A. inconspicua

[Joost S]

Anyone any experience with the A. inconspicua? I run into a few at the LFS today. For about 7.50 $ a piece! They do not look in great shape, but there is nothing wrong with the store.

But I can't find anything about these apisto's. They seem to be what the people at the LFS tell me when I look at these: http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/ThumbnailsSummary.cfm?ID=46648
Any comments?

 

[Joost S]

Sorry,

The A. inconspicua

Or does this fish have another name by now?

 

[Tom C]

A inconspicua is one of the the easiest apisto I've ever bred.
Some years ago I hade two males and two females. While setting up a nice tank for dem, I kept them in a small 10g tank, where they lived without any problems or aggressions. After about 1 week or so, both females spawned at the same time in this 10g tank.
The water: pH slightly under 7 and 150 microsiemens.

In that small tank, the females took every opportunity to steal fry from each other, until one day one of the females were dead, and the other one triumphant took care of more than 100 babies.
Later I bred them again in the same type of water, but in a bigger tank.

They eat all kinds of food they were offered, dry or frozen.

After Dr. Staecks new description of Apistogramma similis, you'll have to count the number of dorsal spines to decide whether your fish is A inconspicua or A similis: Mike Wise wrote this about the differece between them:
http://forum.apistogramma.com/showthread.php?t=2817

 

[Joost S]

@Tom, thanks! Now I will visit the LFS and see which one of them and whether they are still there.

We don't see either of them very often here in the Netherlands, so I just see where I can squeeze them in, without distrubing (moving) the rest of my fishes too much.

 

[Joost S]

I just bought a couiple. It turned out that they had 8 males, one female and one that could not be sexed by us (me). Here some photo's. I bought them as A. inconspicua any comments? Mike? On the pics they look more bleu than in the aquarium. And in the LFS they were more greyish with banding pattern.

Female

Male

Male (2nd photo)

 

[Mike Wise]

It does not look like A. inconspicua to me. A. inconspicua has a much larger 'caudal patch' made from a caudal spot & part of Bar 7 on the flanks. Compare your fish with those in books. I hate to say it, but they look a lot like A. sp. Blue-head/Steel-blue to me.

 

[Joost S]

Thanks Mike. I don't have books to compare, but in the LFS they do have stronger checkerboard patterns. It is really the flash that makes them blue. They resemble the pictures at Link Are these fish no inconspicua either? BUT as always your opinion means a lot to me. I will se what I can find on the net with regard to the Blue's.

@ Tom C; do these fish resemble the ones you had?

PS. mind the pictures are made 15 minutes after they were released in the tank.

 

[Tom C]

The ones I had resembled more like this one, but the 'caudal patch' as Mike calls it, was more distinct:
http://www.hippocampus-bildarchiv.de/html/en/zierfische/cichliden/lateinamerika/s03600.html

 

[Joost S]

I will make new pics as sson as they are in their new tank and feeling 'fine' and have the distinct marks they also show in the LFS (and that probably are weaker because of the stress (and the flash)) It will take me a week or two though. :redface:

 

[Joost S]

@ Mike, after your comments I searched this forum and the internet for the Blue Steel and I got two questions:

1. In an other thread you state:
" You have A. sp. Steel-blue/New Blue/Blaukopf/Blue-head. All are names for the same fish that is probably a hybrid between 2 apisto species. It is very unlikely that you will find a female for this fish. They are beautiful fish; enjoy them for what they are - ornamental fish."
How come there are no females (What about my female?)? And why don't we know who the two other species are, since there seem to be more than one breed?

2. The upper part of my fishes head is not blue. Nor does it have the red markings of the Blue Steels' I saw in other pictures (http://www.israquarium.co.il/Zmani/ApistoID1.jpg = a female?). Is the Blue Steel such a strange species? And should we call it a species?

Ok. that were more than two questions

 

[Mike Wise]

They resemble the pictures at Link Are these fish not inconspicua either? BUT as always your opinion means a lot to me.

It is always hard to identify fish from only a few photographs, but based on what I see I believe that you have some species other than A. inconspicua. Compare the black spot at the base of the caudal fin (caudal spot). On all members of the commbrae-complex (A. commbrae, A. inconspicua, A. linke, & A. similis) the caudal spot expands into the last vertical bar (Bar 7) on the flank. This makes a large square 'caudal patch'. I do not see this on your fish. Perhaps it is as you say, that they are not showing all of their dark markings. A female will show the caudal patch the best. I would like to see other photos in other moods. I am not absolutely positive that you have Blue-head. It might be a robust form of A. taeniata, but these are not imported into the hobby.

How come there are no females (What about my female?)? And why don't we know who the two other species are, since there seem to be more than one breed?

A. sp. Blue-head/Blaukopf is an interesting fish. It originally came from commercial breeders in Southeast Asia. It has features that indicate that it is a cross between a species in the resticulosa-complex and a species in the caetei-complex. There are several very similar species in each complex that could be the original species used. We just do not know which species were used. Czech commercial breeders started producing their strain of Blue-head using males from SE Asia and some caetei-complex species females. From what I see, all 3 photos show males. Females of the regani-group (in which A. inconspicua & the Blue-head are part) all show black forward edges on the ventral fins. I do not see this on any of the photos.

I do not know why there are so few females. Most likely the males are easy to separate from the females, based on color, and the breeders only ship males. The another possibility is that the fish are bred at high temperatures (>28-30ºC/82-85ºF), which produces mostly males. The last possibility is that the cross is lethal to female fry for some reason.

The upper part of my fishes head is not blue. Nor does it have the red markings of the Blue Steels' I saw in other pictures (http://www.israquarium.co.il/Zmani/ApistoID1.jpg = a female?). Is the Blue Steel such a strange species? And should we call it a species?

First, I rarely use color as a diagnostic feature. Your fish are not as blue as many Blue-heads, but look similar to photos of Steel-blue (same fish) in Römer's Cichlid Atlas. Still, I am not absolutely certain that your fish is Blue-head. As I wrote, I would need more photos in various mood to be sure. The fish pictured at http://www.israquarium.co.il/Zmani/ApistoID1.jpg is not Blue-head. It is a male specimen of a regani-complex species from Peru called A. sp. Masked/Masken/Apache/Carapintada(in part). A. sp. Blue-head probably is no more a true species than the Blood Parrot Cichlid, Flowerhorn, or the many color varieties of Swordtails ("X. helleri"), Platys ("X. maculatus"), and Mollies (Poecilia spp.). Still it is a beautiful fish.

 

[Joost S]

Hi Mike,

thank you very much for your time and energy in typing this relpy. I will suprise you of of these days with some pictures. The female has these sqaure spot (in my opinion), has black marking on the vins and is turning yellowish at the moment!

So I hope to convince you in anything else than a Blue Steel. Not that I don't like the fish. They stay beautiful anyway! Tomorrow I will go back to my LFS to ask the owner to squeeze info out of his supplier. This might already give us a better clue where the fish come from and what it is. But since this store is a real general PetShop.....

As promised in a few days time....... photo's will be here!

Thanks again for your 'Wise' comments.

JS

 

[Joost S]

What about THIS ?

 

[Joost S]

New photo

I bought a third fish today from the same tank :wink:

Maybe this shows more of the original color?

It is still not the best picture, but .... NOt using the flash makes grey pattern more clear. I do agree it is not a inconspicua. It indeed lacks the spot merging ewith the 7th one.

I found out that it comes from Maleisia so that makes me suspisious. In the end I might have to agree with Mike (as always ) And it still is a beautiful fish.

 

[scott]

from that last picture i have to agree that it is a. steelblue as well. my opinion is nowhere near as valuable as mikes but my grandfather has a couple in his show tank so i am familiar with them

 

[Mike Wise]

What about THIS ?

(photos of A. caetei-complex forms)

All males of caetei-complex species have very prominent caudal stripes (rows of spots). Your fish do not.

 

[Joost S]

@Mike: thank you for your patience and time! I have to agree that it is a Blue head.

The fish are imported from Maleisia and all seem to be male. I will ask my LFS and the guy that imported the fish whether he is able to get females. I got three males now. They are very easy and quiet fish. Search for dark places in the tank and only move around to search for food.

My apologies, JS