Request - Apistogramma Identification

[SawaX]

Good morning everyone!

About a year ago, I bought 3x small Apistogramma (marked by the shop) as Viejita. Unfortunately, because of parasites, two of them died. The one that left, got bigger during the year and now It's quite a piece of fish... On the Facebook group, they identify one as Female Apistogramma Macmasteri. So ok, I bought a couple of days ago a nice Male Apistogramma Macmasteri to make a pair.

Could you identify my fish and explain to me the difference between Macmasteri and Viejita? As for pictures on the internet, they look very similar to me.

The first 3x pictures contain old fish, and the 4th one - new fish.

Moreover, when I add a new fish to the tank, the old fish follows the new one everywhere and shakes her tail as you can see in the last .gif file... Have you seen such a behavior before?

 

[MacZ]

Could you identify my fish and explain to me the difference between Macmasteri and Viejita? As for pictures on the internet, they look very similar to me.

Domestic A. macmasteri are often sold as A. viejita. This has gone as far as the wikipedia page for A. viejita just showing domestic A. macmasteri and many people have never seen a true A. viejita.
Simple as that. In any case: Your fish are domestic A. macmasteri. Nothing to be unsure about that.

This will be interesting to you, Frank posted a short comparison list.

Hi everyone, What have I got?

apistogramma.com

As will be this, the IDs on Toms Homepage are correct.
Species Profile on Tom's Homepage

 

[SawaX]

Domestic A. macmasteri are often sold as A. viejita. This has gone as far as the wikipedia page for A. viejita just showing domestic A. macmasteri and many people have never seen a true A. viejita.
Simple as that. In any case: Your fish are domestic A. macmasteri. Nothing to be unsure about that.

thx!

This will be interesting to you, Frank posted a short comparison list.

Hi everyone, What have I got?

apistogramma.com

As will be this, the IDs on Toms Homepage are correct.
Species Profile on Tom's Homepage

I will dive into those pages. Tom's Homepage looks like the true database of Apistrogramma species. Thx




Could you also comment behaviour of de female? The male is trying to escape from the female all the time (well, could be slightly stressed after changing environment) but the female is following him in every spot.

 

[MacZ]

Tom's Homepage looks like the true database of Apistrogramma species.

It is. Most comprehensive available without a paywall. Tom and several contributors are active here on the forum.

Could you also comment behaviour of de female? The male is trying to escape from the female all the time (well, could be slightly stressed after changing environment) but the female is following him in every spot.

She either wants to breed (the yellow colouration is a clear sign) or she sees him as an intruder as she was able to establish territory before you added him. This is also a possibility as she is quite big, but unlikely in my opinion..
So yeah, typical breeding display from my point of view.

 

[Mike Wise]

Mac is right; 2 possibilities. I imagine, if you added the male without re-arranging the decor, that the female considers the entire tank her territory and that the male is not (yet) a suitable breeding partner. If the problem doesn't resolve itself then I would re-arrange the decor to allow both to establish separate territories and allow the male to grow a bit more.

 

[SawaX]

Mac is right; 2 possibilities. I imagine, if you added the male without re-arranging the decor, that the female considers the entire tank her territory and that the male is not (yet) a suitable breeding partner. If the problem doesn't resolve itself then I would re-arrange the decor to allow both to establish separate territories and allow the male to grow a bit more.

Thx for the advice It was quite a challenge to find an adult male in my neighborhood, most of the time they were half of his size.

The tank is quite big (350L) so maybe they will establish their territory as it is. Otherwise, I will re-arrange it. I will observe them for a couple of days...

Today Female spend a lot of time in a sort of cave on one side of the tank, male on the opposite side. Female appear on feeding time more colorful than usual

Anyway, thx for help!