A sp. Rio Guapore

[fishfarm]

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwapisto&1151383402 Well what do y'all think? Does not have the belly stripe of trifasiatus, males are getting red tail, blue in dorsal. Laterial stripe extends on into the tail. Looks very similar to fish Romer list as A. macelliensis, but I know Mike does not think this is a valid species. I'll try and get some more close-up shots, but I always have trouble getting those in focus. I also got in A. trifasiatus in the same shipment and the laterial stripe stops at the base of the tail and they have the belly stripe. How do I post pictures here??? Ken

 

[Mike Wise]

I can't say for certain what they are based on the photo. Only Mamoré has a red tail. Römer's "A. maciliensis" is what is commercially sold as A. sp. Mamoré. The problem is that the middle Rio Guaporé has 3 or 4 trifasciata-like fish:

A. trifasciata - with strong diagonal stripe; lateral band usually visible from head back into the tail; metallic blue body; found in the upper - middle Rio Guaporé & Rio Paraguay.

A. cf. trifasciata (Guaporé) - with strong to weak diagonal stripe; lateral band usually visible from head back into the tail; honey-colored back; found in middle to lower Rio Guaporé & lower Rio Mamoré.

A. sp. Mamoré - no diagonal stripe, lateral band much broader than on A. trifasciata, usually seen only from mid-flank back into the tail; found from the middle Guaporé to lower Mamoré. The form from the Rio Guaporé often has the same honey colored back seen on A. trifasciata (Guaporé) or a bi-colored tail (clear top, red bottom).

A. trifasciata maciliensis/A. t. haraldschultzi/A. maciliensis - based on the description, it should look just like A. trifasciata except that the diagonal stripe should be weak to invisible. I have seen photos (Jeff Cardwell's) of fish that match the description very closely. The were found only in lakes, just like A. t. maciliensis/haraldschultzi.

Where A. trifasciata & sp. Mamoré ranges overlap, the species are never found together. The must have different niches.

 

[fishfarm]

Thank Mike, from your discription sounds most likely to be Mamore. Laterial band is much wider and thicker, no diaginal belly stripe, red in tail and honey colored back. I'll try and get some better closeup pictures this weekend and e-mail them to you. I don't see any way for me to post directly to this site. They were sold to me as A. cf trifasiatus Guapore, but the body is much thicker, laterial band much thicker and no belly stripe made me suspect. I just like to sell fish fro what they really are. Ken

 

[fishfarm]

On Closer inspection the male have red only on the bottom half of their tails and no hint of a diagonal strip on any of them. Very thick laterial line going on into the tail farther than the trifasiata. I'd say A. sp mamore. Ken

 

[Mike Wise]

Based on your description they appear to be A. sp. Mamoré from the Rio Itonamas. The Rio Itonamas is a major tributary of the Rio Guaporé in Bolivia. There is an excellent photo of this fish in the DATZ book.

 

[Greg PL]

"sp Mamore" is widely available in Czech Rep. Not sure which breeding stock(s) they use, but I saw a growout tank with a few hundreds of them and the males' tails were anywhere between total red to total transparent (will become blue in adults). top and bottom half reds were also present.

I had the blue tail fish some time ago and their offsprings - I only raised a few - all were blue tails.

 

[Mike Wise]

Greg is correct. A. sp. Mamore is a polychromatic species. The red tail form in the wild is less common than the blue. This trait is not fixed in the wild (blues can have reds and vice versa). I believe that with selective breeding this trait can be fixed in domestic forms, just like red in A. cacatuoides & agassizii. The half red tail may occur in other populations than the Rio Itonomas form, too.