild Rams.

Can anyone confirm this is atahualpa, or suggest an alternative.

Alan W


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