Re: thoughts on color morphs and locations of various Apistos

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

Sarah,

True color morphs & populations of any species are just that, the same 
species but with different coloration or from a different locations. 
Males & females will cross breed without problems - as long as they 
truly are the same species. A. bitaeniata is a good example. This 
species is now known to occur along the Amazon system from central Peru 
to Santarem, Brazil. Being restricted to smaller blackwater biotopes, 
there are many color forms & populations. I think that I can separate 
the mostly Brazilian forms from the Peruvian forms by the amount of 
yellow & metallic blue markings on the face and the intensity of the 
secondary abdominal band, but the dark markings, finnage, body shape, 
etc. are all the same. I believe that they all belong to the same 
species. Mixing populations is fine as long as you don't sell them as 
any one specific population.

Populations of what are generally accepted as "A. agassizii", however, 
are sufficiently different in dark markings, finnage, & body shape that 
this might be a 'superspecies' composed of (from my way of thinking) 
anywhere from 3 to 6 restricted populations that are or are moving 
toward becoming separate species. Because of this I tend to avoid 
breeding certain populations together. This is just my prejudice. If you 
want to cross aggie populations, do it & call them "A. agassizii".

Mike Wise

S. Lardizabal wrote:

> Hi all, 
>
> It's been a long time since I've posted to the list,
> and it looks like its been awhile since there was any
> real traffic here.  Hopefully the 'experts' I'm trying
> to reach will still be out there listening.  
>
> What I'm interested in learning about are the color
> morphs/location morphs of various Apisto species.  For
> example in A. bitaeniata we have quite a few wild
> color morphs that are usually referred to by location
> of collection.  Ie - Mike Jacobs at Southern Apistos
> right now A. bitaeniata morphs including Curutu,
> Momon, Rio Pastaza, Rio Tigre, Shishita, Shushupe..
> etc!  
>
> My question is, when I look at pictures of different
> locations and color morphs, it only seems to be the
> males that exhibit the major differences
> morphologically.  The females will sometimes follow
> suit but, across most species and groups of Apistos,
> the trend is for the males to show the variation in
> color/size/markings/etc within a species.  (Feel free
> to refute this, its just my own observation.)
>
> I realize at this level of the hobby that most people
> keep their locations separated to avoid cross
> breeding.. but has anyone had experience in
> indiscriminately throwing together their color morphs?
> More specifically, I want to know if the females, or
> the males, prefer their own color morph/location, or
> will breed with whomever they like best in terms of
> other attributes that we may, or may not, be able to
> measure.  
>
> Oh, last thing, if this has been covered ages before,
> please let me know and I will try mining the archives
> for the info.  Its pretty difficult to navigate the
> archives though and the search doesnt seem 100%
> reliable at returning all the possible threads.  
>
> Thanks very much to all of you - hope everyone on the
> US side had a great Thanksgiving.  
>
>  
>
> > Sarah 
> >    
>
> --------
> Sarah M. Lardizabal
> Wildlife Conservation
> University of Delaware
> samalaud@yahoo.com
>
>
> 		
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