macmasteri wild question

[apisto-nut]

How common is there A. sp. rotpunkt and A. alacrina mixed in with A.macmasteri ?
Or could there be another species in with them other than these ?

Just asking as some of the 30 fish I have ( wild ) don't quite look
like mac's , there coloration is off a bit ,body shape is of a mac ,
fish are still young will try to post pics but its hard with so many
to get the ones I want to stay still .

 

[Mike Wise]

Depending where the A. macmasteri were collected, the odd balls could be any of several other species or even different color morphs of A. macmasteri. If they are small, it might even be a differences in sexes. True wild-caught A. macmasteri are not very common. I would give them some time to grow up before trying to ID them.

 

[apisto-nut]

Thanks Mike

I have a few that are definitely female they are in brood
dress , just don't want any crosses so I may have to dispose
of any fry that come of this .

 

[apisto-nut]

male + female

same male

same female

couple different fish

 

[Mike Wise]

From what I see, they all appear to be A. macmasteri.

 

[apisto-nut]

Thanks MIKE

You say that wilds are not common ?

Is it just that there not as colorful as the Czech ones or another reason ?

These came from Colombia

 

[Mike Wise]

Wild fish from the foothills of the Colombian Andes are not collected very often due to the comparitive political instability of the region. Most of the Colombian fish exported are from the upper Orinoco, near its border with Venezuela. Wild macs aren't as colorful (although there are very colorful populations) as the domestically produced fish, so the demand is not as great.

 

[Mark]

mac wild

Hi Mike,

The fish on the sixth photo; do you think it is a Macmasteri female too? I have some fish from the same catching area I think and I have two of these grey fish. Mine have a very distinct black spot at the beginning of the pectoral fins. I thought these were sp. rotpunkt. In the sixth photo the fish has an indication of a blach spot at the finbase too. What do you think?

Greetings,

Mark

 

[Mike Wise]

A. sp. Rotpunkt females will show a narrower, more zigzag like lateral band. You indicate that you might know where these fish were collected. If so, can you tell us where?

 

[Mark]

I will have a closer look at my fish, but I don't know the source. I got mine as contaminant of ramirezi from Colombia. We have some wild fish from Colombia coming in here because some Dutch aquarist were catching in the area of breitbinden and iniridae. The ramirezi came in by the same exportcompany they used but were not collected in the same area. We have had ramirezi coming before but always without apisto's mixed in. That's why I think my fish are leftovers from a bigger group like the fish from Apisto-nut.

For the fans in Europe: I know in Germany wild viejita (or so it is called) is coming in lately so the mac/viejita are being shipped again.

Thanks Mike, I will let you know what I have.

Mark

 

[Mike Wise]

I have found macmasteri-group species among wild-caught Rams in the past. Usually they were A. macmasteri or A. hoignei. Once I even got A. sp. Schwarzkehl/Black-throat (= Linke & Staeck's "A. viejita CF III").

 

[Apistomaster]

I had a six wild caught A. macmasteri about a 18 months ago. They grew to be large specimens and the males had red edged top and bottom caudals.
Not at all as much color as the Czech bred forms but they were still attractive fish but males almost grew to the size of Laetacara dorsigera.

 

[Mark]

My fish have grown a little a bit and the male got some more colour. These are the fish I found with the wild Colombian ramirezi:

Females (2x):

The male:

I think the females are sp. rotpunkt and the male is hongsloi.
(This week "wild macmasteri" arrived; they are all sp. rotpunkt..:frown: )

Mark

 

[RAF]

Did you get the fish recently? If so they're probably from the sabe collecting as mine... a rare collecting in Colômbia. I can be 99% sure that the fishes are from Colômbia because I saw the import list where mine came anda there were several other Colombian species.

Probably we're the lucky ones to et hold of these fish and from what I hear in the news and recent declaration of the colobian militia these fish won't be presente again in import lists for quite some time!

They look exacly like mine...

 

[RAF]

I had a six wild caught A. macmasteri about a 18 months ago. They grew to be large specimens and the males had red edged top and bottom caudals.
Not at all as much color as the Czech bred forms but they were still attractive fish but males almost grew to the size of Laetacara dorsigera.

Oh my god!!! I have 6 L.dorsigera and they're quite big for dwarves... What am I going to do with 14 dorsigera size wild apistos

 

[Mike Wise]

Based on the small photos, the male fish appears to be A. cf. hongsloi, probably a color morph of the type form A. hongsloi, but not exactly Rotstrich/Red-streak. The good news is that the females are probably the same species. They are not Rotpunkt.

 

[Mark]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the info. Can you tell me why you say the females are not rotpunkt? Both females are yellow now and still have the big black spot at the beginning of the pectoral fins.
I thought rotpunkt would be correct as the new shipment has (as it seems)the same females with very clear rotpunkt males.

I always thought rotpunkt was to be recognised by the black spot at the base of the pectoral fins and the broken gill stripe. Is that correct?

I will try making a good and bigger picture today.

Greetings,

Mark

 

[Mike Wise]

Several macmasteri-group species have females with this pectoral spot. Rotpunkt have a lateral band that appears similar to a zipper, while most macmasteri-group species show a zigzag pattern.

 

[apisto-nut]

just one more , Macmasteri?

 

[Mike Wise]

Yes, the last photo shows a male wild Red-shoulder/Rotrücken A. macmasteri similar to the fish that I had 25 years ago (see: http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery.php?genus=Apistogramma bottom photo under A. macmasteri).