Two questions

[peterK]

1. In my country, Poland, there isn’t a big assortment of dwarf cichlids. Still, when I was in pet shop I saw interesting pair of Apisto. Their name was Apistogramma sp. ‘Red Point’ (no ‘Rot Punkt’) but this pair looked like
A. staecki.
What do you think?

2. What is a difference between A. macmasteri and A. viejita?



Peter

 

[Mike Wise]

It is hard to say what you saw, without a better description of the fish. A. sp. Red Point in English is the same as A. sp. Rotpunkt in German. I imagine that is what they are. There are several color morphs in the hobby. A. staecki is rare in the hobby. It is a small species related to A. cacatuoides, except it has barely extended dorsal spines and shorter tips on the tail. Look at the fish again - especially the females. If there is a spot at the base of the tail that is separate from the lateral band, then it is not A. staecki. A. staecki has no caudal spot, but does have a lateral spot in the middle of the lateral band. A. sp. Rotpunkt has a caudal spot, but no lateral spot, although the lateral band may break up into several spots along its length.

Wild-caught specimens of A. viejita & A. macmasteri are easy to separate. Domestic bred forms of both species are commonly a mix of both (and other closely related) species.

Wild caught A. viejita are more slender, have very visible abdominal stripes, a round tail, & very little red on the body except on the edge of the tail fin and the tips of the dorsal fin spines.

Wild-caught specimens of A. macmasteri are robust (high backed), have weak broken abdominal stripes, a truncate tail (back part squared off), and often more red on the body - but no red on the tips of the dorsal fin spines.

 

[peterK]

Mike
Thanks for full answer.

Apistos what i saw weren't Rot punkt. They had beige colour on body, only male had blue points on cheeks and red stripe on dorsal fin.

 

[Mike Wise]

I will need a much more detailed description to identify the fish.

 

[peterK]

Unfortunately, I didn't observe them precisely.
I remeber that male had lyra-tail (I think that this is name for such tail fin in English ). Male and female had grey vertical stripes on all body. This is all what I remeber:frown:

 

[Mike Wise]

If it has a lyretail, it certainly is not Rotpunkt. Your description can match mamy species.

 

[Greg PL]

I saw some A. hoignei (or sp. Rio Caura or very similar) in Czech Rep. They could come to Poland any Thursday. they have lyretail and are related to sp. rot punkt closer than A. staecki. male's tail should have red/black or black/red on external spines.
still with no photos it's hard to guess. what shop they were in?