Apistogramma cf. commbra

[Tom C]

Apistogramma cf. commbrae

Some friends of mine came back from a collecting trip in Uruguay a few days ago.
They brought home lots of fish; among them were some quite yellow Apistogramma borellii, and this one:

Apistogramma cf. commbrae, collected near Bella Union in Uruguay:

After 1 minute in the quarantine tank:

The next day, he looked like this (where did the black markings go??):

An exciting, new species for me.....

 

[hapaluku]

Hello Tom.
That is a nice apisto .
Verry verry nice..
How many did you get...any females

 

[Tom C]

I've got a female too:

 

[jose_vogel]

Nice fish but very undervalued (or underrated, I´m not sure of the english word) around here.

I used to have them long ago. Although it´s not difficult to breed, it´s not as easy as borellii nor trifasciata.

All the breeding females I had were very good mothers indeed.

 

[bigbird]

wow small but indeed pretty markings..cheers jk

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Nice fish but very undervalued (or underrated, I´m not sure of the english word) around here. I used to have them long ago. Although it´s not difficult to breed, it´s not as easy as borellii nor trifasciata. All the breeding females I had were very good mothers indeed.

Hi Jose, this is interesting, they are often listed as an "easy to keep" and breed Apistogramma sp., but as they have not been available in the UK whether they are or not has always been a bit of a hypothetical question. Any more details about keeping/breeding them?

cheers Darrel

 

[Apistomaster]

They have a remarkable superficial similarity to Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis.

 

[Erik82]

Nice fish Tom. Though the first post does not contain any male photographs...

They actually do like a lot like the A. pucallpaensis, especially the female at photo 2.

 

[Mike Wise]

Strange, I see both males and females of A. commbrae. They look nothing like Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis to me other than that both commbrae and pucallpaensis are regani-group species. I had the chance to get some of these Uruguay commbraes from a local hobbyist who collected them himself. I declined his offer because I had other fish I was more interested in keeping.

 

[Erik82]

Probably i need to go to the optician again..
There is indeed a small difference between these fishes. I thought they were the same. But after good looking you see some small details.

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Wow! Exeptional photos as always.
The top deffinately looks like a male to me (sharper, longer anal fin, higher dorsal, points on fins etc.)
Thanks for sharing.

 

[P.W.]

Strange, I see both males and females of A. commbrae. They look nothing like Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis to me other than that both commbrae and pucallpaensis are regani-group species. I had the chance to get some of these Uruguay commbraes from a local hobbyist who collected them himself. I declined his offer because I had other fish I was more interested in keeping.

I have had this species since I bought a group back in 2003. It´s a very small species. Without any clear sexual diformism. The males are very similar to the females in shape and colour.
I would say that they are not that easy to breed. Can not be compared to borellii and cacatuoides for example.
They are quite aggressive within the species. Not that easy to keep in colonys.
They also tend to be a bit shy.

http://www.zoonen.com/visabild.asp?oid=313247 grown up male

http://www.zoonen.com/visabild.asp?oid=221253 grown up male

http://www.zoonen.com/visabild.asp?oid=221252 female with some frys (sorry about the poor quality of my photos)

 

[Tom C]

Nice pictures, Per!

I picked my pair out of a BB-tank with around 15 specimens, based on the following:
-- Blue and red speckles on the gill cover: The males have a lot more than the female,
-- The dorsal fin: Slightly more elongated and pointed upper posterior part in males,
-- The ventral fins: In females, these fins are black over the entire anterior length, whereas those of males are only black on their upper half.

The last two features are unfortunately not possible to see on my poor pics. But with a strong flashlight I was able to separate them from each other in their tank (although I was not 100% sure).