A. Borelli? Not sure..

[Michael1989]

Hi everyone i was recently sold this pretty pair as Borelly but after a flip through the Apistogramma aqualog im not so sure.. wonder if someone can help me ID them please?

I apologise the photos arent amazing, i havent had alot of experience photographing fish and they dont seem to like having there photos taken.


This is the male without his crest up but i think you can see its a deep red at the front then a bright yellow at the back, the colours just run along the edge of the crest and it is quite pronounced, like cacatuoides.

The female here in her favourite plant pot, sorry its a bit blurred, but here you can see the vivid colouring in her face, this is a blueish yellow in proper light, she also has a pale red only slightly visable near her tail.

Another shot of the male where you can see his bright blue colouration and the fin colours a little better

This is by no means a decent picture but you can see his facial markings here wich i thaught might help in identification.

Once again sorry for the quality and i hope someone recognises these fish and can help me out. Thanks alot

 

[aquaticclarity]

The male is a A. trifasciatia. The "female" looks to be a male Apistogramma but the shot is a little to fuzzy for a good I.D. but if I had to take a stab I'd say it's a male A. sp. "steel blue" which is thought to be a man made cross of a few different Apistogramma.

Jeff

 

[Michael1989]

Thanks or the quick reply, i know the photo is crap but im pretty sure it is a female, il see if i can find a better pic, they both have the same facial pettern so that led me to believe it was a pair, also the bloke in the show said it was.
also the fish are from a wild caught consignment from south america, not sure wich country, so i dont think its a man made cross.

What defining features help you to identify the male as Trifasciata? Id love to know all i can about identification


I know this an absalutely terrible picture, but at least shes not in the gloomy light of the plant pot, il have to see if i can get better pics later when the tank lights come on.

 

[aquaticclarity]

The strip through the belly of the male along with the long dorsal fin extentions are a dead give away for trifasciatus. There really isn't another know Apisto with that angled belly stripe.

The other fish is not a trifasciatus. The larger dorsal fin along with the color have me believeing it's a male Apisto., but I would need some clearer shots to be sure. It could very well be a borelli if it is a wild caught fish.

 

[Mike Wise]

The 'female' actually is a specimen of A. borellii. The zigzag lateral band together with the shape of the body are diagnostic for this species. I can't say if it's a young male or a female. Right now I get the feeling it is an immature male.

 

[nicos apistos]

the so called

The female you stated is a male borelli I think- my females dont have fins like that maybe Ap. Borelli Blue

 

[Michael1989]

thanks for all the replys people, verry verry helpfull. im a bit annoyed at paying the wild caught price and being given 2 males. the "female" had grown a bit since i got the fish, and being appistogramma i expected it to be a niearly full grown female with the size of it.

im a bit dissapointed but you win some you lose some eh. il seperate the fish, the male trifasciatus will go in a planted tank and the young borelli can stay where it is, can anyone give me advice or maybe post photos of the females of these species so i dont mess up when trying to buy mates for them?

 

[ste12000]

can anyone give me advice or maybe post photos of the females of these species so i dont mess up when trying to buy mates for them?

No problem, this is what a female A.borelli looks like.

 

[Michael1989]

thanks ste, so i can tell female borelli by the black clotch at the front of the dorsal fin and the blue edging along it along with the zigzag marking along the leteral line?

is this right? is there anything else i need to look for?

 

[ste12000]

When looking at a tankful of Apistos the first thing to do is to look at the ventral fins, the females will almost always show more black than the males, many male apistogramma have blue or red ventrals while the females show a black leading edge, even in young fish this is a good indication of sex.

 

[jose_vogel]

No doubt about the male trifasciata.

I saw (and had) hundreds of borellii and I think it's a male (although I'm not 100% sure).

 

[Michael1989]

Well this is strange, thanks for all the help and advice but the mystery fish definetly shows a black leading edge on the ventral fin, perhaps it is a male but as ste says the females always always show a black leading edge.
Il try to get some better pictures for you all to look at

 

[aquaticclarity]

Better picure would really help but males will often get a small amount of black on the leading edge of the ventral fins. Females will have a larger more noticable amount of black there.

 

[MonteSS]

Here is my young Borelli female. She has bright yellow eyes. Dont know if that means anything.

Click 720p and full screen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbjPT_8JTn8

....Bill

 

[Gwendal]

The male is a nice A. trifasciata.






1 saludo