Collecting.....

[Tom C]

Muchas gracias, themountain!

 

[Ekona]

This one even showed a pink-ish body!
Apistogramma bitaeniata (Rio Corrientes):

Freshwater fish with mauve colors are amazing (and, I think, rare). What a beauty. Would be great to see this one at home in your tank displaying.

 

[Tom C]

A selection of the fish I collected has now come "home". They have acclimatized well, and become somewhat accustomed to me being engaged in a lot of things on the outside of the tanks.
So then it's time to take some photos...

I collected quite a lot of Apistogramma agassizii at the Rio Corrientes, and brought some of them home. As usual, they represent an eclectic mix of color variations.

I took some pictures of that tank today, and was completely overwhelmed by this beautiful male's colors:

This species' males are usually polychromatic in their habitats, so when collecting them, you often get several different color forms in the same net. This means that the offspring are likely to show different color combinations too, so unfortunately, there are no guarantees that any of the offspring is completely identical to the father ...

 

[rr16]

I love the variety of life! Beautiful fish!

 

[Ekona]

Wow, Tom, the yellows are so intense! Aggies are great apistos! Thanks for sharing .

 

[Ttw]

What a tremendous fish. I don't think the man made color types can hold a candle to these natural colored fish.

 

[Linus_Cello]

Post pics of his future mate please.

 

[Tom C]

He has found a potential wife all by himself:

and so seems one of the other males from the same location to have done. His colors differ considerably from "Mr. Beautiful" above...:

Why are you interested in the future mate?
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[rr16]

and so seems one of the other males from the same location to have done. His colors differ considerably from "Mr. Beautiful" above...:

-

This one is beautiful in his own right!

 

[fart]

"Mr. Beautiful" lives up to his name. Amazing all the different colors on the Apistogramma agassizii

 

[Linus_Cello]

Hoping that there may be offspring available for purchase one day.

 

[Tom C]

I love to watch the different wild forms of Apistogramma agassizii from the Río Corrientes:

I have been waiting for the females to grow, and they now seem to approach the size where I would put them in a separate tank with one of the males, to spawn:

Mr. Beautiful is doing fine:

These seem to be similar to the A. agassizii "Flamenco" form, known from the nearby Río Tigre:

These have red tails:

Another form:

And some specimens have more spotted caudal fins:

 

[gerald]

Tom, Is there any chance that collectors might have released "aggie"-group species from other places here in years past, or do you think the extreme variability in this population is all a result of natural evolution?

 

[Ekona]

Tom, Is there any chance that collectors might have released "aggie"-group species from other places here in years past, or do you think the extreme variability in this population is all a result of natural evolution?

I was wondering the very same thing. However, I recall that H. Bleher showed a collection of A. agg. from one small stream with the same extreme color variations, I don't recall the location right off hand, though.

 

[Ttw]

In 1988 I was collecting in a small stream in an agricultural research station on the road east out of Jenaro Herrera on the way to kilometer 14 to try to catch some nijsseni. Out of that small stream I collected agassizi of several different colors. I remember catching the common blue form. Some with blue caudals, some with caudals with a white lattice like pattern.and other blue aggies with blue caudals with a wide white border. Also caught yellow aggies in the same locale with yellow caudals with a white border. I have never again caught so many color varieties in one location.

 

[Mike Wise]

The agassizii forms all seem to exhibit a high level of polychromatism. Onre never quite knows what F1s from wild parents will look like.

 

[Tom C]

Tom, Is there any chance that collectors might have released "aggie"-group species from other places here in years past, or do you think the extreme variability in this population is all a result of natural evolution?

There always is a chance that fishes have been translocated, but I don't think this is what has happened here;

- "Aggies" are exported for less than one US dollar each from the exporters, you could guess what the fishermen get.
- The location is too far away from the exporters in Iquitos, and travelling is expensive in the Amazon.
- This is a very small village and a "new" place to collect Apistos, it would surprise me a lot if someone had even searched for Apistos here years ago
- I can not remember one single location where I have found several specimens of A. agassizii and they all looked exactly the same
- A very goos example is Ttw's report from the Jenaro Herrera area (above). Examples from my own expeditions could be the Rio Galvez, where there were several color forms, in the Rio Tamshiyacu and the Rio Tahuayo the same, and towards the end of the report from the Rio Tapiche, where this photo is from,

I wrote this about the "Aggies" we found in one location: "There were forms with red fins, with white fins and with almost transparent fins, specimens with yellow heads, red heads or blue heads, and some with yellow and some with white chests. And some reminded of the A.agassizii "Pastel" form."

So, yes, I think these fishes are results of a natural evolution of a highly polychromatic species.

I will try to make space to breed at least a couple of the color forms, just to see how the young ones will look like.
Always the same challenge: lack of tank space!
Ideally I should also free space enough so that the females themselves could choose which males they would like to spawn with, a possible step in speciation...

 

[gerald]

THAT could be really interesting, if you can arrange it so the females really have a choice and aren't forced into accepting the dominant male. If mate selection is not random, then maybe we're actually looking at multiple species here, or varieties on their way to becoming new species.

Ideally I should also free space enough so that the females themselves could choose which males they would like to spawn with, a possible step in speciation...

 

[Tom C]

I brought home two adults, and several very small ones, of the yellow (amarillo) form of Apistogramma sp. "Kelleri".
After a while, the largest one tried to swallow the second largest (!), and they both died:

Now the small ones have grown nicely for several month:

Another photo of this male:

I'll guess you already have noticed the unusual form of the caudal fin, and here is a close up of this amazing caudal fin.
It shows 4 extensions!

 

[rr16]

Looks interesting. Is there only this one that shows this or are there more? Am guessing none of the other adults showed it? Trying to swallow each other looks interesting too!