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Female ID

apistobob

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5 Year Member
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161
Location
N.W. USA
I received three of these wild Apistos. They have all turned out to be female. I purchased them as A. pausisquamis but that ID has been questioned. Any opinions as to what they are.

thanks

Bob

P01.jpg

P02.jpg

P03.jpg
 

Zack Wilson

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5 Year Member
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102
Location
Saint Paul, MN
Heh, I guess you beat me to it Bob. I was about to do the same thing. Here are a few pics of the female I received. All the same fish. Just want to be sure if it's paucisquamis, or not.

female1.jpg


female2.jpg


female3.jpg


female4.jpg


female5.jpg
 

Mike Wise

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Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
At first, Bob, I wasn't even sure that these fish belonged in the agassizii-lineage. But the last two photos show the distinctive metallic blue spot on the corner of the mouth. I don't think that they are A. paucisquamis females. Female pauscisquamis have a more distinct pattern on the tail fins and a black blotch at the anus. I don't think it is any of the species in the paucisquamis-complex (A. paucisquamis, A. mendezi, A. sp. Miuá, A. sp. Gabelband/Fork-band). Females in all of these show fairly distince horizontal stripe(s) below the lateral band. Yours don't. Then I looked at the white belly region. They all seem to show little in the way of scales along the belly between the ventral fins and anus. This is a feature diagonostic of A. gephyra. The broad lateral band is typical, too. I think that you have A. gephyra females.
 

Zack Wilson

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5 Year Member
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102
Location
Saint Paul, MN
As a comparative, here is my other potential female. She came in with my male paucis several months ago. When I got the group of 20 fish, none were sexable. All but this one turned out to male. I'm not positive about her being a paucisquamis either, but I see more potential. The photos don't show it, but sometimes I think I see the black anal spot, sometimes not. Also not evident, but sometimes during displaying and challenging, her fins, namely caudal, will take on a dark pattern of vertical rows of spots. I witnessed this yesterday when I tried to introduce the two females, while the gephyra (?) showed nothing similar.

Bob, you may have helped me out in another area. I have two lonely male gephyra that have no mates. I may be able to fix them up now. Now if I can just get the paucisquamis figured out.

Mike, tell me what you think on this one.

pauci1.jpg


pauci2.jpg


pauci3.jpg
 

Mike Wise

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Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Zack, your fish shows a disinct horizontal stripe below the lateral band. You can also see the scale (some dark-edged) along the belly, too. Your description of the caudal pattern (not visible on your photos due to the net) all seem to indicate that the fish is a female paucisquamis.

I am still not absolutely positive that Bob's fish are female gephyra, but from the photos shown, that is what they look like. It would be nice to see if they have any caudal fin pattern at times.
 

Zack Wilson

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
102
Location
Saint Paul, MN
If that's true, that's great news. I was rather disappointed, to say the least, when one by one the others kept showing males characteristics. This gives me some hope. The males are gorgeous and have a very nice orange chest region.

If you look in the last couple photos I posted of the potential gephyra female, you can see some faint speckling. There is some faint patterning evident. I can always give it a try with the gephyra males. They're quite nice as well. Incidentally, these male gephyra came in with another group of paucisquamis I had gotten ealier. Perhaps gephyra is a common by-catch? This would explain Bob's situation as well....it's all becoming clear...
 

apistobob

Active Member
5 Year Member
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161
Location
N.W. USA
Mike,

I have been back through my photos and I do not have a good one of a caudal that shows the markings. They are few and light, mostly near the center. They are definitely not a prominent feature.

I will try to get a better shot if I can.

Bob
 

Mike Wise

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11,201
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
A. paucisquamis & A. gephyra commonly occur together in the wild. At the small size that they are collected, it is often hard too distinguish the species from each other.
 

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