Apistogramma viejita form III

[Saturn 5ive]

Apistogramma viejita form III Wild caught male,

The lighting required for photograghy has muted the metalic sky blue color that covers the body and the lime green patch on the nape of the head. The black lower lip, red nose and black ventral fin spines are noteworthy features. During agressive displays, the males show the dark rectangular area on the abdomen.

Females show the distinctive "bug belly" markings as shown in Linke and Staeck's 1994 book.

 

[Mike Wise]

Also known in the hobby as A. sp. Schwarzkehl/Black-throat. I prefer this name to 'A. viejita CF III because this is not a color form of A. viejita, but a separate species. Now if they only could bring back A. sp. Schwarzkehl-Rotflecken, a.k.a. 'A. viejita CF II'. That's the population I'd like to get!

 

[Josh]

Wow. What a beautiful fish. Mike, how do you keep track of all these names? Cichlid journals?

 

[Mike Wise]

Well, I took over the species list for the Apistogramma Study Group in 1985 and have kept updating it as new info & species appeared. My sources are literature, web sites/fora, and fellow apistophiles. To be honest, periodical cichlid journals don't really have much in them.