Apistogramma Borellii Biotope

[AquaAlbatros]

A picture of an "Apisto charco", the large "pond" where i collected my A. borellii and A. commbrae.
The location is the corrientes province, in the northeast of argentina.

 

[Greg PL]

do you have more detailed pictures? do you know the water plants living there?
boy, I would like to see it myslef!

Greg

 

[P.W.]

Hello AquaAlbatros

Please send some more info about this fishing event!! Very interesting to get some more info about this place.
Do you have any photos of the Borellii`s and the commbrae´s you caught?

Best regards/ Per

 

[Peter Lovett1]

They must be some hardy little fish.

Please take a look at the weather record for this area

http://qwikcast.weatherbase.com/weather/weather_c.php3?s=066178&refer=

with the average temp in this area being 20c or almost 5 months of the year and with a lowest recorded temp of -5c. I wonder how far south apistos get.

 

[P.W.]

I have a special interest in the southern apistos. Borellii and Commbrae are two species which inhabit the most southern part of the "apisto territory".
Commbrae is even spread in the Rio Uruguay system. The most southern known locality of the Commbrae is the Salto area and Artigas area in northern Uruguay.
As far as I know is the southest known locality of Borellii, the Sao Borja area in Brazil.

Best regards/ Per

 

[AquaAlbatros]

do you have more detailed pictures? do you know the water plants living there?
boy, I would like to see it myslef!

Greg

Yes, i have gps position of all the collection places.
There is an article on the way of my local association, SAdelPlATA, "Sociedad Acuariológica del Plata" with photos an all the data. When the article is ready, i can translate for the forum if there is some interest.
The collection places where in the parana river side of the province. The lagoons (or ponds, i don't know the correct name in english) are leftover of parana river floodings.
We visited (3 aquarist) 11 collection places. The place in the photo, was named the "Apisto Dream Land", each time we passed the collection net, three or four apistos were in the net, sometimes, even breeding pairs in full colors !! It was a wonderful experience.
Unfortunately there is no better photos. My camera is a digital one without viewfinder, it has a large LCD totally useless in full sun...so i never knew where the camera was pointing...
The pH of the water was 6.2 for this place. A. commbrae and A. borelli was founded there. Some very nice tetras, and other fishes too. The temperature was 23 celsius degree, but the apistos were all over the banks, where the water is shalow and more warmer.
About 200 Km in the north, we collected A. borelli and A. trifasciata. The pH was lower, 5.9, temperature higher 26 degrees. This travel ocurred in the april month of this year.
There is no photos of the trifasciata collection place, we have to cross some nasty lagoons veeery deep and i was concerned about the healthy of my electronic equipment !! , only pHmeter traveled with me. (Trust me...in some places the water was black, and the water level exceded my 1.78 mts height...the things we done for this little jewels !
There were no interesting plants. Only echinodurus and floating plants. The echinodorus i dont remember the complete name but was a very common plant, present in argentina from the north to the south.Some eichornia sp. too, in submerged form.

 

[AquaAlbatros]

I have a special interest in the southern apistos. Borellii and Commbrae are two species which inhabit the most southern part of the "apisto territory".
Commbrae is even spread in the Rio Uruguay system. The most southern known locality of the Commbrae is the Salto area and Artigas area in northern Uruguay.
As far as I know is the southest known locality of Borellii, the Sao Borja area in Brazil.

Best regards/ Per

I collected A. Borelli in the limit between Buenos Aires province and Entre Rios province. The place is a recreational park on the parana river. There is artificially built lagoons connected to the river. The apistos were very few, only 9 or 10.This happened in november of 2004, in a hot day. I visited the place near the end of june, and now there is no apistos , the water was too cold. 15 degrees, but A. commbrae was collected.
As far i know, this is the southest collection point for A. borelli.

 

[P.W.]

There is an article on the way of my local association, SAdelPlATA, "Sociedad Acuariológica del Plata" with photos an all the data. When the article is ready, i can translate for the forum if there is some interest.

I`m really looking forward to read the article!

I´m surprised that you found the Borellii`s so far south! Great to have some new information about collecting sites. Have you found Commbraes`s even furter south of this place? I just have the feeling that the Commbrae are more hardy than the Borellii´s, but perhaps I´m wrong.

Best regards/ Per

 

[P.W.]

AquaAlbatros. I understand that your are Argentinian, right? Do you know if it is the same difficulties to bring fishes out from Argentina, as from Brazil?
Can you bring some fishes with you as a tourist in Argentina? Or is impossible because of byrocracy or environmental laws??
If I had the possibility, I really would like to look for Borellii`s and Commbrae`s in the La plata area, (and bring some of them home of course) !

Do you know if there are some exporters of aquarium fishes in Argentina? It seems that all the commbraes, Borellis and Trifasciatas which are exported to europe are coming from the Mato Grosso area in Brazil.

Best regards/ Per

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

I would deffinately be interested in reading this article as well!

 

[AquaAlbatros]

AquaAlbatros. I understand that your are Argentinian, right? Do you know if it is the same difficulties to bring fishes out from Argentina, as from Brazil?
Can you bring some fishes with you as a tourist in Argentina? Or is impossible because of byrocracy or environmental laws??
If I had the possibility, I really would like to look for Borellii`s and Commbrae`s in the La plata area, (and bring some of them home of course) !

Do you know if there are some exporters of aquarium fishes in Argentina? It seems that all the commbraes, Borellis and Trifasciatas which are exported to europe are coming from the Mato Grosso area in Brazil.

Best regards/ Per

I don't know the enviromental laws here in argentina in this case.
In the provinces where i collected fishes, i have no problems because
the apistogramma fishes and all small fishes can be collected in low quantities because theorically they are for "sport use" (little fish to catch bigger fishes...i don't know the english term).
The authorities don't care if they are apistogrammas or tetras.
BUT this is for an argentinean national travelling into his own country.
If you try to get fishes out of argentina, you definitly need an authorization from some bureocracy like customs or enviromental protection agency.
This is valid for Entre Rios and Buenos Aires province. In the misiones province (just south of brazil) the laws are more complicated, and even for nationals there are problems.
I will consult with my local association and post the info.
If you like commbraes or borellis, and if we can coordinate a schedule, i have no problems to show you some collection places. With my friends we organice 1 or two collection travels in the year, it would be a pleasure to fish with you !
With the exporter question, currently the biggest ornamental fish export of my country are....carassius aureatus......
There are breeders, but they only do apistogrammas in small quantities and not any exporting bussines take place.
Greetings,
Juan.-

 

[francis]

I`m also interested in reading the article.

 

[P.W.]

Hello Juan

Thanks for the information and your effort to find more info about the export rules. I will send you an e-mail as soon I know if there will be some possibilities for me to combine a businesstrip to Brazil with a stop in Buenos aires.

What did the Borellis look like at the place just north of Buenos aires, where you collected some in november 2004? Opal colored? Yellow heads? or a mix?
From what I understand the Opal coloration is more common in the north of the Borellii distribution area, and in the south and in the Rio Uruguai the yellow coloration is more common. Altough the both colorations appear in all areas.

Have you read the article by Wolfgang Staeck, "Apistogramma Borellii, ein zwergbuntbarsch aus den subtropen" in the magazine "aquarium heute", -99 no:1?
Thats really the best and most complete desciption of the Apistogramma Borellii available. I have been able to buy that magazine via internet from a Japanese website, Some great photos of Borelliis from different collectionsites, from Pantanal down to Sao Borja in Brazil.

Best regards/ Per

 

[AquaAlbatros]

Yellow heads.
The opal coloration, as far i know, only begins to appear in the north of Santa Fe province.
Best regards,
Juan.-

 

[AquaAlbatros]

No i don't read that article. The exchange rate with the euro is astronomically high around here, so i prefer to invest in books other than magazines. I was suscribed to the datz magazine, but when the euro touched its maximum point in december, i just can't afforded it. I prefer to spend my money in other things, like fishing vacations :biggrin: