Re: A. sp "four stripes"

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

Ken Laidlaw wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have just bought three apistos labelled as A.pertensis in
> my LFS.  I believe though after consulting the dwarf books
> that they are A. sp "four stripes" since there are clearly
> visible four rows of dots below the lateral line.

Ken,

Sounds like A. sp. Vierstreifen (Four-stripes) to me. As Helen mentioned
Aqualog's SA Cichlids II has photos of an older female on p.61 and a nice male on
p.62.

> Is this fish still undescribes or does it now have a true name.

This fish hasn't been scientifically described yet. There are two populations
presently known. The original A. sp. Vierstreifen in the hobby came from the
upper Rio Uaupés/Vaupés, while the population more commonly available in the
commercial trade right now comes from the area around Puerto Ayacucho, Venezuela
on the middle Rio Orinoco. It sometimes is found under the name A. sp. Puerto
Ayacucho. Suttner originally introduced the Rio Uaupés/Vaupés population to the
hobby in 1987. Linke & Staeck introduced the Puerto Ayacucho population in the
1997 edition of their book (in German only).

> I picked out what I hope is two females and one male but as
> they are small I'm not so sure.  Does anyone have any
> pointers on how to sex these fish as they seem to have less
> sexual dimorphism than most apistos.

All members of the pertensis-group are characterized by little sexual dimorphism
in the body, but considerable in the finnage. The males have a high sailfin when
mature, but not quite as high as that of A. pertensis. It's very hard to sex
small fish that haven't developed their finnage. It looks like you'll have to
wait a while.

> The most dominant fish regularly takes on a yellow colour so I'm sure it is
> female.
>
> Any tips on best water conditions would also be appreciated, at present they
> are in pH6.5 temp 78f.

> Thanks,Ken.

> ps these fish were very inexpensive only 2.25UKP ~3.5USD
> each.
>
> *****************************
> Ken Laidlaw
> UK Astronomy Technology Centre
> Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
> Web: http://www.roe.ac.uk
> *****************************

I don't have any written reports on breeding this fish, but I know of aquarists
who have bred it. They breed like other members of the pertensis-group. For one
thing, they tend to be monogamous so the more fish you have the better the chance
of getting a good pair. If I were you, I'd go out an buy 3 or 4 more.

Linke & Staeck state that they found all of the ones around Puerto Ayacucho in
similar water conditions (translation follows):

"The water was very soft in all of the collecting localities (Total & Carbonate
hardness <1º dH, electrical conductivity 10-19 µS/cm) and acid. During high water
periods (July, 1989) we found a water temperature of 25.5ºC (78ºF) and the pH
running 5.5. At low water (March, 1996) we measured the same water at much higher
temperatues, between 31.8ºC (89ºF) and 32.5ºC (90.5ºF), and pH values from 4.1 -
4.4. These fish live in both standing as well as strongly flowing waters, where
they stay in the quieter pools however. In Laguna Paraqueña this dwarf cichlid
was collected together with Apistogramma sp. Breitbinden (actually the A. sp.
Caño Morrocoy population of Breitbinden - mw), Mesonauta insignis, Pterophyllum
altum and Satanoperca daemon."

Hope this helps.

Mike Wise

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