Viejita or Macmasteri?

[AlexW]

I bought a pair (male and female) of "Ap. macmasteri" at an LFS on Saturday and have been having issues making sure that they are indeed macmasteri and not viejita.

Now, I have a pair of wild viejita in another tank and they don't look too similar but the viejita are full grown, 3.5 inch male and 3 inch female and the new pair of apistos are only 1.5 inch male and 1 inch female so I don't think I can really judge on that part.

If anyone can help me out it'd be appreciated!

Also, what would be a good food to be feeding them, right now I'm giving them a mixture of hikari and wardly and freeze dried tubifex and they are accepting it all. I ran out of frozen food (my mom used it all in her tank ) 2 weeks ago and probably won't be getting more for a week or two. What are some frozen foods you'd recomend? I'm thinking mysis, bloodworms and brine shrimp.

Oops, just realized this is probably the wrong section. How can I move it to the identification and morphology section?
Edit: Thanks for moving it! Won't happen again (I hope)

 

[Mike Wise]

The fish in the photos are Red-shoulder/Rotrücken A. macmasteri. I will bet a nickel that your "A. viejita" are also A. macmasteri. The true A. viejita is extremely rare in the hobby. It has been 10 years since I last saw the true A. viejita.

As for food, variety is best. Just feed different frozen/freeze-dried foods. If they take flakes & pellets, add these, too. An occassional feeding of live foods certainly encourages breeding.

 

[AlexW]

Thanks for the help! That's good to know I got what I wanted.

I haven't been able to find any pictures of a real viejita online anywhere, all the ones I see are labeled Rio meta or super red or some such stuff and don't look a thing like mine.

Here's a picture of my other apistos, can you tell me if they are macmasteri or viejita?

Female in breeding dress^


I'll try and get a pic of the female out of breeding colors, she's not too cooperative with pictures.:tongue:

 

[langosh]

They look like Ap. sp. Rotpunkt to me...
Roman

 

[Rolo]

They look like Ap. sp. Rotpunkt to me...

...they ARE A. sp. Rotpunkt (A. cf. alacrina)

regards,
Rolo

 

[AlexW]

Thanks guys! Kinda a dissapointment but it's fine with me.

Can anyone point me to a pic of a real viejita?

And one more question, does it look to you guys like the female macmasteri might be a young male disguising itself as a female to avoid being attacked by the larger male?

 

[Rolo]

Can anyone point me to a pic of a real viejita?

You can see one here at
www.apistogramma.net

And one more question, does it look to you guys like the female macmasteri might be a young male disguising itself as a female to avoid being attacked by the larger male?

No, I think it's a "true" female

regards,
Rolo

 

[Mike Wise]

Some of Rolo's photos can also be seen in the Cichlid Room Companion gallery at: http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery.php?genus=Apistogramma. Just scroll down to A. viejita. It also explains how to differentiate A. viejita from A. macmasteri (in English).

 

[AlexW]

Thanks guys! That's a relief, there hasn't been any extra aggression between the two and they've been coupling alot more since I've introduced them. Compared to my... I guess they're A. sp. rotpunkt now, that always argue it's a nice change.

Thanks for that link Mike Wise, While I can understand a little of it I'm only in first year. The english makes it much easier on my head right now during summer break.:tongue: