A. agassizi 'blue' Question

[slimbolen99]

This is going to be a long story...with probably an easy / short answer.

In November of 2011, I got some wild Apistogramma agassizi 'blue' from Jeff at Aquatic Clarity. They spawned several times, but I didn't raise many babies up before the only pair that established killed the others and then the male decided to kill his mate. I have six almost full grown fry in a 75 now. They're all male.

At that same time, I also got some wild A. agassizi 'red's that have bred profusely and now have one really established pair and about a dozen almost sexable juveniles.

What I'm wondering is:

1) Does anyone have any of the A. agassizi 'blue' from that same order that are willing to share some females, and

2) If I can't find any, can I (or should I -- ethically speaking) breed one of my blue males to my red females and hope to get some blue females?

I'd really like to keep the strains separate if at all possible, but if there are no blue females around (United States), my only hope (I think) is to breed them to the reds and cull out anything that comes out red.

Thoughts?

 

[Mike Wise]

Brian, it really depends on the species and how 'picky' you actually are. There are actually several species/forms within the A. agassizii superspecies. I wouldn't willingly cross them. OTOH, many of the species/forms have populations that are a bit different but still the same species/form. Since most of the populations of the different species/forms are polychromatic anyway, I see no problem crossing but I wouldn't use a population name for the offspring. Personally, I prefer to keep even populations pure, but that's just me.

 

[Captain Jim]

Brian, it really depends on the species and how 'picky' you actually are. There are actually several species/forms within the A. agassizii superspecies. I wouldn't willingly cross them. OTOH, many of the species/forms have populations that are a bit different but still the same species/form. Since most of the populations of the different species/forms are polychromatic anyway, I see no problem crossing but I wouldn't use a population name for the offspring. Personally, I prefer to keep even populations pure, but that's just me.

 

[Captain Jim]

I just saw some Neon Apistos for sale.. they have blue face.

 

[Mike Wise]

Sounds like another name for Steel-blue Apisto.

 

[slimbolen99]

I really don't want to "cross" them -- but if I can't find females for them from that same order, there really isn't much else I can do. I will have to go get pics of the males -- the F1s are STUNNING. Thanks for the response. I hope you are enjoying your time down south.