Apistogramma sp. "black chin"

[lab]

Hi everybody,

and a hapy new year here from Denmark to you all

I recently bought these in my LFS and I think the male has really got potential. A beautiful yellow morph:

Here is the female with the signature marking:

When I first bought them, it turned out that the female was actually A. cacatuoides. The lateral stripe was continuous with the caudal spot. I went there again to get another female, which was no problem. It was a problem trying to explain the difference between the two species though. The employee simply wouldn't believe that the female I brought back was A. cacatuoides. Never mind that, but standing before the selling tank again I actually spotted a few cacatuoides males as well among the "black chin".
This situation got me thinking, whether the fish just got mixed up at the shop or exporter, or whether the cacatuoides was a bycatch.

Does anyone know if the two species occur together in nature, or is this not likely at all?
In the tank I also noticed that both colour morphs of "black chin" males (yellow and blue) were present. I think I read somewhere (probably here) that the two morphs were geographically isolated. If this is so does anyone know of collecting localities of the two and how far they are apart?
Is there any way of telling females of the two morphs apart (probably not) and how do the offspring turn out if the two morphs are crossed?

All the best,
Lars

 

[Mike Wise]

As far as I know, A. sp. Schwarzkinn/Black-chin and A. cacatuoides live in different biotopes: A. sp. Schwarzkinn/Black-chin is a blackwater species from the Río Nanay; A. cacatuoides is a whitewater species from many location in Peru & Brazil. I imagine that they were mixed sometime after collection. There is no difference in female Schwarzkinn/Black-chin. They will produce mixed color forms of males.

 

[lab]

Thank you, Mike.

Do you know if the the two colour forms are geographically isolated?

 

[Mike Wise]

From what I have been told, they are also mixed populations wherever they are collected.

 

[lab]

OK, thanks.

Could be interesting to test if the females preferred one of the colour forms of the two, to see some of the functionality behind the males polychromatism.

 

[Mike Wise]

Römer explains color preference in A. sp. Schwarzkinn females in Cichlid Atlas 1 (under 'A. juruensis', which he mistakenly thought it was).

 

[lab]

Sounds interesting.

I'm still waiting for the reprint...