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Viejita or Macmasteri?

AlexW

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
4
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!

P8107063.jpg


P8107080.jpg


P8107067.jpg


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 :rolleyes: ) 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

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
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

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
4
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?

P5226470.jpg

P5056281.jpg


P5156388.jpg

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:
 

AlexW

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
4
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?
 

AlexW

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
4
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:
 

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