A.piauiensis?

[Joost S]

I recently purchased these fish as being A. piauiensis Red Blue.

I will try to get a better one (total) of the female fish.

 

[Mike Wise]

They might be A. piauiensis, but there are not enough dark markings visible to be certain. If I had to guess only from these photos, I would say A. sp. Xingu. Photos of the female and fright/threat pattern on the male would be very helpful.

 

[Joost S]

Thank you for the first reaction, Mike. Fright pattern is something I never realy noticed with these fish, except for loosing color. Here are two other pics.

not the best picture, sorry

It is a pair. I has the first eggs already (with no success)

 

[Mike Wise]

So far none of the photos show the red stripes that cross the flanks of A. piauiensis. The caudal spot on both of your fish are roughly oval. The caudal spot on A. piauiensis is roughly a half moon shape. The shape of the caudal spot and the odd shape of the postorbital stripe are more like that seen on A. sp. Xingu. Fright pattern is readily visible on fish captured in a net. Such pictures would be most valuable in a positive identification, since they show the diagnostic dark markings more distinctly.

 

[Joost S]

Thanks. I will see what I can do tomorrow.

 

[Joost S]

It took me a while. The fish where not that stressed, I guess. Caught in the net was no problem for them. Outside the water did upset them, but photography was difficult. As soon as they hit the water the black markings disappeared again. These are pictures I was able to get.

The male does show a red band from the tail base to the head when he looses all color. It gets more narrow towards the head.

 

[Joost S]

I finally checked my DATZ

My fish don't look like the A. piauiensis (A21). The male indeed lacks the red striping. It is a pity the DATZ doesn't show a female fish. The Xingu comes closer, but I am puzzled by two things: first the female always shows at least a black spot (also in brood coloration), which together with the rest of the lateral line forms a Z. First part of the line is higher than the last part. And secondly, the same bag with fish also contained this fish:

Which is a different apisto.

I will try to get hold of the place of capture.