IDing apistos

[Brown Water]

Any way to tell apisto species apart when they are young/stressed? I am intrested in getting a few different pairs but am nervous because I can't seem to tell them apart from pictures, and want to make sure I am not over paying for a Aggassizi when I am trying to get a trifasciata.

Looking for

apistogramma trifasciata blue form
apistogramma baenschi
apistogramma nijsseni
apistogramma sp. "rotpunkt"

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mike Wise]

Exactly how young are these fish? Are they juvenile forms or young adults?

 

[Brown Water]

Just a general question, see em on aquabid and stuff but they look the same to me. They are eaither juvies, or stressed and not really showing any color. Just want some advice so I know what I'm looking at when I buy it and don't get ripped off.

 

[Mike Wise]

From what I see on Aquabid, most of the apistos are mature and readily identifiable. IMHO I have to say that body color is not the best means to ID apistos. Too many species are polychromatic and many closely related species show similar colors. Body shape, fin shape, and the dark markings are much more useful. With 300+ species/forms, apistos aren't always easy to identify. It takes experience and an 'eye' for the more subtle differences. Me? I've had 40 years of experience with apistos, plus training by one of the best researchers in brachiopod paleo-taxonomy. If you want to be good at identifying different apisto species, I suggest that you get some good (and accurate!) picture books on apistos. I recommed the DATZ book (shameless plug ) and read (wade through, really) my article, "A DESCRIPTION OF APISTOGRAMMA SPECIES-GROUPS" at: http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?PageId=116 (yet another shameless plug! ).

For now, since you are interested in more common apisto species, I think that you should be safe if you buy from any of the sellers on Aquabid with a 'Positive Feedback %" of 90% or better. This includes most of the volume sellers.

 

[Brown Water]

Sweet where might I get the book?

 

[Brown Water]

Now I have another question, where's the best place to buy the more uncommon/rare apistos? (uncommon/rare IMO no one around here really sells apistos)

 

[animalmgc]

Aqutic Clarity (Jeff) deals in wilds and Apistodave is always a xclnt source for tank breds he has a special running on aquabid http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwapisto&1344089971 Daves tank Strains has some awesome finnage Jeff has a sale spot on here and he has a listing of whats up for sale here http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/index.php?threads/tank-raised-apistogramma.12686/
and I believe A sp Rotpunkt is now Apisto Cinnilabra Scott Arney @ Amazon tropical had those Wetspots is also very reliable even though they don't guarentee pairs Anthony Perry has neve let me down

 

[Mike Wise]

Sweet where might I get the book?

Try Aquabid. This is a German book (with both German & English text) so it isn't common in the US.

 

[Mike Wise]

... I believe A sp Rotpunkt is now Apisto Cinnilabra ...

A. cinilabra was previously called A. sp. Schwarzbrust/Black-breast. A. sp. Rotpunkt is still Rotpunkt - or maybe more accurately A. cf. alacrina (Rotpunkt).

 

[animalmgc]

my mistake one of the synonyms(aka) are Roterpunkt

 

[Apistomaster]

Even with all the resources available it can be difficult to identify Apistos, especially immature and/or stressed adults.
SSo many new species are constantly being introduced that the task is getting harder.

 

[Brown Water]

is there any book or website that has all the A numbers on/in it?

 

[regani]

possibly the most complete and up-to-date list of apistogramma species (compiled by Mike Wise) and be found on Tom's website http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?PageId=118
he also has a list of all A numbers on that site and quite a few of them have pics, too http://apisto.sites.no/slekt.aspx?gruppeID=1
another good source for pictures is this site (it is in Swedish, but the scientific names for the fish are international)
http://www.ciklid.org/artregister/artreg_visa_slakte.php?ID=6
another site with good information about a fair number of species is http://dwarfcichlid.com/index.php

good books are the Mergus Cichlids Atlas by U. Römer, Dwarf Cichlids by Staeck and Linke, and the dwarf cichlid book by I. Koslowski. not all of them are available in English, though.

 

[Mike Wise]

The only book with the published A-numbers is the original one - "Südamerikanische Zwergcichliden/South American Dwarf Cichlids" (a.k.a. 'The DATZ Book'). It is mostly a picture book, but virtually all the species are correctly identified (something I can't say for other books). All text is side-by-side in German and English. It is published by the German magazine Die Aquarien u. Terrarien Zeitshrift (DATZ), the same publisher who originated to L-numbers for Loricarids and C-number for Callichtyids.

 

[Brown Water]

It's cool, I love picture books! Mostly cause I don't have the patience to read much more then a sentence or two