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Apistogramma sp. Dorsal spot

Mark

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
99
Location
Netherlands
Dear forummembers,

Some time ago I posted a thread on what I was thinking a new species. See http://apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/what-can-you-say-about-these.12574/#post-70980

In the months passed the female died and did not produce any new young. The male has lived for the last months but today he jumped out of his tank and did not survive. Therefor the story of this species is complete; I have a photo of the female in alcohol and a photo of the dead male. I have also added a photo of the young of these fish (now 1,5 cm).

The reason for me to say it is a new species is because of these signs/markings:
- both male and female show an obvious black spot at the end of the dorsal fin close to back of the fish. The only known species with such a spot is norberti. Norberti has no high dorsal fins in the male (at least not as much).
- the female has no black under the chin (no sp. Blackchin)
- the female shows no horizontal stripes under the lateral band (no cacatuoides)

Other caracteristics:
- the head and and mouth of the male (and female) are big and wide
- for the male the lateral band is separated from the caudal spot, for the female and the F1 this is less obvious.
- the dorsal fin of the male is high and the tips are red
- the caudal fin of the male has two tips and both (upper more) are red
- the male has two horizontal lines under the lateral band, but in his normal dress he doesn't show them; female has none.
- the normal dress for the female is one sidespot and the dorsal spot (the last is less visible)
- the first 1/3 of the lateral line of the male disappears when he is dominant
- the fish are found close to Leticia together with eunotus, bitaeniata and sp. Kelleri
- the fish were found by a Dutch group, who were also the first to find sp. Kelleri. This species was the bycatch of Kelleri, but in the commercial shipments of Kelleri the species has not turned up yet..

I hope this gives a complete image of the species. At this moment I have (only) 3 F1 fish and there are two pairs left in Holland with other aquarists. I hope these will give more young and maybe in the future this species will get caught again.

The male still alive:
dorsalspotpair.jpg


The male dead:
manduidelijk_zps95db94b8.jpg


The female still alive, not feeling very well:
dorsalspotfemaleneutral.jpg


The female in breeding dress:
dorsalspotfemalefightguarding.jpg


The female preserved in alcohol:
vrouwalcoholduidelijk_zps24b3f16c.jpg


The young (see the dorsal spot):
jongduidelijk_zps9319dcfb.jpg


Best,
Mark
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,220
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
My opinion really hasn't changed. The fish is close to A. norberti but the fins are definitely different, as is the distribution. I hope you can keep the species and distribute it to other hobbyists. I would like to add your photos to my talks on new apistos, if you will permit it. I don't use other people's photos without permission and never use them to make money. You get credit for the photos, of course.
 

Mark

Member
5 Year Member
Messages
99
Location
Netherlands
Hi Mike,

I will try to post extra photo's of the young (and their dorsal fins) wenn possible. You have my permission on using the photo's of course. I'm in touch with the other keepers of the species; if they produce f1 with good dorsal finnage I will try to get photo's of them too.

Mark
 

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