Help!!! ID wild Apistogramma!!!

[Hudson Ensz]

I caught these a while back but couldnt get good pictures here are a few, hope they help.
I have never seen anything like them, they look like female gibbiceps but grow larger, have more spangling, more color on their fins and have a slightly differant body shape. they also remind me of female hippolytae but they arent.
I caught about twenty of these and they all looked identical, you would think if they are females i would catch males too.
Does anybody know what they could be?

 

[chris1932]

Rupuninni female? Body spot is placed quite high

 

[Zack Wilson]

Rupununi would be my guess as well, though I'm no ID expert.

 

[chris1932]

Well Ill be! First and someone agrees with me. Any way to get a dorsal up shot? Very distinctive first dorsal ray should firm it up.

 

[Mike Wise]

Can you tell me where these fish were collected? A. rupununi (which it probably is) is not known south of the mouth of the Rio Negro.

 

[Hudson Ensz]

They were collected about ten minutes outside of manaus. Thank you all for the ID!Unfortunately they arent territorial or anything and they dont raise their fins much, i will try though.

 

[chris1932]

Put a small mirror in or next to the tank. Its what member Apistoworld(HK) does and he takes some fantastic photos.

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Yes i have tried that but unfortunately there are "mirror hogs" that chase all the other fish away.
Also, some fish ignore the mirror, ussually it is only a few "alpha" fish that do it.
Hudson

 

[Mike Wise]

Can you tell me where these fish were collected? A. rupununi (which it probably is) is not known south of the mouth of the Rio Negro.

OOPS!:redface:
I meant to write "south of the mouth of the Rio Branco. Who knows, your fish might be escapees from specimens collected farther north. I've also seen reports of fish similar to A. rupunini being collected in the area between the lower Rio Negro and lower Rio Trombetas. Nothing seems impossible.

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Thanks i will do a search on rupununi, see what comes up.
Is there any reason (other then bad luck) why i didn't get a single male?
Like do they live in huge holes dug out of the bottom:biggrin:? any tips on how to get males if i go again?

 

[Mike Wise]

You just had bad luck. Females will often stay close to their home base; males less so because their territory is larger. Start looking for fish with more strongly spotted tails and longer ventral fins. These should be males.

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Ok maybe i caught them but i didnt see any differance. thanks.

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Here are some much better pictures

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[Mike Wise]

They look like male A. rupununi to me (or something close).

 

[Hudson Ensz]

Good, they are males though?
Good

 

[Mike Wise]

I would expect to see black pigment on the front of the ventral fins if they were females.