How to ID Apisto 'Rotkeil'?

[yorky]

Hi,
Have been curious for a while.
What are the specific traits of an Apisto 'Rotkeil'?
To me, they look like Apisto Uapesi.
Pls enlighten me.

 

[Rolo]

Hi,

There are different forms of A. uaupesi, e.g. "Rotkeil" or "Blutkehl"
You can either call them an own, undescribed species or a colormorphs of A. uaupesi. For me it seems, that they are A. uaupesi, too. But this is not scientifically proven, so they are still separated.
But it's on you to call them A. cf. uaupesi "Rotkeil" oder A. sp. "Rotkeil"... who cares, everybody can have his own opinion

greetings,
Rolo

 

[mervin]

This it true that the "Rotkeil" is an Uaupesi that has red tail and the "Bluthkel" is an another variant of an Uaupesi that is blue ????

thanks
mervin

 

[Rolo]

Hi Mervin,

The Rotkeil have a red tail, that's correct.
The "Blutkehl" have a red throat, as the name say. (german: "Kehle" = throat, "Blut" = blood... so ist "bloodthroat")
But meanwhile there are specimen with red throat AND red tail ...

greetings,
Rolo

 

[Mike Wise]

There is a lot of uncertainty about the number of uaupesi-like species that are in the iniridae-group. Koslowski (2002) notes that the Rotkeil(Red-wedge) Apisto comes from the type locality of A. uaupesi (Rio Uaupés, Rio Negro system, Brazil). Thus the Rotkeil is only a colorful color morph of A. uaupesi.

Blutkehl(Cutthroat) Apistos females (from the upper Rio Orinoco around San Fernando de Atabapo) do not have the abdominal stripes seen on A. uaupesi females from the Rio Negro. This could be only a variation in black markings within a single species (A. uaupesi), or it could be sufficient enough determine that they are different species. Römer (2000) believes that they belong to the same species. Koslowski considers them to be 2 different species.

Yamazaki (1997) shows a male A. uaupesi male with a red caudal wedge and prominent blood red markings on the face. The fish shows pale abdominal stripes. This fish, from the Rio Vaupés (Colombian part of the Rio Uaupé) appears to have features of both Red-wedge & Cutthroat Apistos.

If you are confused, don't worry, you're not alone! We definitely need more collections of uaupesi-like fish in the boundary areas between the Rio Negro & Orinoco before anything can be said for certain.

 

[yorky]

With so much uncertainty and likeliness, wouldn't it imply that there are possiblities that what is displayed in shops as Ap 'Rotkeil' in shop might not be after all?

I do find that what is labeled as the Apisto sp 'Rotkeil' tends to be more costly than the Apisto Uapesi.

Anyway, its one of my fav apisto.. so wanted to know more about them.

 

[mervin]

thanks for the clarification there Rolo and Mike.

cheers
mervin