Re: iniridae female

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

Randy,

Seems you ran into the same trouble at the ACA as several others on this page. It
sounds like someone mixed a bunch of apisto shipments together. How else do you
get aggies with iniridae. The seller was a dealer as I recall so we can't condemn
him if his wholesaler sold him a bill of goods, too. Caveat emptor really applies
here.

A. iniridae & agassizii females are really easy to tell apart. Female A. iniridae
have pale rows of spot on the tail fin; female aggies don't. This is easier to
see when not in brood dress, but if you look closely you can tell the difference.
When out of brood color A. iniridae females show the same diagonal bars below the
lateral band as do males. A. iniridae, like other pertensis-group fish can handle
black water quite well. I always bred mine at pH 6 - 6.5 in soft water without
any problem. I found females of this fish to be very monogamous - or at least
very picky about with whom they breed. My dominant female stopped breeding
altogether once her mate died. She had her choice of 3 other males but ignored
them all. Female aggies can handle nearly any pH below 7 so I wouldn't depend on
breeding pH to determine which species you have.

Mike Wise

Randy or Deb Carey wrote:

> I have a collection of fish from the ACA which were supposed to be
> "uapesi" but turned out to be 3 male iniridae, a male agassizii, and a
> female which I assume to be of one of these two species.
>
> The female has yellowed up and seems to be guarding something (probably
> eggs as I see no fry moving) in the roots on the back side of some Java
> Fern.  I think the female is iniridae, but I'm not sure.  I have seen
> only a few pictures of the females of either species.
>
> The female sports a prominent side spot on top of a
> distinct-but-not-bold lateral band.  This coincides with a picture of
> iniridae in the Aqualog, but I don't have enough female photos of
> agassizii to know if/how those females differ by markings.  Furthermore,
> the pH is just below 4.  I am assuming that iniridae is much more apt to
> spawn in this low of pH than is agassizii. (Mayland/Bork claim a need
> for a pH below 5.0 to get iniridae eggs to hatch.)
>
> So I believe the female is iniridae, but does anyone have any insights
> on distinguishing the females of these two species?
>
> --Randy
>
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