Apisto ID

[Yan]

I exidently bought 4 apisto from Peru .
They all looked alike.
There are pictures:
1
2
3

I identified them as A. sp. "Painted face".

But when one pare colored for breeding, I don't sure.

There are pictures:
Male breeding coloration
Male breeding coloration
Female breeding coloration

Please , help me ID them right.

Thanks

Yan

 

[Microman]

Hi Yan,
I am by no means an expert at Apisto ID, more of a novice,but these fish certainly look like young adult Apisto SP Masken/Painted Face.
I have a pair that have just spawned and are guarding eggs as we speak,your
fishes brooding colouration is identical to mine.
I have found these fish undemanding and certainly easy to spawn if conditions
are to their liking.
Good luck,
Mark.

 

[Yan]

Thanks Mark.

I have another apisto , that I bought as A. borellii "Opal" , but I think it is not a A. borellii.

Please , help me ID them right too.

Apisto ID 1
Apisto ID 2
Apisto ID 3

Thanks

Yan

 

[benedictj]

Those look like Opals to my eye, but I'm new to this as well.

Yan, How many of those did you get, they're gorgeous?

BTW, is israquarium your domain? I wound up there the other night looking for some info on some plant maintainence (pruning anubias). It's a nice site, though it took me a while to translate.

 

[ARWoodi]

I do not think it's a.borelli opal, looks more like a.steel blue.
Description of it can be found in Romer's book Cichlid Atlas 1 on page 928.

I used to keep this species, but apparently the LFS here in Singapore only sells the male. A very agressive species indeed.

 

[mervin]

have to agree wth Arwoodi there.

looks like a "steelblue" to me too.

 

[cootwarm]

I agree with ARWoodi. They are sp. "Steel Blue" and females are extremely rare, almost non-existant. They are thought to be a hybrid cross between borellii and another apisto, cruizi if I remeber correctly. They've been discussed quite a bit on this forum, especially last year. If you do a search on "Steel Blue" here on this forum you will find more info about them, although even that info is limited. Not much is known about them, even by the experts. But their concensus is that "Steel Blue" is a hybrid from asia, probably in the singapore region.

It's not clear if the reason for the lack of females is due to being hybrid or if it's a marketing strategy to limit competition. But they are found everywhere, usually being sold as something they are not. Many members o this forum have been burned by this, myself included. They are usually inexpensive, like they're mass produced.

Michael

 

[Yan]

Thanks for all of the answers.
They are realy like males without female.

Yan

 

[Apistt_ed]

Hello Yan,

To the question on whether your apistos are A. sp Cara pintada/masken/apache/painted-face, that they are! The male seems to be in picture 2 to be in his aggressive dress and the female is the correct female of the same fish. You will find that the fish isn't that productive and a batch of 30 fry is very good for them. Your fish seem to be full grown as many times the males will not develope the colors that your's exibit until they are mature enough to spawn. The fry grow very fast and with frequent water changes and a good diet of bbs to start when freeswimming and graduating to brine shrimp and daphnia (if possible) as I have, they will be mature by 4-6 months of age. The male doesn't do anything during the rearing of the young so you might as well pull him out of the spawning tank unless there are other fish in there with them. If they are in a separate tank, you should really think about removing the male as the female will beat up on him as he tries to help in the rearing of the young when they get more adventurous and wander far off from the female. They are a great fish, but once you do see that the female is starting to neglect the care of the young, you should pull her out as this is when she is getting close to starting a new batch. Best wishes to you. john

 

[scott]

those are definetly steel blue. romer's cichlid atlas has a section on them with pictures. although he talks about breeding behaviors etc. all of the pictures in the book are of males. i found the section to be a little vague.

 

[Yan]

Thank you John.

So far the female is calling the male into the jug , but he doesn't seem to pay attention to her.

Yan