A. cf. ortegai "Pebas"?

[apistobob]

I'm quite sure I've had this misidentified as A. sp. "Putumayo" for the past 20 years. It looks to me like A. cf. Ortegai "Pebas" because of the caudal blotch. I purchased them as A. sp. "Putumayo" and I don't have any photos of the female.

Any thoughts?

Bob

 

[Frank Hättich]

You right it's not A. sp. Putumayo. To me the caudal blotch looks more like the "double spot" of A. ortegai than the "drop-shape" one of A. cf. ortegai (Pebas). But the variablity of these features is so big, that from seeing just one specimen it's very easy to go wrong. Do you have photos of females too?

 

[apistobob]

You right it's not A. sp. Putumayo. To me the caudal blotch looks more like the "double spot" of A. ortegai than the "drop-shape" one of A. cf. ortegai (Pebas). But the variablity of these features is so big, that from seeing just one specimen it's very easy to go wrong. Do you have photos of females too?

I don't have any female photos but this one shows caudal spots of three different males

 

[Frank Hättich]

I don't have any female photos but this one shows caudal spots of three different males

The male on the right could be Pebas, also the spots in the caudal fin point towards that, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[Mike Wise]

Putumayo, Pebas and Papagai/ortegai were mixed together so many times when originally introduced. They obviously, to me, are not Putumayo (different caudal spot), but your fish could be a mix of Pebas and ortegai. The Pebas area has been contaminated with A. ortegai by native collectors. This includes the type locality for A. ortegai near Pebas. It is far from the Quebrada Paucaryacu in the middle Río Ampiyacu where ortegai naturally occurs.

 

[apistobob]

Thanks Mike and Frank, I'm content to never know for sure. They were wild imports in 2008 and are long gone from my fish room.