The ID quest goes on!

[aquaticclarity]

I brought these guys in last year (2011) from Peru under the name Apisto. cruzi. I had no idea what to expect other then they would not be cruzi! Here are some pictures of what the fish looked like this past winter and what they look like now. Anyone know what they are???

Last Winter-and yes even the males were showing a black leading edge on their ventral fins

Now-all pictures are of the same two fish (female in and out of brood care colors)

 

[DwarfApisto]

Hey Jeff, Do you have any of these for sale?? Very nice looking apisto's, what ever they turn out to be!!!

 

[aquaticclarity]

Nope, none for sale. Just the pair that I kept for myself, but they have started to spawn and now that the tetras that were in the same tank have been moved they should be in business. I had a tank for of them last year and had very few people interested in them at the time because they didn't have the full red tails yet (see the first set of pictures).

 

[raymond82]

Beautiful fish!!!

Unfortunately I cannot ID them but I do have a question. The fish in the second picture shows a somewhat inflated belly (don't know a better way to describe it). I see that on some of my wild caught fish too, I thought it was because of underfeeding but I feed them well and I still see it. What could be the cause?

My sincere apologies for being so off topic...

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
With the traditional apologies that I've never actually got an ID right, but they look like they are A. eunotus or very close to it.

Again based on the photos, rather than any markings, how about Apistogramma "Nadelstreifen" on TomC's site <http://apisto.sites.no/fish.aspx?fishIndexID=2282&gruppeID=1>?

cheers Darrel

 

[aquaticclarity]

Hi all,
With the traditional apologies that I've never actually got an ID right, but they look like they are A. eunotus or very close to it.

Again based on the photos, rather than any markings, how about Apistogramma "Nadelstreifen" on TomC's site <http://apisto.sites.no/fish.aspx?fishIndexID=2282&gruppeID=1>?

cheers Darrel

They do resemble each other very much don't they! I wish there were a few more pictures on TomC's site to compare to.

 

[Mike Wise]

Definitely not Nadelstreifen. Males of this species, in dominance/aggression mood, has every other vertical bar virtually disappear. It is an eunotus-subcomplex species based on the orange pectoral base and split vertical bar(s) on the caudal peduncle. The dark gill cover, shape of the caudal spot, and bright orange caudal fin lead me to believe that it is a really beautiful population of A. cf. eunotus (Orangeschwanz/Orange-tail).

 

[aquaticclarity]

The pictures don't show it well but the male has an emerald green highly reflective body color and the tail is nearly red!

 

[slimbolen99]

Reminds me of A. eunotus 'blue cheek' (as they called them) that I got from Wetspot last year. Sadly, all I got were males, and they destroyed themselves. Seems like there are lots of interesting eunotus color forms that, no matter what we call them, seem to all be a little different.

 

[aquaticclarity]

And these guys have fry swimming fry out as of yesterday! Only 12-15 of them but it's a start.

 

[FIL]

Interesting !! i have a Apistogramma cf eunotus (Orangeschwanz/Orange-tail) but i don't find the same marks on the body and particulary on the caudal peduncle. Mine don't shows vertical bands.

I bought this Apisto under the name Apisto. cruzi.

 

[Mike Wise]

Your female looks very much looks very much like Jeff's (aquaticclarity) females. There is always minor differences in populations. The males look different because they were photographed differently and are in different moods. They appear to be the same species to me.

 

[FIL]

Ok, thank you Mike . I love this species, she's very very nice for me.