Help ID

[Homerno1]

Hi all,

I have a (in my opinion) female Apisto. It swam with the Caca's in the shop, but it caught my eye, looking for a agassizi female, so i bought it. Now, it is in my tank, without a male, since my Apisto Agassizi pasted away 2 days ago. The female in the picture, never bonded with the male, so i started wondering if my opinion was right.
Thinking about a new male, i want to be sure what to buy, so the female gets some good company.

Anybody any idea on the ID? I hope anyone has any idea...

Best regards.

 

[Mike Wise]

agassizii-complex species, but which one I'm not certain.

 

[Homerno1]

Thank you Mike.

Do you agree it is a female? What do you mean when you say "it is a agassizii-complex"? Pretty new to this subject, especially in english...
And what details makes you "sure" it is a agassizii-complex"? Al these questions, just because i'm curious..!

Best regards!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Do you agree it is a female? What do you mean when you say "it is a agassizii-complex"? Pretty new to this subject, especially in english...And what details makes you "sure" it is a agassizii-complex"? Al these questions, just because i'm curious..!

Have a look at Mike's article <"A DESCRIPTION OF APISTOGRAMMA SPECIES-GROUPS">. For me, clues would be the long body shape, broad lateral band and prominent head stripes.

It is probably a female, I'm pretty poor at sexing and ID generally, so you may need a a second opinion on that. A lot of related Apistogramma females look fairly similar. This means that it is difficult to tell apart females of Apistogramma gephyra, A. agazissii etc.

cheers Darrel

 

[Mike Wise]

To add to Darrel's excellent reply, A. agassizii is not a species per se. It is a 'superspecies' - a group of closely related species that have recently differentiated from one (or several) species.