A. sp. "Sunset"

[Randy or Deb Carey <carey@spacestar.net>]

Mike Jacobs wrote:

> <snip>
> Also..........Dave has given me some photo's yesterday of the NEW, NEW
> NEW.....A. sp"Sunset".......they are BEAUTIFUL!!!  They are slides from
> Uve Romer.....I have to get them scanned.....YOU can't wait for these!
> Soon!
>

A friend and I purchased some wild-caught Apisto's through my importer contact.
They were labeled with a tentative "cf" name. When David Soares was here last
month, he informed me that he had already established that this species from that
dealer was the new "Sunset."  My friend has a spawning pair.  He's a Lake cichlid
guy, so (as far as I know) he's yet to have fry.

My fish apparently exhibited uncommon Apisto behavior.  The dealer said they were
aggressive. I put mine in a ten-gallon tank with a box filter, Java Fern, and
some pvc tubing.   I originally got 6, but very quickly they were "disappearing"
one-by-one.  In about four days I had only one female left.  I seldom cover my
Apisto tanks, and apparently they jumped out!  That's never happened to me before
with Apisto's.

My guess at the cause of this is either [1] their aggression chased each other
out, or [2] being wild caught, they spooked themselves into jumping.  I didn't
have the fish long enough to be able to recall their features, but I remember
that I thought they were a handsome fish with some rich colors.

David claimed (suggested) that this species is monogamous.  I'm not sure how
certain he was when he said it.

If/When  my friend spawns them, I'm expecting to be able to buy his adults and
try again.  Perhaps I can sell some fry for him (on my site and through this
list) if/when he gets some.

Usually I'm skeptical of new names attached to Apisto's, but David says his info
comes from Romer and that it will be included in Romer's '98 book.  It seems to
be a species which will be one of the more desirable.

- --Randy