Scientific names for the following...

[carrieann]

Apache
Emerald
Victoriano
Morado
Juruense
Bleeding

All are apisto's a guy near me have and i am planning on buying some from him. But I really, don't know what any of these are. Also, which fish would be best for my set up?

20gallon, moderatly planted, 3 each of: harlequin rasbora's, black neon's, and red eyes, and 2 cory's.

Any help/advice would be very helpful! Thanks!

 

[Mike Wise]

Apache = A. sp. Masken, & sometime A. sp. Carapintada
Emerald = A. geisleri (Emerald)
Victoriano is new to me
Morado = A. sp. Pebas (Morado/Purple)
Juruense (probably the fish from Peru) = A. sp. Black-chin/Schwarzkinn
Bleeding (Neil showed me a photo) probably = A. sp. Nanay sensu Koslowski & Melgar, NOT Römer's

Of these I think the Apache would be the best. Nice colorful male & rather easy to breed.

 

[Neil]

Emerald = A. geisleri (Emerald)
Victoriano is new to me

Is not Emerald, A. sp. "Smaragd"?

Below is a picture of Victoriano and Bleeding. I will let Mike give his opinion on the actual species that Victoriano is, but I do know that it is a fish named after Victoriano Panduro, who runs Ornamental Amazon Fish Aquarium (O.A.F.A.) out of Iquitos, Peru.

http://www.apistogramma.com/cms/the_gallery/individual_galleries/a._victoriano/

carrieann,
Your tankmate choices sound fine to me. Keep in mind, however, that for breeding purposes, the more quick fish that you have in the tank with your pair of apistos, the more difficulty the pair will have defending their babies.

Neil

 

[mervin]

could that be a "high-fin panduro" ???

 

[Mike Wise]

Thanks for the photo. It appears to be a photo of the fish already called A. sp. Hifin "Panduro"(North America)/Urias (Japan)/Harlequin (Europe).

Mike Wise

 

[Peter Lovett1]

Well I know Ornamental Amazon Fish Aquarium (O.A.F.A.) web site and he lists a fish call arlequin

http://www.oafa-aquarium.com/peces/arlequin.jpg

Which I think is harlequin

 

[Mike Wise]

I am not surprised. It won't be the first time that the Panduros have given more than 1 name to a single species. They often give new names to previously named species, apparently when they collect them from a new locality. I'm not 'knocking' them. After all, they are fish exporters & do an excellent job at this. We cannot expect them to be expert taxonimists on every species of fish, too.

 

[carrieann]

Thanks for the replies guys. That really cleared up a lot for me.

Neil: The red-eyes weren't a planned addition. My boyfriend got them for me because he felt bad for them at the store. They were the last three and he didn't want them split up.

 

[Mike Wise]

With regard to Victoriano, this fish is a form of A. atahualpa. Yes, I admit it. I'm not perfect, I blew the ID.

 

[Peter Lovett1]

I should of said that that photo was also down as the new sunset

 

[Peter Lovett1]

The argument as to what a species or should will probably rage for as long as there are species on this planet.

IMO a specie is an animal that when given a choice will breed at least 99% with another similar animal. How similar that animal is constitutes the extent of the spicie.

What I am trying to say is that if you had a tank with firemouths and convicts the convicts would spawn together and so would the firemouths.

But if you placed two geographical colour morphs of aggie together and even though they may show some preference for there own colour morph it would not make them a specie in my way of thinking.

 

[Mike Wise]

I agree with Peter in the respect that when given partners of the same population any fish will prefer to breed with them. The trick with the aggie forms is that you will have to be able to place 2 populations together & see how they behave. In doing so you would have to be able to recognize the different females & make sure that 'ripe' females of both populations were available at the same time. If not then the male would probably breed with the female ready to spawn. After all, it is the female that initiates spawning in most apistos. Most breeding in the aquarium does not allow for such a choice. Usually if we lose one sex from a the initial population we just add another, often from an unknown population. Without strictly controled breeding experiments we cannot tell whether we have one species & several populations or several species. This is where DNA studies might help, but even these have their problems.

 

[Peter Lovett1]

.The trick with the aggie forms is that you will have to be able to place 2 populations together & see how they behave. In doing so you would have to be able to recognize the different females & make sure that 'ripe' females of both populations were available at the same time. .[/ quote]

When it comes to apistos would it not be more important that there was a dominant male from both populations for a ripe female to choose from as it the female that chooses her mate?

 

[Mike Wise]

Peter,

I believe that you are right. Two dominant males of different populations would be necessary. The problem is that it is difficult to have 2 dominant males in the an aquarium with only 1 female. Polygamous males, if given the chance, have been known to take over the entire area of a 55 gallon tank. I imagine that with proper aquascaping it would be possible.

 

[Peter Lovett1]

I have to agree a male apisto will have a territory as large as it is possible for him to have.

I think an experiment of this type would need a tank about 16' x 8' or should i say a pond. But it would be very interesting to see the results after 10 generations