A. cf pulchra???? A226?

[ste12000]

Hi guys, am i correct in thinking this pair are A226? A.cf pulchra 'Branco' ??

Ive had the pair a while now, had several spawnings but no fry yet!! The male is hyper aggressive to the brooding female and next time they spawn he is coming out..Lovely fish and certainly amongst my favourites..

 

[Mike Wise]

I am fairly certain that this is the type form of A. pulchra from the upper Rio Madeira. The male shows no dark flank markings, which I would expect for cf. pulchra Branco. Males of the Branco form are more slender, darker pigment on the flanks and, when showing aggression, the lateral band on the caudal peduncle expands greatly. Female of the Branco species show a distinct caudal spot in brood dress, while females of the true pulchra shows a continuous lateral band to the base of the caudal fin. BTW the photo of A. pulchra (A 224) in the DATZ book is atypical in that the male is much darker than usual; probably high aggression patterns. What were the fish sold to you as?

 

[ste12000]

Thanks for the input Mike..i did compare it to A224 but ruled it out due to the dark markings!!

I bought the fish from Mark Breeze(Microman, Uk) in october before he went to Peru, if im honest ive forgotten what Id he supplied me with but i remember him saying it would be worthwhile posting pics when i got some decent ones for a proper ID..I finally got some pics and here they are..

A little more info is that the female was fresh out of her spawning cave after 6 days but still no fry, she is either eating them or the male is, he is very aggressive and the pictures were taken today at the height of his aggression, he constantly flared his fins and repeatedly attacked the female whenever she came into sight. The females colours are stress and fading broodcare, unfortunately i dont have any of full broodcare because ive yet to see fry!!!

Mark should be able to give you more info when he pops along but these fish are highly likely to of originated with either Tom C or Ewe R in Germany..

Whatever the exact Id they are both beautiful and frustrating....

 

[ste12000]

Just a quick update..because i thought the female had lost this latest brood i decided to tidy the tank up, disturb the sand and syphon the crap out while doing a large water change ready for the next attempt..I removed the cave and disturbed 16 fry that are almost fully formed and freeswimming!!! Result!!!

Ill raise them seperately and keep my fingers crossed for another successful spawn soon..

 

[Microman]

Hi Steve,
Yes Mike is correct... Not A sp.Branco(A226) as ive had these before and they are much more slender than the fish you have there (A sp.Branco pics below for comparison).
The fish came into the UK as A pulchra via Glasers quite some time ago.
Good luck with the young Steve.... You had the last male from my group of 7-8 fish as i didnt want to lose these whilst away in Peru.
I have approx 6 adult females here with no males so pop the temperature up a little and i can then get a couple of males back.
Happy New Year....
Mark...