Need help ID wild apisto

[Oupsy]

Hi,

I need help with this wild caught Apistogramma.
I have no pictures of the female, the male is chasing it as soon as it gets out.

Thk you.

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi there,

Looks very much like a young Apistogramma sp 'Morado' in the process of colouring up.

Andrew

 

[Oupsy]

Thks Andrew,

My fish does not seem to be young. I agree it has something of sp Morado but i doubt that it s what it is.

The lateral band is "cut" in squares depending on the mood of the fish.

I have found this, A. sp Papagei:

http://www.geocities.co.jp/AnimalPark-Shiro/1993/Apistogrammasopapagei.htm

It really looks like my fish, but all other pictures of sp. papagei i found show much more colored fishes.

http://www.apistogramma.com/cms/Apistogramma_Undescribed_Taxa/A._sp._Papagei/A._sp._Papagei/

What do you think?


PS: Andrew, i often make the road from Paris to Newcastle, i hope one day i can make a hook in Biddulph, you seem to have rare wild apistos.

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi there,

I will take a picture of my Morado's tonight and post them on the forum.

I've kept Papagei in the past as well, however I've found that Morado has a lot more body colour/striping than Papagei. In your images, there looks to be a secondary stripe above the main body stripe (the purple brown one between the body stripe and the hatch markings along the bottom of the dorsal fin), my Morado show multiple stripes in this location as well. The hatch marking I've found to be most predominant on the females, my subordinate males just tend to have the single solid black stripe on the body.

Regards

Andrew

 

[Oupsy]

Ok Andrew.

Does the Morado show incomplete lateral band like the fish on the first link.
Cause mine really does, but never when i try to shoot it :frown:

My fish also has 3 stripes under the lateral band, you can hardly see them on third picture, maybe this can help.

Thks again.

 

[Mike Wise]

Morado is only one of several color morphs of A. sp. Pebas - a form closely related to A. sp. Papagei/Parrot. I am fairly certain the the fish pictured is one of the several color morphs of A. sp. Papagei - based on the unpatterned tail & especially the mostly divided caudal patch at the end of the lateral band. To be absolutely certain I would need to see what the female looks like.

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi folks,

Excuse quality of images, these are from the stock tank (and the flash has washed the colours out as well):

Unfortunately these pics don't do the males justice, they have a lot more colour in them.

In the first pic, you have 2 subdominant males with solid bands and between them is the dominant male with a broken band (top right is breeding condition female and far left is out of breeding condition female). Depending on mood the band is either non existant or broken. All my males show faint traces of lines below the central band.

Last pic is female that currently has fry.

Regards

Andrew

 

[Oupsy]

Here is 2 pics of the female, i hope they're good enough.

Thks again to both of you.

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi Oupsy,

I think my earlier guess at Morado is incorrect, thanks to Mike's comments (I'm still learning as well), my Morado do have a patterened caudal fin and don't show the same degree of red in the face as yours does, so probably as Mike suggests one of the forms of Ap. sp Papagei....

The perils of trying to identify fish when you're at work with no books, never mind your own fish to compare!!!!!

Regards

Andrew

 

[Oupsy]

As Mike said A. Sp Morado is closely related to A. sp. Papgei, so there's no shame making such a little mistake.
And as you said, we're all learning off Mike comments .

Oupsy

 

[Mike Wise]

The female shows the caudal patch (2 caudal spots joined together) of most specimens of A. sp. Papagei/Parrot. A. sp. Pebas has a caudal patch that is taller at the posterior part and tapers toward the front. It looks more like a triangle.

 

[Oupsy]

Hey,

new pics of the male, now a bit more colored

First without flash, second with flash