A. baenschi gill cover defect

[eranu]

One of my local shops has a batch of these fish in, labeled as 'very rare' and asking for £15GBP each. The are from a Czeck supplier.

On close inspection I thought their gill covers looked a bit short. I noticed the deep red colour of the actual gills at first, then realised I could see it on all of them, but not on other apisto species in the same shop, which made me think they weren't quite right.

I've seen gill cover deformities in batches of fish before. Is it something to look out for in apisto's?

 

[Microman]

Hi,
Apisto baenschi are widely available in the UK from nearly all dwarf cichlid breeders and have been for some time. They are also on nearly every import list that i see on a weekly basis and are not rare in the trade or the hobby.
£15.00 UK pounds is somewhere near right for a pair of A baenschi but you can get wilds at this price rather than Czech bred fish. F1s go for approx £6 pair....

Deformities and missing gill covers are often seen on highly inbred/hybrid Apisto species but i have never seen a whole batch of Czech bred fish with the same deformity. Very unusual...
Mark...

 

[eranu]

Cheers Mark,

These were £15 each! I know they aren't rare, I never believe the 'rare' labels.

Maybe I was wrong with the gill cover defect. I need to go back and look again.