Tefe or sp tefe?

[squidz]

When I purchased these, were only marked as wild caught agassizii. Now I've got fry so wanted to accurately identify before homing. I'm thinking I have sp tefe but mine does not have a spaded tail but rounded so not confident with my id.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Frank Hättich]

Your fish are not A. sp. Tefe which are distinguished from other agassizii-subcomplex species by the zigzag stripes males show along their body. For reference see here.

 

[squidz]

Thank you for the clarification. Would it just be a generic type wild Agassizii or a specific variant? I'm more familiar with the domestic strains.

 

[Frank Hättich]

What is called "A. agassizii" is in fact a group of very similar but genetically different species. Given the large distribution of A. agassizii, new research by Estivals et al. suggests that this group might easily consist of hundreds of different species! As a rule of thumb we can assume that specimens from different locations are in fact different species, even if the locations are very close to each other. The same is to be expected from other species with large areas of distribution like A. cacatuoides and A. bitaeniata.
So strictly speaking, if your fish are not from the type locality of A. agassizii, they are most likely not A. agassizii at all and should therefore better be called A. cf. agassizii.