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Apisto sp. aff. Agassizii ID?
A week ago I brought home 3 males and 4 females of a wild caught apisto sp.
that in the store was labeled "Apistogramma afanini". One of the males and
two of the females are adults, the male being 55 mm SL and the females 40 mm
SL.
The fish are imported via the Check republic and I have no reference at all
as to where they may come from, etc.
I dumped them into a 250l aquarium with some phantom tetras and cories while
setting up a new tank for them. Of course by now two females have spawned
(saturday) and the original inhabitants of the tank are severely terrorized.
I have never witnessed such aggression from apistos.
They resemble A. agassizii very closely. In the ID worksheet in the Krib the
answer is aga to allmost everything. The coloration of the dominant male is
very close to the red agassizii on p.26 in Linke&Staeck. The younger males
have a lot more blue in them. There are however some small things that
differ from agassizii:
1. The caudal fins of the males are oval. Only on the adult male the caudal
could be described as very slightly lanceolate.
2. On the adult females the dorsal fin has a red bordering.
3. The caudal fin of the females are slightly more truncate than on an
agassizii female.
4. Breeding females always (as far as I have observed) show the full lateral
band, not only the lateral spot as my agassizii females did.
They spawned at very low hardness dGH=dKH<2, pH~6.
Although the tank is planted there is not enough hiding places for such
aggressive fish. It is interesting to observe though that one of the
egg-guarding females allows a small female within her territory while
viciously beating up any other fish that comes close, including the males.
This smaller female is not in breeding coloration.
I have some pictures waiting to be developed that I will put up somewhere on
the web when I get them.
Anyone with any experience with this fish? Could a better identification be
made?
Fredrik Nilsson
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