Which Pelvicachromis taeniatus?

[Azur]

I recently bought four young taeniatus which were sold as P. taeniatus "Lobe". As they've started to mature, I find that increasingly unlikely, and wonder if anyone here can identify what race they belong to (or if they perhaps are cultivars or hybrids)?

(I apologize for the quality of the photos; the fish are very camera-shy, and also my external flash picked this day to die on me)

There's also a female, but she hides as soon as I get close to the tank, so I've as yet been unable to get any photos of her.

 

[ed seeley]

Every picture I have seen of Lobe in books always shows males with spotless tail fins, so the spots on your fish's look a bit suspicious! I'm afraid though that it may be impossible to tell for sure. If you have doubts it may be best to simply refer to them as an aquarium strain when you sell babies on.

 

[tjudy]

Nope.. not Lobe, or likely any other variety from the Lobe River system. The spot size and number suggest to me that these are a Kribi River type, such as Kienke or Lokounje. Unfortunately, they are so similar and variable even within populations that determining the exact location wodl be tough, if not impossible. Regardless, they are nice fish.

 

[Azur]

Thanks; that's pretty much as I feared.

I looked at the profile here at Apistogramma.com, and I frankly can't see any difference between Moliwe and the Kribi forms, and all of them look like my fish. :frown:

I'll have to think about what to do with them. I should destroy them, as I've no use for unidentifiable fish and don't want to spread unsourced and possibly hybrid fish to other hobbyists, but they're peaceful and nice-looking.

I've got a question, though - I've never kept taeniatus before, and was surprised to see that all four school together, always moving together in a tight bunch, and I've never seen any aggression. Even considering that they're clearly siblings I find that surprising as at least the female and the largest male are surely sexually mature.
Are taeniatus really that much less aggressive than pulcher?