Apisto disguised as Dicrossus filamentosus

[UllavL]

Hi!
I just bought five, what I thought was, Dicrossus filamentosus . One of them are however clearly some kind of Apistogramma. Its very small still so probably hard to id but I thought I ask anyway. It sometimes has a stripe along the body (as seen in the picture), sometime its just a dot. There are also some blue markings on the head. Any thoughts on what species it may be? Thanks!
Ulla

 

[MickeM]

Hi Ulla !

If you have been ordering them from Germany recently, it probably is the same species that I got a few weeks ago when ordering Apistogr. "pertensis+mix" - small(size) ...
However ..I think it may be Ap. gephyra but I`m not sure..??

But.. the Ap. gephyra I had a long time ago (1990`s), had blue-greenish metallic spots on the body+dorsal- and cadualfin(males). I think they may lack those patterns, while still being juveniles..??

I`m waiting to see what will become of my 10 fishes.. they are approx. 2cm in size.
Some Apistos get more "metallic" + filamented fins when growing and getting mature..

/MickeM

 

[UllavL]

Hi Micke!
And thank you so much for your help! I was thinking on Ap. pertensis myself, but not Ap. gephyra. Hope it will be more clear when it has grown a bit, like yours it's just about 2 cm in size. Hopefully I can decide the species for certain when its grown. Then I can try to find a mate
Good look with your juveniles, must be exciting to watch them grow up without knowing exactly what they'll become!
/ulla

 

[gerald]

I will guess gephyra or agassizii, but I don't think it's pertensis.

 

[Mike Wise]

Definitely not a pertensis-group species. It shows no caudal spot; all pertensis-group species show one. It looks like it has the agassizii-group metallic blue lip patch, so more likely to be a species of the agassizii-group. MickeM & Gerald are on the right track. I can't say which species from this photo, however.

 

[UllavL]

Thank you so much! I'll hope for one within the agassizii-group. Those are beautiful!