Apistogramma sp. Twin/Zwilling (A181)

[a.d.wood]

I collected these a good few months back on one of my rambles around the UK, problem is I can't quite remember where it was now!!

They've sat in one of the tanks on the bottom row of the rack since they came into the fish house, found the female gurading a nice little clutch of fry yesterday.

Male:

Female:

And I know it's over exposed but at full size (2000+ px wide) the female on the left and the fry on the lower right looking at each other gets to you!!

Andrew

 

[red]

Very nice pics!

 

[PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn]

Andrew, your using a D50, cant you shoot in RAW??
if you did it'd be an easy fix for adjusting the exposure (and you'll lose no data, as you dont damage it as you would with changes to a JPG)

 

[rafael]

Beautiful pictures and wonderful apistos.

 

[Lolojil]

Hi Andrew,

The female seems to be a female A. panduro and not A. sp "Zwilling".

....... and I think that fry are hybrids between the 2 species :frown: .

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi Andrew,

The female seems to be a female A. panduro and not A. sp "Zwilling".

....... and I think that fry are hybrids between the 2 species :frown: .

I understand your reasoning, but I'm not convinced that is the case. Couple of things that don't stack up for it being a female A. panduro:

Stock tank. When collected there were only A. sp. Zwilling males visible in the tank, no sign of A. panduro males (and I don't think the 2 are found close together in the wild), so, fingers crossed the males and females were from the same catch.

Female markings. The female has a definite black mark under the chin (one point listed as diagnostic for A. sp Zwilling by Romer) and t's a mark I have never seen in any of the A. panduro I've kept on the past.

I appreciate she doesn't show the large caudal spot, I would have to admit though that the display of caudal spots by all the members of the Nijsseni complex I have kept has been variable at the best of times.

Andrew

 

[Peter Lovett1]

I have to agree with Lolojil thats is a A. panduro female and not A. sp. Zwilling.


and all the A. sp. Zwilling females i have show a centre spot not a band and alway show the caudal spot. As cowinsidence has it the stock tank i have them in does contain some f1 panduro.

 

[a.d.wood]

Done some digging in the records, looked like I picked these up in the North East through the Tom Halvorsen outlet.

There's a rogue female kicking around in the tank with them as well, may pull the male and that female into their own tank and see how the markings develop on this other female.

What still doesn't sit right with it being a A. panduro female though is the chin spot, any one seen this on their A. panduro before??

Andrew

 

[a.d.wood]

Right, just gone through the tank.

Male removed to another breeding tank, caught rogue female that was still in with the pair.

She shows some slight vertical barring towards the rear of the body under stress and more importantly has a large caudal peduncle spot, so she's now in with the male.

Female A. panduro??? with fry, left in tank and a few Corydoras cats added to 'mop up' the rogue fry.

Will hopefully see a female A. sp. Zwilling in full breeding dress in the next few weeks....

Andrew