Apistogramma sp.Alto Tapiche

[Microman]

During our trip to Peru in October Tom and I decided to travel on an 11 day/1136km expedition along the Rio Ucayali and Rio Tapiche in search of a fish that had been collected by Peruvian fishermen and introduced into the hobby by Minoru Matsuzuka(Japan) in 2008.
Fortunately we were able to find many male/female specimens and study the habitats during the expedition but unfortunately only 1 single male fish managed to survive the gruelling trip back to our fish houses in the UK and Norway. Needless to say we were bitterly dissappointed....
The surviving young male is now starting to colour up rather nicely and is showing quite an unusual orange marking on anal fin. Despite it being a eunotus complex species it is developing red horizontal markings rather remeniscent of A rubrolineata.
Its developing into a very nice fish...
Mark...

 

[daphilster08]

Nice find! I love hearing stories of people collecting fish! When I get a job, I plan to make many vacations collection and netting for fun!

 

[bigbird]

Wow the adventure keeps on living. Well done and lets hope you can get some fry from him. Would be great if you could later post a picture of him in full colour .
cheers jk :biggrin:

 

[RAF]

I'm sorry to hear that only one male survived... it's such a nice fish that it would be a great adition to the hobbie. I'm sure on of you wikk be getting back to Peru one of the follwing years (if I win the lottery I'll sponsor that trip my self and go along :biggrin and maybe you can catch them again.

That fish in particular it's developing quite nice... let's see what will be it's adult coloration.

Cheers Mark...

P.S. I'll be writing to you soon again since maybe you didn't get my last e-mail

 

[ABBEY60]

very useful post.

 

[Harryhatman]

I had a 6 juvies from Mark (microman) in late May 2011 they have now grown on and one turned out to be female and has just had about 20 free swimmers this morning. I don't know of anyone else apart from myself & Mark here in the UK that has this in their fish house. I would be interested if anyone else knows if this fish is in other houses in UK and if they have bred them. Water ph 4.7 tds 87 temp 24.5c. I will try to get some photo's over the next few days but I want to leave her alone as it is her first brood. The male is being quite aggressive ATM so I'm thinking she might not be able to protect fry. I'll give her a day then decide if I'm going to split them.

 

[Caterina]

Congratulations!
Hope to see fotos soon!

 

[Microman]

John,
There was i Peruvian import of this species into the UK via Peruvian Amazon Imports and i managed to grab hold of the very last femle. needless to say they bred very easily and the wild parents are now with Tom in Norway.
Mark....

 

[Harryhatman]

Lost the original spawn within 2 days. The male had just gone crazy and ate them all???? Good news though, this morning she brought out at least 30 free swimmers and is keeping the male well out of the way. I have decided to take the male out (done) so to avoid loosing this spawn.

Here's mom with fry

 

[Harryhatman]

Here's an update as promised. (Copy: posted forum BCA UK)

Today I have spent more time than I would in the fish house just observing the female. Although young and her first brood she seems to have the hang of it. At feeding time (3) I very slowly squirted some "banana worm" a couple of inches away from the fry and stood back to watch. At first she just looked, then went to investigate, hovered and then one by one the fry came over and started to feed. (why didn't I set up the video cam?). The movements from the female must have been the merest subtle fin signs ever...The fry bobbed about feeding for about a minute and then she led them back into the little "pit" in the sand. She is being very attentive and keeps them very close by, any fry that wander off is quickly picked up in her mouth and deposited with an unceremonious "spit" back into the pit. I've noticed that she is not leading the fry round the tank as much as some other Apistogramma mothers I have observed but she is moving them from the pit to the corner of the tank as per picture.

I can’t find a great deal of info about this apisto on the net so I’m pretty much going to have to wing-it as far as looking after mom and fry. If I feed, water change, (PH and temperature control) and treat as I would a eunotus-complex fish, I’m hoping it will be enough to get me through the first few weeks. If anyone has any helpful info then it would be very much appreciated.

 

[henkh]

Very nice fish. Hope you 'll have the chance to raise the fry as much as possible. Male looks very much like Rubro male (except that's darker coloured spots). Very nice! Never seen or heard of them before. No chance you'll come to the Netherlands in a couple of months?

 

[Harryhatman]

Very nice fish. Hope you 'll have the chance to raise the fry as much as possible. Male looks very much like Rubro male (except that's darker coloured spots). Very nice! Never seen or heard of them before. No chance you'll come to the Netherlands in a couple of months?

Hi henkh,
Sadly no chance in getting to the Netherlands in the near future. If you want to read the history of my pair of alto tapiche please go to http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?PageId=68 it's Tom C's collecting trip diary and the very fish in question. (cheers Tom-Mark). It is a very good read so make yourself a drink sit back and dream of being on the Amazon - I did!

John

 

[henkh]

Hi henkh,
If you want to read the history of my pair of alto tapiche please go to http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?PageId=68 it's Tom C's collecting trip diary and the very fish in question. (cheers Tom-Mark). It is a very good read so make yourself a drink sit back and dream of being on the Amazon - I did!

John

I've read the entire story and enjoyed the beautiful pic's! Amazing trip and nice fish collectings. Seems hard to me to get the fish healthy at home at such a trip....

 

[Microman]

I've read the entire story and enjoyed the beautiful pic's! Amazing trip and nice fish collectings. Seems hard to me to get the fish healthy at home at such a trip....

MAYBe....

Surely if Tom and i can get them home from Peru, Find a suitable female,breed em without any problems, then a short trip to to Holland is not out of the question.
May be passing through on way to Germany at end of October IF SA trip is out of the Question this year.
Mark....

 

[Harryhatman]

MAYBe....

Surely if Tom and i can get them home from Peru, Find a suitable female,breed em without any problems, then a short trip to to Holland is not out of the question.
May be passing through on way to Germany at end of October IF SA trip is out of the Question this year.
Mark....

Hi mark,
we've not spoken in a while. I hear Tom C might be coming over to the BCA autum auction are you going to attend? I'm there providing PA system as usual for the lectures so I hope to see you then.