A sp "Nadelstreifen".

[Microman]

Recently collected around Leticia,Colombia,by Tom and Mike these Apistos have managed to spawn in my aquaria and have a brood of approx 60-70 fry. I have found them a very aggressive Apisto with excellent broodcare and both male/female partake in raising the young.
Another species i am very pleased to have in my collection....
Mark.

Some pretty poor pics....

 

[RAF]

It doesn't seem a very colorful Apisto, though I quite sure it is very interesting in behavior. Nevertheless, another breeding success... congrats.

Cheers

P.S. wainting for the weather to warm up a bit! :biggrin:

 

[ste12000]

Nice fish Mark, another first in the UK??

Very closely related to Eunotus by the looks of it, do the males always show the lateral stripes?

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, A. sp. Nadelstreifen/Needle-stripes is a member of the eunotus-complex. It comes from the extreme end of the complex's range, it is a bit different from other eunotus forms. The male has as pretty a blue body as any eunotus form that I have seen - except A. cf. eunotus (Shishita). The following are some quick (and very dirty) photos of some of my specimens:

Dominant male with yellow & normal colored females

Female, normal color. Note the unusual uneven and wavy shape of the vertical bars

Female in brood color. Note how the bars don't completely disappear, but the cheek stripe and caudal patch darken and expand

Dominant male showing blue flanks and needle-thin abdominal stripes

Two photos of dominant male showing unusual pattern of vertical bars

Sorry about the quality of the photos. The fish are in one of my "new" aquaria - 28 years old. They get scratches after a while.

Wishing you all (and your fish) a Happy and productive New Year!

 

[ste12000]

Interesting! i already knew they were at the far eastern end of the range of the Eunotus types from the Datz, but how much of Columbia has been ignored collection wise due to political troubles(Drug trade??) I would assume large sections of country is out of bounds to inquisitive foreigners??? Whats the current situation in Columbia Mike?

 

[RAF]

OK... I stand corrected... it is a nice fish. This last photos show much more colour.

Are you keeping them in what M/F ratio? And how soft and acidic was the water in wich they bred?

Cheers and a happy new year to you all.

 

[Mike Wise]

Interesting! i already knew they were at the far eastern end of the range of the Eunotus types from the Datz, but how much of Columbia has been ignored collection wise due to political troubles(Drug trade??) I would assume large sections of country is out of bounds to inquisitive foreigners??? Whats the current situation in Columbia Mike?

When Tom, Julio & I were in Colombia we stuck close to Leticia for the most part. The area was tightly controlled by the National Police. They had regular road blocks. There usually was a line of police situated every 100 meters in full combat gear, carrying M-4, M-16 and other assault weapons along the main road from Leticia to the airport. They weren't smiling. I think that they looked at us as "loco Gringos":biggrin: since we were out collecting little fish and sampling water. The other location we stayed was a small village on the Amazon away from anywhere. I don't think that I would want to wander farther into the jungle, however.

 

[Mike Wise]

Are you keeping them in what M/F ratio? And how soft and acidic was the water in wich they bred?

I have 2 males and 2 females. One male is large (~7 cm) the other much smaller (~5 cm). They are in a 20 gallon long (75x30x30 cm) leaf litter aquarium with a male and female A. agassizii from the same location, plus a female A. bitaeniata from the same place (I thought is was another female agassizii when I picked it). The Nadelstreifen spawned at pH 6 and normal Denver water (5º dGH; 2º dKH, 35 µS/cm @ 26ºC). I lost them because I was too sick to feed my fish for about 5 days. Meanwhile my Leticia aggies produced a brood in the tank. It is very intertaining to watch the male and female working together to keep the Nadelstreifen out of their brood territory.

 

[RAF]

I must say... 2 Ap. species in breeding conditions in 67 litre, 30cm tall aquarium is something that goes against every advice I've had since I started keeping Apistos... but it works fine, as I see. I'm a bit more cautious and as a rule I try not to keep more than a species in the same tank and use a 60 litre for a couple, eventually a trio if the species stays very small. My macmasteris trio is in a 120 litre, 1 meter long aquarium and I still see the females fighting over a few cm in territory! On the other side, that kind of setup might help creating the pair bonds that sometimes are very difficult to obtain, since there's an other Apisto species present as a menace. I guess that way you don't need dithers.


By the way, if this is your normal water (5º dGH; 2º dKH, 35 µS/cm) you're a very lucky fellow... god knows the things I've to do to obtain water from the liquid rock that my tap provides me with.

Best of luck with those aggies... ;-)