Apistogramma uaupesi Apistogramma cf. uaupesi rotkehl or Apistogramma sp blutkehl

[Erik82]

Hi all,

For about 8 month ago I imported via a LFS a box wild Apistogramma iniridae mix and some Corydoras from Colombia. Lots of nice fish (Iniridae, uaupesi, megaptera and/or piaroa, Corydoras CW051 and more) were brought a life at home.


The amount of A. cf. uaupesi male was very low. The hardest part was to find a female for the male while they all were swimming together with Apistogramma iniriade. Females of both species are very hard to determine. In order to get a pair I set up two tank with both one male A. cf. uaupesi. Every 4-6 weeks I placed new female from the iniridae mix. Finely a month ago I got a match: Fry!


But here is the question. In the past I successfully breed the A. sp. Blutkehl. But the male of the Apistogramma cf. uaupesi shows both characteristics, Blutkehl and uaupesi. The bloodred cheek is very clear, the dominant black bars at the belly are also like the blutkehl. On the other hand the fish has a red/orange truncate caudal fin and the female got a round caudal fin.

Does anyone know what kind of species I have?


Unfortunately the female died while fighting the male(in the beginning with fry they were friend, the next day she was lying dead in the corner of the tank :’( ), so I don’t have lots of pictures of her.

 

[zmirek]

Hi Eric,

Nice fish you have but are you sure they are uaupesi or cf. uaupesi?
I can't see typical lyre tail very distinguishable for males and only "indicated" for females. What I can see instead (at least for male in the background) is diagonal bars in lower part of body - feature more common for iniridae.

Can you give pictures showing tail fin of male?

That's mine 0,03 PLN ;-)

Best regards
Mirek

 

[Ekona]

See: http://www.aquarium-glaser.de/en/archiv.php?news_id=958 shows photos of A. uaupesi with similar markings as in Erik's photos above.

 

[Mike Wise]

A. sp. Blutkehl/Cutthroat - prominent vertical bars on flanks (like A. iniridae); A. uaupesi - vertical bars almost never visible (on live specimens). Females of both species lack prominent vertical bars; females of both species with round or slight lyretails. BTW, the red markings - or lack thereof - are found on specimens of both species.

Based on this, Glaser's fish above, they appear to be the Blutkehl. Glaser might also be correct in stating that the 2 species are color morphs of the same species (A. uaupesi), but I know of no other apisto species in which the dark markings are so different. The different markings on the flanks could be used like the different caudal patterns on A. paucisquamis and A. mendezi that inhabit the same habitat. These 2 species appear to have different caudal patterns to help females distinguish between the 2 very similar species.

 

[Erik82]

A. sp. Blutkehl/Cutthroat - prominent vertical bars on flanks (like A. iniridae); A. uaupesi - vertical bars almost never visible (on live specimens). Females of both species lack prominent vertical bars; females of both species with round or slight lyretails. BTW, the red markings - or lack thereof - are found on specimens of both species.

Based on this, Glaser's fish above, they appear to be the Blutkehl. Glaser might also be correct in stating that the 2 species are color morphs of the same species (A. uaupesi), but I know of no other apisto species in which the dark markings are so different. The different markings on the flanks could be used like the different caudal patterns on A. paucisquamis and A. mendezi that inhabit the same habitat. These 2 species appear to have different caudal patterns to help females distinguish between the 2 very similar species.

Thanks for the answers. Mirek; I don't have a picture of female 's tail. The fish died a few week ago. But the caudal fin was completely round.

@ Mike, interesting theory about the colour of the caudal fin. About the typical vertical bars on the flanks, that was also my first opinion. But an blutkehl with an red/orange caudal fin I never seen so far. In the F1 generation of my first bred (2012) of A. sp. blutkehl I did not seen any red/orange tails at all. That's why I am confused and not sure about the fish id. If I read your post the right, I can conclude that my fish appear to be a blutkehl?

Regards, Erik

 

[Mike Wise]

Color is usually not important in apisto ID. Yes, I would say that you have the Blutkehl form, based on the prominence of the vertical bars.

 

[Erik82]

Color is usually not important in apisto ID. Yes, I would say that you have the Blutkehl form, based on the prominence of the vertical bars.

Ok, thanks for your help Mike. I will post some pictures of the F1 generation when the become bigger.
Regards, Erik