A. cf. personata F0

[Ekona]

A WC pair of A. cf. personata arrived today. Nice population. This is how they look from importers couple of hours after arrival. Once the fins heal up and grow back out, this pair should be real stunners.

 

[Tom C]

Beautiful! Do you know where they were collected?

 

[Ekona]

Beautiful! Do you know where they were collected?

Tom, I don't, but I'll check. Just a few more photos. Do these resemble the form "Mitu"?

 

[Mike Wise]

Resemble? Possibly, but without a known collecting location I would not add a collecting name to the fish.

 

[Tom C]

Do these resemble the form "Mitu"?

Is there one Mitú form of A. cf. personata?

East of Mitú several small "Caños" could be found. They are all tributaries to the Río Vaupés.
This is one of them, the Caño_Ceima:

Several of the Caños have a population/form of A. cf. personata:

A. cf. personata from the Caño Mituseño, Mitú:

A. cf. personata from the Caño_Ceima, Mitú:

A. cf. personata from the Caño Cucura, Mitú:

This form of A. cf. personata is also from the Mitú area, but from an unknown stream:

West of Mitú, on the opposite side of the Río Vaupés, is the Río Cuduyari. This river also has it's population
of A. cf. personata:

A large area in the eastern Colombia seems to be "infected" with A. cf. personata forms/populations, and I have also collected some of the populations in other drainages than the Río Vaupés:

A. cf. personata from a remote area in the Río Inirida drainage:

In some moods some of these showed more red:

A. cf. personata from a Caquetá-Japurá location:

and A. cf. personata from the Río Içana drainage, Colombia

Until we see the results of genetic analyses, we won't know if all of these are just forms of the same species, or if they all, or some of them, are separate species.

But it would still be interesting to know where your fish were collected...

 

[Ekona]

Is there one Mitú form of A. cf. personata?

East of Mitú several small "Caños" could be found. They are all tributaries to the Río Vaupés.
This is one of them, the Caño_Ceima:

Several of the Caños have a population/form of A. cf. personata:

A. cf. personata from the Caño Mituseño, Mitú:

A. cf. personata from the Caño_Ceima, Mitú:

A. cf. personata from the Caño Cucura, Mitú:

This form of A. cf. personata is also from the Mitú area, but from an unknown stream:

West of Mitú, on the opposite side of the Río Vaupés, is the Río Cuduyari. This river also has it's population
of A. cf. personata:

A large area in the eastern Colombia seems to be "infected" with A. cf. personata forms/populations, and I have also collected some of the populations in other drainages than the Río Vaupés:

A. cf. personata from a remote area in the Río Inirida drainage:

In some moods some of these showed more red:

A. cf. personata from a Caquetá-Japurá location:

and A. cf. personata from the Río Içana drainage, Colombia

Until we see the results of genetic analyses, we won't know if all of these are just forms of the same species, or if they all, or some of them, are separate species.

But it would still be interesting to know where your fish were collected...

Tom, fantastic documentation of the various forms from different collecting locations. Thanks for sharing them! Given that this "species" is now becoming more widely available in the aquarist market, those who have an interest in such information will benefit greatly form your knowledge. I have not heard back from the source of the ones I got and I highly doubt a specific stream location can be allocated to them. Sorry to say. Although I would say the ones I have look most closely like the forms have have posted in pictures 4 and 9 and to the ones pictured from Aquarium Glaser https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/25...dwarf-cichlids/apistogramma-personata-mitu-2/. that seem to show more yellow on the fins, eyes and anterior portions of the body, rather that what appear to be a more blue form.

 

[Tom C]

..... that seem to show more yellow on the fins, eyes and anterior portions of the body, rather that what appear to be a more blue form.

This is a form showing both yellow and blue... it was collected primo 2023 in a remote area of eastern Colombia where nobody (until now) collects ornamental fish. Beautiful, isn't it?

 

[Ekona]

This is a form showing both yellow and blue... it was collected primo 2023 in a remote area of eastern Colombia where nobody (until now) collects ornamental fish. Beautiful, isn't it?

Yes, absolutely. And the remote collecting location is very interesting as well.

 

[Ekona]

 

[Tom C]