A. bitaeniata

[Jota Melgar <jsmelgar@compuserve.com>]

Lisa Brinkman wrote:

> I'm hoping you can help me out.  I bought a small group of these fish
> on the weekend (wild caught!).  However I have only a small amount of
> info on them.  How do you tell males from females?  How big do they
> have to be to breed?  Any info would be greatly appreciated.

There are a couple localities that I am aware. The most common one, and
probably the one's you saw, come from the Rio Momon near the city of
Iquitos, Peru. The second locality is from Tefe, Brazil and is not as
widespread as the Peruvian variety.

As for identifying them, if they are young and stressed then it can be ha=
rd
to tell them apart. Males usually have clear and longer ventral fins. The=

adult males also have longer third and fourth fin lapetts and a lyreate
caudal fin. Females have a deeper and more yellow body, black edges on th=
e
ventral fins, and a truncate caudal fin.

I agree with Bob, this is a very pretty Apisto.

Hope this helps,

Julio =