Mixed populations?

[tato]

Hi, What do you think about to mix Apistos from different collected places, for example A. borellii collected in the province of Corrientes (Argentina) should be mixed with A. borellii from The Province of Entre Rios, or other places? Or should be keeping separately?
Regard.

 

[Mike Wise]

Personally, I prefer to keep my different populations separate. I do not see a problem mixing populations of A. borellii, however. This species is very distinct. Nothing else is close to it and all of the populations found in the wild tend to be polychromatic to some extent. It is probably the earliest apisto species in the Paraguay system, but seems to be very consistent in form throughout its range. Then, again, it could be like the A. caetei forms where each color form is genetically a different (sub)species. With the A. caetei forms, however, the different populations are consistant in their body colors.

 

[tato]

Thanks for the explanation, so that is what I'm going to do, We have the idea with some friends here in Argentina to collect Apistogramma in different places and take pictures of them and then watch if there is any difference in the different populations. I saw that in the species profile different populations of borellii have different codes:
borellii (type) (A101),
cf. Borellii Bolivia (A102)
Opal/Opalita (A105)
Paraguay (A103)
Rio Uruguay (A104)
Why is that?
Regards

 

[Mike Wise]

I saw that in the species profile different populations of borellii have different codes:
borellii (type) (A101),
cf. Borellii Bolivia (A102)
Opal/Opalita (A105)
Paraguay (A103)
Rio Uruguay (A104)
Why is that?
Regards

The different color forms pictured in the DATZ book under these A-numbers are (for the most part) from known collecting localities. The authors, however, could not distinguish any characters that would separate them into different species. That is why they write: "The status of the forms pictured here is therefore not clear." To play it safe, they gave different populations different A-numbers & labeled them as "A. cf. borellii" (except the specimen from the type location). A. borellii ("Opal") is different. It originally was a highly colorful domestic color strain developed in the former East Germany. Now the term is used for any super-colorful specimen - domestic or wild - that has red markings on the face and blue & yellow on the body and fins.

 

[tato]

Ok, thank you very much for your explanation.
Does anyone have pictures of those cf. borellii?
Thanks

 

[Mike Wise]

All are pictured in the DATZ book, of course. The same photos of A. borellii (type locality) (A101), A. cf. Borellii Bolivia (A102), A. cf. borellii Paraguay (A103), & A. cf. borellii Rio Uruguay (A104) are found in Koslowski's (2002) book.