ID-GENDER please

[takis17]

Could you please tell me the gender and the ID of my apistogramma ?? I would like to mach it with another one of its specie, so I need your help. Thank you in advance !

 

[johnjay416]

I'm no expert but my guess would be male borelli or steel blue?

 

[Mike Wise]

The fish in the photo shows no dark markings needed for identification. I looks like a resticulosa-complex species, but can't be absolutely positive. It is a male.

 

[takis17]

Thank you very much for your help. Sorry for my poor English. I am uploading two more photos and I hope to help you more. thank you again.

 

[Mike Wise]

Compare your fish with photos of A. sp. Wangenflecken / Spotted-cheeks. Red on the face varies on this species. Some have spots (like your fish), others have more stripes.

 

[takis17]

Thanks a lot again and again. I think that is A.sp. Wangenflecken/cheek spots. Can I ask you something more? How can I separate male from female. I'm an apisto beginner , I am sorry. I would like to find a female and mate them.

 

[Mike Wise]

Mature females will have shorter, more blunt dorsal and anal fin tips. The ventral fins will show more black pigment. The body will not have the blue sheen of a male, but be more yellow or white. The body will be less elongate than the male's, but this is hard to compare unless you have several specimens to examine.

 

[takis17]

After a lot of search I am a little confused. Apistogramma resticulosa is the same with apistogramma wangenflecken ? it's very difficult to find A.Wangenflecken in Greece and I have only a male in my tank. I would like to find a female but I don't know if.

 

[Mike Wise]

No, they are 2 different species within the resticulosa-complex. A. sp. Wangenflecken originally was thought to be A. resticulosa when first imported, back in the late 1970s/early 1980s, but the identifications were wrong. The problem is that old data never disappears and Wangenflecken is still listed as 'A. resticulosa' at times. The true A. resticulosa (nor any of the resticulosa-like species from the middle Rio Madeira) has not been in the hobby since the mid-1980s - and has never been imported commercially. The last time any resticulosa-complex species from the Madeira were commercially imported was in the late 1980s/1990s. This species was called A. cf. resticulosa Mamoré Blue (=A 16) in the hobby. Commercially it was sold as A. sp. Malome, a corruption of the name Mamoré.

 

[takis17]

Thank you very much for your guidance. With your help and after reading all these threads in the forum I made clear a lot of things about apistogramma wangenflecken. I have one more question. In my tank (60lit) I have corydoras,cardinals tetra and a male apisto wangenflecken. I would like a "friend" for the apisto because I want to observe his behavior. Is it better to find a female wangenflecken , a male wangenflecken, a male other apisto or none of them and stay with my male one?
Thanks again !!!

 

[Mike Wise]

It depends on how many corys and cardinals you have in the tank. It obviously is not a breeding tank with all of those egg and fry predators.

 

[takis17]

I have 3 corys leopard and 6 cardinals. I know that they are egg and fry predators but I would like to see two apistos in my tank to see their behavior but I have "small" tank , 10 fishes inside and I don't know if is right to find a second apisto. I don't care to make a breeding tank but I like the idea to have a couple apistos. ( sorry my English is not perfect). Thanks again !!

 

[Mike Wise]

You should be able to add another apisto if the decor permits 2 visible territories. I would suggest trying another smaller, more peaceful species, not A. cacatuoides, A. agassizii, nor A. macmasteri. A. borellii might work, although it is visually similar.