Apisto trifasciata?

[Christine-FishGrrl]

A couple months ago, I got a pair of Apisto's that were labeled as Apisto. borelli. However, as they have grown and I've done some research, I think no way these guys are borelli. I think that the male is trifasciata but I have no idea about the female since I'm having difficulty finding more than one or two pictures of female trifasciata on the web or in the books I have. I took some really horrible pictures of them, hopefully one of you can discern what species these are. P.S. These guys are about the size of my cardinal tetras and appear to be full-grown. Thank you in advance!

trifasciata male1 Note the loooong red dorsal fin:

trifasciata male2 Little better picture but dorsal is down:

mystery female1

mystery female2

 

[Chris(wildcaught!)]

The first two picture is definitely A. Trifasciata. It is easy to see the third stripe that is between the anal fin and up the eye.

However the last picture could possibly be A. Borelli male! It is very hard to see from the picture so I might be way off here.

Regards / Chris

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

hmm.... well, he/she is turning very yellow and is smaller than the male.

 

[blueblue]

The first two pictures show A. Trifasciata.
The last two show a fish, which seems to be Hongsloi or
Borellii, and maybe female.

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

well... shoot. I think you're right though, I found some more female pictures and it just doesn't match what I have. Luckily, I *might* have a source for some trifasciata females. Anybody need a female borelli?

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[Christine-FishGrrl]

I just wanted to give an update on my fish as well as thanks to everyone. As it turns out, the female was definitely a borelli and my male a trifasciata. I gave the female to Jim at www.mainlycichlids.com where she is busy making babies. Jim was able to get me a bunch of females and a couple extra males of trifasciata since he can import fish from Oliver Lucanus at www.belowwater.com. I just got them on Sunday and already they're going through the breeding dance and the females are staking out caves. Wish me luck!

FYI - Jim has a bunch of apistos available, a lot of them I've never heard of.