Christmas came early this year

[Frank Hättich]

If I understood you correctly Mike, the fish recently collected by Tom in the Rio Purus is not A178 - in fact it's not even a nijsseni-group species. Rather your fish in the above picture is A178, right?

 

[Mike Wise]

If you mean A. sp. (Río Purus) at http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?pageid=53 (3rd species from top), it shows more characteristics of the cacatuoides-group than nijsseni-group. The Pantoja fish probably is the same as Kästner's fish, but there are differences. Since we don't really know where Kästner's specimens originated I prefer to just keep them a separate form. I presently wouldn't list A. cf. payaminonis (Pantoja) as A178.

 

[Frank Hättich]

Ok, thanks Mike! So A 178 remains to be a mystery. A. cf. payaminonis (Pantoja) looks really close to A 178, but as far as I can tell from the few pictures I know, A 178 seems to be a bit more high bodied, has a horizontally wider caudal spot and a patterned and less pronounced lyrate caudal fin. Are there still more differences?

 

[Mike Wise]

Those should do. I have seen less than a half dozen photos of Kästner's fish. That is not many. There will be variations even in a given population.

 

[rainbowbratt]

Hi Mike. Me here. I picked up a trio of your A. cf. payaminoni (Pantoja) at your last CAS talk. Here are a few pics of them today. They spawned yesterday after a couple weeks of working up to the event, and me removing the extra female because they were harrassing her. Within minutes of her departure from the tank, the pair was spawning in their little "cave"--the mini vase she's pictured in front of--don't ask lol--this in not a breeding tank. It is a 15g long tank, in my kitchen. Since these guys are only a few months old, I thought I'd just enjoy them growing up in the kitchen for a while lol. I also thought that the commotion in the kitchen would interfere with their activitities, but even me with a flashlight and camera shining into the vase didn't stop them yesterday(couldnt get a decent shot of them though).

This vase does not work for me, because I cannot visualize the eggs on the roof of it--but I did witness the spawning event, so I know they did lay eggs. They are being very good parents so far. And there are two juvie green dragon bn plecos in there too. Do you think I need to move them? Or is it good to give the male something to do? He has been keeping busy guarding the vase, and intermittently chasing the plecos. I have had apistos breed in my tanks before, but I have not bred them purposely, and these being important fish, I'd like to chat with you to ensure the best survival, if we do get these eggs to the point of hatching.

I'll post some quick pics, they haven't been edited in any way, not even cropped. The colors are just what they are. The female pic turned out pretty true to life, the male---it's either too dark, or washed out by the flash, but I am impressed with the color and finnage of these fish, especially considering the age! Seriously, only about 3 months old?! WOW! Being a rainbowfish person, I am big on purity of strains, but I am kind of excited about the idea of getting these fish going and seeing what happens when people begin selectively breeding them.

Awesome apistos Mike!! Thanks for collecting them and breeding them for us!!

 

[Mike Wise]

If you plecos can get into the spawning cave, then I would remove them and replace them with a better kind of dither fish. Glad you like the apistos.