True Apistogramma viejita brought to Europe

[Erik82]

Hi All,
I'am pleased, more than pleased with my latest arrivals in the Netherlands. First of all some very nice Apistogramma megaptera, but I also received two males and one female Apistogramma Viejita! They were identified with DNA samples. The specimen I got are most likely F1 bread straight from Colombia. They were bred there. Well after looking at the fish.. I must say they do not look like macmasteri...

Here some photographs of the male. The female is hiding and garding her eggs....

 

[Tom C]

Well, they have been in the UK, Germany and Norway since late 2014...

Your male has a quite different dorsal fin than mine have, here is one of mine (wild):

They have produced quite a few fry in all the countries mentioned, here are some of mine:

So now I think this species will be available in the hobby for quite a while....

 

[Erik82]

Thats great to hear Tom! I assumed they were already in Europe, thought I did knew they actually were. Good to hear they've been reproduced multyple times!!

In my opinion is a stunning(?) lookking fish. A fish with some personality

 

[Erik82]

About the dorsal fin, that's an interesting remark. The male is already quiet large. About 5-6 cm. How can we explain the difference in dorsal fin? Possible variation in different location they were catched or something?

 

[Mike Wise]

Male A. viejita can reach around 7-8 cm. Your male is still young and not fully developed.

 

[Erik82]

Ok, thanks Mike. I will see how the dorsal fin developed.

 

[Erik82]

Is there an new commercial name for the true viejita to prevent the fish for crossing with macmasteri?

 

[Frank Hättich]

I hope not, because "viejita" is it's true name and therefore there is no need for any commercial name at all! Instead It would be great if importers, wholesalers and retailers would stop using the names "viejita", "viejita II", "viejita Gold" etc.for variants of A. macmasteri - but I don't expect this to happen any time soon

 

[Erik82]

Frank, Ill agree with you about using the right name for macmasteri's. But how can we prevent that the true viejita will not mixed up in a thank of macmastrei of he commercial shops? I would be a sad if the fish disappair again in the hobby...

 

[ErtyJr]

Frank, Ill agree with you about using the right name for macmasteri's. But how can we prevent that the true viejita will not mixed up in a thank of macmastrei of he commercial shops? I would be a sad if the fish disappair again in the hobby...

There are many people currently keeping and breeding A. viejita now. Thanks to many passionate A. viejita owners such as yourself, I do not think the fish is in danger of being lost to the hobby again any time soon.

However currently many other species already have been. I think all the nonsense between A. viejita and A. macmasteri has actually given this fish a huge boost in popularity, and in my opinion has solidified it's place in the hobby for some time.