Re: differentiating rotpunkt vs honsloi and agassizi vs. norberti

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

Paul,

At 3/4" (2 cm) nearly all apistos look a lot alike. Being this size, I would
imagine they are all domestic bred fish so you will have to take the store at its
word. As they get larger, around 1.5" (4 cm) they will be much more easily ID'd.
A. sp. Rotpunkt and A. hongsloi can easily be separated at this size. A. sp.
Rotpunkt will show a zipper like lateral band. A. hongsloi will have a wider band
with alternating lighter and darker scales running through the middle. This gives
the lateral band a ladder like appearance.

Not all A. hongsloi are deep bodied (high backed) fish. The blue-yellow
Rotstrich/Red-streak form is very deep bodied while other forms are built more
like A. macmasteri. Compare the two fish on pages 69 & 70 in your Linke & Staeck
book. It's hard to believe that they are the same species, isn't it?

Black color on the first 3 dorsal spines is common to most apisto juveniles -
even , but to a lesser extent, on A. agassizii. My suggestion would be to pick a
few of each different looking fish, in different sizes so you'll likely get
females & males. Then wait until they grow a bit more. The aggies will be much
more slender than the A. norberti.

I agree with Fredrik, an experienced dwarf cichlid breeder can sex males at 1.5"
(4 cm) but don't be disappointed if you can't. Usually by 2" (5 cm) the tail will
start to show a color pattern and become more spade shaped, but remember aggies
are a polygamous species and the "sneaker" males will develop their masculine
features much more slowly.

Last, don't get down on all of the cacatuoides species-complex. After all, it
includes one of the easiest apistos anyone can breed - A. cacatuoides. Those
species in the nijsseni sub-complex, however, do seem to be more intolerant of
conspecifics and definitely need special water conditions.

Mike Wise

Paul Evans wrote:

> I drove to a store in San Francisco that was
> recomended to me as one that commonly has dwarves.
> I was not dissappointed.  They had (well claimed to
> anyway) a. agassizi, a. borellii, a. hongsloi,
> a. norberti, a. nijsseni, a. panduro, and a. sp.
> rotpunkt.
>
> Except for the borellii all were *very* juvenile.
> The hongsloi and rotpunkt were in adjacent tanks
> and about 3/4" long.  They looked exactally alike
> to me.

> The agassizii and norberti were in a tank together.
> They were only about 1/2" long.    In fact, all the fish
> looked generally like the first picture on the
> agassizi page on www.thekrib.com.
>
> So, my questions are:  1. do juvenile hongsloi look
> like rotpunkt?  If so, is there a good way to tell
> them apart?  After looking at a lot of pictures it
> looks to me that I could differentiate the norberti
> from the agassizi by looking for a black mark covering
> the first few rays of the dorsal fin.  Do you think
> that would work?  Lastly, at what length does agassizi
> start to show sexual dimorphism?
>
> I presently have is a female nijsseni that I got before I knew much so
> I am staying away from cacauoides complex fish.  My
> nijsseni is rather aggressive.  She is probably about
> 18 months old, when she goes I would not mind having
> other fish from that complex.  Actually, after I
> get a better handle on what I am doing and breed a few
> easier species, I would like to have more nijsseni.
> I would like to get either the hongsloi or the
> agassizi but I don't want my nijsseni to terrorize
> any norberti or pay hongsloi prices for rotpunkts.
>
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