Re: Apisto species info wanted.

[Marco Lacerda <marcolacerda@ax.apc.org>]

Ken Laidlaw wrote:
> 
> All,
> 
> A friend of mine has asked if anyone has any information on
> the following species.
> 
> Apistogramma sp EMERALD
> A. sp MADERIA RED TAIL
> A. sp RED LOBE XINGU
> 
> I do not know if she has these fish yet as the question
> came via another friend.  Any information would be much
> appreciated.
> 
> Regards,
> Ken.

Dear Ken,

I think I can help you with information on above species.
I'm comercially breeding different species/forms of dwarf cichlids in 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the names you mention are quite familiar to 
me, as they should have come from our farm.
The fishes your friend asked are likely F2 (emerald) or F1 (Madeira red 
tail + red lobes Xingu) from wild specimens we've collected in the past.

1) Apisto sp 'emerald' - This name was introduced by Uwe Roemer in DATZ 
years ago, from fish collected by A. Werner and E. Frecht in the 
Northwest of Alenquer, a town in front of Santarem (this one at the 
joining of Rio Tapajos and Rio Amazonas); Alenquer is on the other side 
of Rio Amazonas. I've collected the breeding pairs of your 'emerald' 
(smaragd, in German, as they were originally called) in the same place, 
and with the same fishermen, that helped Werner and Frecht years ago.
Apisto sp 'emerald' seems to be a very colorful population of A. 
geisleri, a species found near that (Alenquer) locality from several 
collecting points nearby. (if you want more details why it should be A. 
geisleri, I can detail it to you on a further e-mail).
Males of 'emerald' have a beautiful emerald-green metallic color over 
the sides of body, yellow on lower cheeks and mouth, and also red 
markings on gill cover.
It is quite an easy species to breed, and produces a lot of fry.
It can be successfully bred in similar water conditions to its biotope 
(pH 6.0-6.5, 0.5 dGH, 0 dKH).

2) You have misspelled correct name, which is:
Apisto agassizii 'Rio Madeira / red tail' -
This species is one of the many forms of A. agassizii, and I've 
collected it in a tributary of Rio Madeira near Humaita. Individuals of 
same species from same locality may either have whitish-blue tail, or 
'red-tail', like yours (you should notice a nice short red stripe it 
also has over the black lateral band).
That's also an easy species, not difficult to breed.

3) The third fish is:
Apisto sp 'red lobes / Rio Xingu' -
This fish has been recently introduced in the hobby in articles by 
Stawikowski (in German) and Grimes. It comes from the vicinity of 
Altamira, in Rio Xingu.
Although originally named A. sp. 'Rio Xingu', I've added the nomination 
'red lobes', because many individuals of this species (yet 
scientifically undescribed) have upper or lower rays of caudal fin 
orange-red, sometimes both (in such case, I call them 'double-red'); 
similar caudal fin pattern you can see at A. macmasteri.
Also very easy to breed, and moderatelly productive.

All the best, Marco.
<marcolacerda@ax.apc.org>