A. bita and A. mendezi

[blueblue]

I recently acquired a few wildcaught specimens from Brasil labelled as "A. bita"...In the retail store, that particular group of fish included A. bita and A. aggie (as usual). To my surprise, there are also many A. mendezi "Long strips" (A220)!! It's the first time I found both wildcaught A. bita and A. mendezi together!! The question is: do these two species co-exist in some region of the Rio Negro? What I know is mendezi's distribution is mainly in the upper and middle parts of the Rio Negro while A. bita (Brasil) seems to distribute in the much lower part of the Rio Negro, and in regions around the export centre Manaus (also in another stream with places/rivers such as Manacapuru, Coari, Tefe, etc). In addition, A. mendezi "Long strips" should reside mainly in upper and eastern part of the Rio Negro which is even much farther away from the reported locality of A. bita... Any comments on it?

 

[apisto-nut]

I was trying to remember the name I was told my fish came from and
you just reminded me " export centre Manaus " .

Would that be correct for the fish I posted here
http://www.forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=7097

 

[blueblue]

I was trying to remember the name I was told my fish came from and
you just reminded me " export centre Manaus " .

Would that be correct for the fish I posted here
http://www.forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=7097

No, again, your fish is gibbiceps which appears everywhere in Brasil...
If you order wildcaught apistos from Brasil, over 80% of fish appears to be gibbiceps no matter which locality you are ordering for...

 

[Mike Wise]

A. bitaeniata is known from several location in Brazil - as far east as the mouth of the Rio Tapajós. It is only found in blackwater streams near the main channel of the Amazon River - never as far upstream as is A. mendezi and A. gibbiceps in the Rio Negro. I imagine that the A. bitaeniata & A. mendezi were mixed together at the export station. BTW all known collections of A. gibbiceps are from the Rio Negro/Branco system.

 

[blueblue]

A. bitaeniata is known from several location in Brazil - as far east as the mouth of the Rio Tapajós. It is only found in blackwater streams near the main channel of the Amazon River - never as far upstream as is A. mendezi and A. gibbiceps in the Rio Negro. I imagine that the A. bitaeniata & A. mendezi were mixed together at the export station. BTW all known collections of A. gibbiceps are from the Rio Negro/Branco system.

Thanks Mike. Well, a couple of things to share:

Recent imports by Japanese teams such as K2 have found
A. bita in many many new localities which are outside the well-reported places in the past ... i am thus wondering whether bita also appears in upper Rio Negro in places such as Rio Demini, Santa Isabel, ...

For gibbiceps, it is well-known to be present in Rio Negro. However, ALL recent imports of wildcaught apistos from Brasil to Hong Kong (from ALL kinds of locations) seem to contain gibbiceps!! This includes the import of A. sp. Tefe and A. bita - Tefe... Of course, it could be a bad trick/mistake by the exporters while I myself do suspect that the presence of gibbiceps may be wider than reported...

 

[Mike Wise]

I know of the many new collecting locations of A. bitaeniata from as far east as Santarém in Brazil. All reported collecting localities are from blackwater streams that occur within 100 - 200 km from the main channel of the Amazon. I imagine that these population found there way to these locations by transport on trees and floating meadows that were ripped off the the shores farther upstream.

As for A. gibbiceps, I know of no collections from anywhere in the Amazon system except the Rio Negro/Branco drainage. I suspect that your mixed apisto shipments are coming from Manaus, and fish from several stations that ship fish for export from Manaus are mixed together there.

 

[blueblue]

Thanks Mike for the sharing.

For gibbiceps, your proposal makes sense and I am just thinking about whether other fellows here have similar experience... Nowadays, many exporters in Brasil are exporting apistos with the collection locations as
the labels, popular labels such as Rio Tefe. Stores that I know in Hong Kong found gibbiceps in nearly all exports under all kinds of "river labels" in 2007...

I know of the many new collecting locations of A. bitaeniata from as far east as Santarém in Brazil. All reported collecting localities are from blackwater streams that occur within 100 - 200 km from the main channel of the Amazon. I imagine that these population found there way to these locations by transport on trees and floating meadows that were ripped off the the shores farther upstream.

As for A. gibbiceps, I know of no collections from anywhere in the Amazon system except the Rio Negro/Branco drainage. I suspect that your mixed apisto shipments are coming from Manaus, and fish from several stations that ship fish for export from Manaus are mixed together there.