Re: Apisto ID

[Frauley/Elson <fraulels@minet.ca>]

Michael W McGrath wrote:
> 
> > Today I just purchase some A. cacatuoides Rio Ucayali  at a local Fish
> > auction. Are these just regular Apisto?
> >
> The Rio Ucayali is the River where the Apisto. cacatuoides is found.
> So yes, they are normal apistos. Enjoy em. I just had my mom eat
> her 2 day old eggs for no good reason. =(

Hi,
	The Ucayali is A river where cacatuoides is found. The form in question
is from above Iquitos. Totally unscientifically, the form labelled 'rio
ucayali' is a yellow caca with wildly large extensions on the dorsal -
much larger than the captive-bred forms, and most wild forms I've seen.
The tips of the extensions are red, but there's no other red on the body
or fins. The tag is an attempt to differentiate them from the blue
cacatuoides that comes from the same general region. 
	There's also an aquarium strain that is yellow, but has no significant
fin extensions (inbreeding?). I admit, I'm guilty of having tacked the
tag on - it seemed like a step towards keeping this high dorsal strain
distinct. I've seen a lot of cacatuoides and this one stuck out as
something very attractive. I'd hate to see it crossed with captive form
cacatuoides and then just washed out in the gene pool.
	Good luck with them.
Gary