Apisto sp. "Location 53"

[bseitz234]

Hi everyone-

Just got a pair of these from Apisto Dave, sorry for the mediocre pictures, my Canon took a swim when I went fishing this morning, so they're iPhone pictures... (yes, I'm distracting myself from the fear of my DSLR dying by watching these guys check out their new home). I'm super excited to have them, so this is mostly just a "sharing my excitement" thread. But, if anyone has any info about them, questions, comments, etc, feel free to chime in!

Anyway, these are F1 fish, whose parents were collected in the Nanay, according to Dave. Now, I was told they're a pair, and I have no reason to think that they're not, with the usual "they're young" reservations. That said, I'll refer to them as "the male" and "the female".

Male is ~ 1.5", has more color, longer pelvic fins, and starting to develop dorsal and anal extensions. Rounded caudal fin with some blue flecks.

Female is ~ 1.25", a little plainer, but still has some blue, especially on her dorsal and anal fins. She has more black on her pelvic fins, despite being smaller, which makes me feel good about the sexing.

They're sharing a 10gal with 4 otos, and I have no plans to add any other fish to the tank. They're currently exploring together, seem to be making a clockwise circuit around the tank, checking out all the nooks and crannies. And snatching up mosquito larvae as they go.

Picture time! If I do thumbnails, can you click for full size? I hope?
edit: yes, click to enlarge... I'm going to try to figure out how to get them all rotated.
Male:




Female:


mosquito larva swam in front of her face... whoops.

 

[Mike Wise]

It's a species in the Pebas-complex, as discussed previously. Do a search on this site.

As for you camera, hopefully not too late to recover. If this happens, the first thing to do is remove the battery, data card and open all openings. Then put in a plastic zipper bag with a LOT of silica gel or rice (don't let the drying agent get in the camera). Then pray - and hope for the best. Me? I use a weather sealed camera/lens combo. As long as it isn't totally submerged for long it's OK. I discovered my old camera (also weather sealed) resting lens up in about 1cm/½" of water at the bottom of a peki-peki (canoe) while in the Amazon. It had been sitting there for minutes before I noticed it. I didn't need to do anything to it. It just kept working. Great for shooting in the rain, too.

 

[bseitz234]

Hi Mike-

For all the searching I've done, everything I've found seems to be about Location 21, and I've been unsure how much of that applies to Location 53. Unless you can point me to threads about 53 in particular, I'll just keep reading up on the pebas subcomplex and assume it holds true. ;-)

I'm confident the camera will be OK- I lost a Canon Rebel to a longer deeper swim than my 7d just took, and the 7d is better sealed, and I knew exactly what to do, having run into the issue before. It's the simple fact that I can't turn it on for 3-5 days and know that it's OK that's really bugging me....

Thanks!
-Brian

 

[Mike Wise]

Well, it would be helpful to know where Location 53 is located, but Uwe doesn't say. My guess is that it is a location near Orán and is the same as A. sp. Roca Eterna. Since I've never seen a female in brood dress, I can't say if it is the same form or not.

 

[bseitz234]

Gotcha. Well, with any luck I'll be able to share photos of the female in brood dress before long!

 

[bseitz234]

Update with some hopefully more useful pics.

My original female developed a swim bladder issue, and is happily living in a community tank. I got another female, who got mailed to the wrong address, and took an extra two days to arrive. She has now been in the tank for almost two weeks, and looks more dressed out than my first female ever did. Not yellow, but showing more distinctive black markings that may be helpful:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

[Mike Wise]

I've never seen a female of this form in brood dress, so I can't say which form of the Pebas-subcomplex it is.

 

[bseitz234]

Well, I went to a wedding this weekend, after these two had been waving fins at each other for a little while, and I was starting to think they would never figure out what they needed to do. Got back and could only find the male fish- turns out despite having several cave-like structures in there, the female dug out under a rock to spawn there, and was hiding in a tiny little cranny with eggs! I can only see about 10, but for a first time, I'll take what I can get. It's been hard to get many pictures, since she's been staying pretty close. From what I can tell, she's showing 5 spots on her left side, and 2 on her right. I guess that means her left half is "sp. Roca Eterna", and her right side is "sp Papagei"?

 

[bseitz234]

The one picture I got of the right side, I actually counted 3 spots, thought there were two, but I think in real life I thought the bar 6 spot was bar 7. Anyway. Here are the best pictures I could get:

IMG_0002.jpg by bseitz234, on Flickr

IMG_0023.jpg by bseitz234, on Flickr

IMG_0026.jpg by bseitz234, on Flickr

 

[Mike Wise]

Looks like Roca Eterna or something very close to me.

 

[bseitz234]

Thanks Mike! Glad to have confirmation on that.

 

[Mike Wise]

Just call/sell them "A. sp. Location 53" and let people who ask know that they probably are the same as A. sp. Roca Eterna.

 

[bseitz234]

Well, I don't want to count my fry before they're hatched... it is this pair's first attempt, after all. Although the female has been moving back and forth between two caves all morning, so I'm hopeful that's a "moving wigglers" routine. When I do get fry, though, that sounds like a good plan!