Apisto collecting in Itapeaçu

[Hudson Ensz]

I went to itapiranga and caught the awesomest hippolytae ever! and A. agasizzi.

 

[animalmgc]

pics please and congrats although I'm still jealous that u have such a wonderful playground in ur backyard lol

 

[arodg12]

Ok, sooooooooo, my mind has been officially been blown by reading this thread. This is probably why I find myself so intrigued and interested in Apistos and other dwarf cichlids, there is so much left to discover. Who even needs fiction when you have this REAL LIFE!? Hudson, you really are a lucky fellow to have the ability to make these trips my friend. Definitely get pics up of your most recent trip buddy, thanks for sharing!

Corey

 

[Mike Wise]

So close, Hudson! In the Rio Uatumã near Represa de Balbina (actually somewhere south of the town, a Japanese-owned commercial exporter collected a fantastic red morph of A. sp. Branco back in the late 90s. As far as I know, they shipped it into Asia only once. They sold it as Apisto Fire Red. This isn't the domestic form of A. agassizii now in the hobby, but a pulchra-like species with dark reddish brown body and deep red unpaired fins. You know, sometimes I really hate that I know where to collect so many neat fish, but can't.

 

[madihaghafoor]

Apistogramma and other dwarf cichlids evoke great passion among many fish keepers. Apistogrammas are the most popular dwarf cichlids but all are great aquarium fish that come in a rainbow of colors

 

[Hudson Ensz]

sweet! i have been to balbina twice but that was before i got the apisto bug. sadly in itapiranga i was sick and only fished in one spot i was feeling bad and didnt pack the bag right and lost all of my male agassizi's.
thank you very much everyone i apreciate your comments
sorry about my bad grammar and punctuation but i am using my new kindle for the first time and havent figured it out not to mention i am still sick in bed
balbina is a huge lake even if i went there i probably wouldnt be able to catch it.
pics of the trip soon!

 

[gerald]

To the jealous North Americans, get out into your local creeks with a minnow seine and check out some of our fantastic darters, shiners, dace, madtoms, studfish, pygmy sunfish, etc. Aquarists around the world go GaGa for these like we do for Apistos!

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Gerald, yes it seems that people tend to value fish from other countries and continants a lot more.

 

[Mike Wise]

So true, Gerald. I remember when our local club had the president of the DKG (German Killifish Assoc.) in for a talk many (many!) years ago. After his program, some of us took him out for dinner. What did we talk about? Fish, of course! Well, the gentleman told us about his beautiful pond in which he kept centrarchids (Bass & panfish). At the time, they were very popular (and expensive) in Germany. His favorite was a male Pumpkinseed (Lepomis gibbosus). Undoubtedly, it's one of the most colorful fish in North America when in breeding dress. I told him that I always liked them, too, ever since I was a little kid with a cane fishing pole. I told him that I once caught a male in breeding dress that weighed almost a kilogram and the orange color was almost red! He was very excited to hear this. "What did you do with him?", he asked. "I ate him", I replied. It is true, 'one man's trash (food fish, in this case) is another man's treasure'.

BTW, the pulcher-complex species isn't in the resevoir, but in creeks that enter the Uatumã south of the town.

 

[Hudson Ensz]

There are some incredibly beautiful darters too. Btw about the "hippolytae" I caught at itapiranga, I am not so sure they are, is there another fish in the steindachneri group with a spot on the line? Because this one has its spot right in the line unlike the hippolytaes and rupununis that are in my tanks. and is the red on the caudal fin a regional color morph? I will try to post pictures tomorow.

 

[Mike Wise]

Populations of A. hippolytae are known throughout the middle part of the Amazon, between the Rio Tefé and the Rio Trombetas. Each population is subtly different. The Japanese also brought in a fish about 10 years ago that looked much like A. steindachneri. They claim that it was collected in the same general area, just east of Manaus. It might be the same as A. sp. Rupununiu-Savanne. I'd need some photos of your fish to ID them.

 

[Hudson Ensz]

I will spoil the surprizes, here are the two apisto species I caught.

 

[briztoon]

Hi Hudson,

I am very intersted in seeing both species in your tanks as well.

 

[Melanochromis]

Wow. You caught some pretty fish again. They both are amazing.

 

[Mike Wise]

Hmm. Where? I don't see any pics or links.

 

[Tom C]

Hmm. Where? I don't see any pics or links.

I guess most of us see these nice pics clearly.....does this link work for you Mike?

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Here is the official post http://passionate4pikes.wordpress.com/2011/06/18/apisto-collecting-at-igarape-grande/

 

[arodg12]

Awesome fish yet again Hudson, are you goin to make any trips a bit farther away to see if you can get into the other South American species?

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Thank you Briztoon, I thought all of my male agassizis had died (4) but today I found one!
Melanichromis thank you! Very apreciated.
Mike wise, see the post on my blog. passionate4pikes.wordpress.com for pics of the fish and habitat pictures.
Tom C, thank you. The post on my blog isnt as good but I think you will find something in it.

 

[Mike Wise]

Found them today. My computer has been a bit 'funky' lately. It's impossible to say what your steindachneri-group species are from your 'fish in the hand' shots.