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Your photos show what we called the red color morph of N. anomala back in the 1980s. I've had and reproduced this color and also a blue, a green, and a black morph back then. The color morphs were based on the color in the male's anal fin.
Not to be anal, Tom, but your A. agassizii pictured is now recognized as an unnamed agassizii-like species. It is genetically different from other species found farther downstream of the Ucayali. In Estivals et al. 2020 they listed it as "Cluster 1" The species list Tom, Frank and I keep we call...
Actually most SA cichlids breed all year around - but mainly during the wet season when there are more areas that are flooded and more breeding territories are available. As hobbyists we mostly get environmental values during the dry season because that is when most locations are more...
Ttw is correct on all 4 questions. His best advice is the last sentence. Also, although collecting fish is your primary purpose, never, never let it be the only reason for going. Experiencing the people, culture and the natural surroundings are just as important.
The Denver metro area has many suburbs that are not on Denver Water Department's water supply, which is basically mountain reservoirs that hold water from winter snows. Others parts get theirs from wells. Since I live in Denver itself I get soft water that runs pH 8 because the water department...
My tap water is relatively soft (~125µS/cm) but certainly not as soft as in my breeding tanks (~35µS/cm). Most fish are fairly adaptable. When acclimated to harder water they will not be severely impacted by it. I once saw a store that sold Cardinal Tetras that they slowly acclimated to 13ºdKH...
Rocafuerte is a cacatuoides-group species closely related to A. cacatuoides. TomC & I collected them near the borders of Peru and Ecuador - far from where Alto Tapiche is found. I tend to agree with Frank, your fish do resemble Rocafuerte more than any other species. Your photos show a very...
It's available in many books on apistos. Does anyone read books anymore?
OK, A. gephyra always displays a red/orange band along the top edge of the male's dorsal fin (some agassizii do too). The tips of the dorsal and anal fin are shorter on mature gephyra males. The ventral fin are shorter and...
I also grow out my blackwater species in tap water - but they only breed in soft water. As Darrel continually writes, pH values are unreliable in soft water using testing equipment that we use.
The upper Rio Tapiche is also a blackwater river. TomC collected Alto Tapiche there and measured the following values: pH: 4.62 Conductivity: 7 microSiemens/cm Temperature: 26.2 °C. Of course this probably isn't the actual conditions one needs to breed the species, but it does need softer and...
The first time I went to collect in the Amazon I used citronella insect repellent. The mosquitos considered it a condiment - and I was the main dish!
When I last was in the Amazon I brought a mosquito repellent containing 100% DEET. I left what I had left with a group of Danish killi collector...
Females only eat their own fry if the fry are threatened by predation or starvation. Female recognize that it is better to eat their fry and retain some of the nutrition than allowing other fish (even if perceived) to eat them or watching them die of starvation and do nothing.
If you get near Pucallpa I would look in the Rio Shahuaya and see if the Pink Apisto (A. cf. eunotus Shahuaya) still exists. It was the original species sold in the hobby sold as A. eunotus - and it might just be the real A. eunotus.