Cacatuoides or cf. cacatuoides?

[Hellfishguy]

I purchased these fish as Apistogramma cacatuoides Rio Nanay. Are they true cacs or a closely related form?
Dig the blue lips on the male!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I may be wrong, but I think the blue lips make it very likely that they are A. cacatuoides. What-ever they may be they are lovely.

cheers Darrel

 

[Mike Wise]

A. cacatuoides is a 'superspecies' like A. agassizii and A. bitaeniata. Each of these is composed of many closely related species. They are so closely related that different forms can easily interbreed. Since we don't know where the type specimen of A. cacatuoides is from (claimed to be from Guyana, which is obviously wrong) we won't know which population/form of A. cacatuoides is the true A. cacatuoides until/unless we can get a genetic match.

 

[Hellfishguy]

Thanks. I want to cross them with one of the line-bred varieties just to see the results, but I don't want to commit the sin of producing hybrids.

 

[Mike Wise]

I wouldn't worry about it. Most color varieties of apistos are most likely crosses for various populations/forms/species anyway. Just don't sell them as a specific population if you want to be ethical. Right now I have a wild A. cacatuoides male that killed his female. He is unusual in that he has caudal spots on both the upper and lower lobes of the tail, not just the top. He will not be crossed with any other female by me. Right now he is in a community tank as the only dwarf cichlid.