Re: A. sp. minima

["Myongsu Kong" <mkong@brownwoodlaw.com>]

Jason,
In response to your question, I can't say that I recognized all of what
David Soares sent to me this week and I have not had the time this week to
verify (or to be accurate, "try to verify" :)) his shipment.  In addition
to other fish, David said that he sent me A. "Minima", A. "Pebas /
Ampiyacu" and three new species: A. "Rio Xingu", A. "Angle-Spot" and a new
red color form of A. elizabethae.

I took a quick look at the fish in the store on Friday and spoke to David
briefly and here's my take:

With respect to the Rio Xingu variety, which I understand you think may be
A. iniridae (and which are together in the same tank), I couldn't tell.
You're right, it does look like iniridae because of the dark lateral line,
but on the other hand, I couldn't see the ventral "slanting stripes"
(Mayland & Bork) or a caudal blotch, and the lateral line, which is very
broad and very dark, never fades despite the mood of the fish.  As far as
the name, it doesn't help any since there are other fish with the Rio Xingu
appellation.  The fish which were supposed to be iniridae were too young
for me to ID.

A. "Angle Spot" was IDed for me by David as having a blotch somewhere
(sorry, I can't tell you where because I was interrupted in the office by a
visitor - and of course, it had to be when David was explaining the origin
of the name... sigh...).  The one thing that I did remember and did check
for was: when the fish gets excited the lateral line fades away and is
replaced by four vertical stripes across the body.

A. "Minima" - unfortunately, this was one of the fish that I did not really
get a chance to look at or talk about.  David did tell me that Minima is no
longer the smallest apisto.  Apparently, the hobby now has an apisto that
is even smaller than Minima - or maybe it should be ex-Minima?

As far as A. elizabethae - which was mis-ID'ed as A. agassizi and
mis-priced at $45.99 for the pair(!)  I took them home.  In fact, after
David told me what he had sent - I immediately left work to pick them up at
the store.  I figured they wouldn't do too well in the store, no one would
be willing to pay what I would have had to charge and besides, there should
be some perks to owning a store.  As far as the mis-ID, I didn't yell at
the guys too much, since the mis-ID was understandable (the fish were
hiding & stressed & the lappets were not visible) and because they hadn't
sold the fish... :).  They are now housed in a 30 gallon tank that was
-until last night- the spawning tank for my Pelv. taeniatus "Nigerian Red".
I am finding that these fish are like little white elephants...  every
morning it's
hold-my-breath-until-I-see-the-elizabethae-swimming-and-not-breathing-hard
time...

I will try to get some more information when I get a chance and I'll pass
it along if it's interesting.


Myongsu Kong
Afishionado




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