Panta rhei
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Interesting to come across this id dilemma again. A few years ago I also posted a pic of my wild A. 'viejita' male on here - here is the thread: http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/a-viejita-or-macmasteri-please-help.10242/
I had only one male and three females (from the same shipment from Colombia).
Mike id'd it as A. macmasteri 'red shoulder' (see thread link above).
This strain also had a very distinctive continuous red BORDER to the dorsal fin, and with age the dorsal and anal fins started extending beyond the tail fin.
What I found even more interesting was that the F1 males I obtained (it was very male biased spawn and I obtained only 1 brood from them), when they displayed to each other, exhibited that prominent dark lateral (or abdominal) blotch (as in the classic photo of the original A. viejita - as also pictured in the Datz book). I'm not sure macmasteri's kind of 'change colour' like this (???) - it's quite something to see!
It would be so great if an ichthyologist (eg. Sven Kullander himself ! ) could one day write a publication on this interesting species complex again, perhaps highlighting the differences amongst its members clearly...
If the wilds of which you posted a video on here, were mine, I'd wait until they're happily settled in and in great health, then observe them very closely as they display to each other, and take as many pics and vdeo's as possible. The more info published on this macmasteri group (by whoever comes across wilds), the better, in my opinion...
On Tom C's site, there's another picture of what appears to be a wild A. viejita specimen, apparently imported as a contaminant (note the dark blotch - a dark marking - again):
Rolo, did your Rotsaum ever develop tips at the top or bottom of the caudal fin? Did they ever become as robust (bullig) and deep-bodied/high-backed as Panta Rhei's fish? I wish his fish truly were A. viejita, but everything I see in the photos indicate A. macmasteri.
No, they didn't! But unfortunately mine didn't became very old. The Panta Rhei fishes seem to be quite old in my eyes.
I have never seen an old, big, adult Rotsaum male. Therefore I can't exclude, that it will develop tips and a robust body, but I could imagine that, if they grew up in good conditions. Have you ever seen such big old males to be sure?
On the other hand I have never seen such a well-defined red dorsal seam at A. macmasteri. This I only know from A. sp. Rotsaum
Well, if these fishes are really A. macmasteri, we should seriously rethink, if A. viejita and A. macmasteri are really two separate species. Then the Panta Rhei fishes would be a "link" between both species, what would argue for local forms of one species instead of two separate species. ;-)
Rolo, I totally agree. Koslowski shows a wildcaught fish in the DATZ Sonderheft (A 122) that he labels "A. macmasteri/viejita". It truly shows a mix of features of both species. The dark markings - especially the caudal spot - are more like that of A. viejita than A. macmasteri. The caudal fin is round (possibly a young fish?) like A. viejita. The body is less robust like A. viejita, too. On the other hand, the dorsal fin shows no red seam, like most wild populations of A. macmasteri and the head profile is like that of A. macmasteri (equally convex at top and bottom) than A. viejita (slightly more convex on top, slightly more straight on bottom). I don't know if this is an intermediate form/population of a single species or a hybrid of the two species. We really need to take extensive collections of the macmasteri-group species in all of the upper tributaries of the Río Meta. That should resolve the question. I'm ready to go do it - once the region's political and drug problems are resolved and peace is restored. It is slowly happening, but it still isn't safe for foreigners.
regards,
Rolo