yellow aggies (wasRe: will the real A. agassizi Tefe please stand up?)

[swaldron@slip.net]

Mike,
Thanks for your thoughts- very interesting read, on second glance at
Koslowski- my fish looks very similar to the gold aggie as you say. The
only photos I have seen of A. sp. tefe were from a DATZ article written by
Ingo a number of years ago- I wasn't sure of those wavy bands parallel to
the lateral band were mood dependent...interesting fish, seems
gephyra-like.

What do you think of the slim-bodied, yellow/purple aggie in Koslowski? I
used to think that was just an unusual photo...but a few years a go i saw
an import of aggies from Brazil that had the same morphology- wonder if it
is something unique? thanks again for your time

>Well, there are at least 2 aggie-like species from the Rio Tefé.  One is a true
>A. agassizii. Other than the lateral band it doesn't show any other pattern on
>the flanks. The other species, A. cf.  agassizii (Tefé) or just plain A.
>sp. Tefé
>looks much like any other aggie but shows a series of spots or wavy bands along
>the flanks parallel to the lateral band. All A. sp. Tefé males show these
>spots/bands at least below the lateral band (A. sp. Tefé I) but some show them
>above the lateral band, too (A. sp. Tefé II). See Southamerican Cichlids
>II book,
>p. 19, second row from the top for pictures of this (1 or 2?) species. I have
>seen photos of yellow forms (like yours) as well as blue forms. The aggie you
>mention is a yellow aggie, probably from the lower Amazon (Alenquer/Santerém
>area).
>
>There was an article in DATZ a couple of years ago about cross breeding the
>species. A. sp. Tefé was reported to cross with A. agassizii from the Rio Tefé
>only if given no choice of females, but the fry showed irregular scales
>and other
>deformities that indicated that they were probably hybrids. This was found
>to be
>the problem with trying to breed many of the offspring from the first Tefé
>imports. Female aggies & Tefés are almost impossible to tell apart. The crosses
>that occurred produced mostly infertile offspring. I understand that this has
>been eliminated for the most part. Still, it is not an easy fish to breed.
>Hope
>this helps.
>
>Mike Wise
>
>swaldron@slip.net wrote:
>
>> so I guess if you guys can discuss eight foot long rams than I suppose I
>> can imbue my aggies with the ability for bipedalism...
>>
>> Hi folks,
>> Long time no read... glad to be back amongst the apisto-philes- the only
>> cichild hobbyists with good taste...Question for those in the know...I
>> recently aquired some aggies sold to me as Tefe aggies but no so sure that
>> is what they are...they do have the same caudal pattern as a Tefe aggie but
>> different from photos that I have seen of Tefe's in that the male's of
>> these fish (btw, just starting to come into maturation) have a strong
>> yellow/orange coloration to the ventral region of the body (i.e. 1/2 the
>> caudal, the pelvics, anal fin) with a purple sort of wash to to the lateral
>> body scales and bright blue irridescent scales on the opercula. The body
>> shape is pretty much the standard aggie-look- nothing like the elongated
>> purple/yellow aggie in the Koslowski book and not very "gephyra-like"
>> either. it's a beautiful fish but not sure what is diagnostic of a Tefe.
>> Any ideas? thanks!
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
>> For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
>> email apisto-request@listbox.com.
>> Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!
>
>
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------
>This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
>For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
>email apisto-request@listbox.com.
>Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!

                              Steven J. Waldron

                             http://WWW.ANURA.ORG
               "Natural History, Captive Husbandry, Conservation and
                           Biophilia of Tropical Frogs"

                    




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the apistogramma mailing list, apisto@listbox.com.
For instructions on how to subscribe or unsubscribe or get help,
email apisto-request@listbox.com.
Search http://altavista.digital.com for "Apistogramma Mailing List Archives"!