A. "inca" newbie question

[ChrisM]

Hello all!

Until recently I thought there was nothing else in fish but large cichlids. Then, I bought some triple red cacatoudies from a breeder here in boston. I am sold.

I've seen a certain picture of the Apistogramma sp. "inca" a number of times and it is amazing. I remember that they are mostly light colored with greenish hue's and MASSIVE anterior dorsal fin extentions.

Suffice it to say, I'm sold.

However, except for the terminal red band on the caudal fin, they look nothing like the fish pictured here: http://www.apistogramma.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1281
Maybe those I've seen are more mature?

I've heard that only Oliver Lucanus imports these guys, but I can't find the picture I've seen on belowwater.com.

Can anybody help me out?? Although I probably won't try to breed them, I'm very interested in owning these beauties.

If you'd like to e-mail me pictures and sources, I'd be very appreciative.

thanks,
-c

 

[cootwarm]

Hi ChrisM,

I'm new at this also, all I can tell you is what I was told. Iwas told there were 2 different Incas, a high-fin Nijsseni and a high-fin Panduro. Perhaps it's this difference that you are seeing in your Inca? I can't remember the complete explaination, but that was the bottom line. I was also told that they haven't decided if the Inca were new species or not.


Do any of you more experienced Apisto keepers agree with what I've been told?
Are there other explainations?
I've found Inca information scarce, as it's not even mentioned in Romers Atlas.

Is there anything on the web with the latest details about Incas?

Michael

 

[Neil]

ChrisM,

WELCOME TO THE FORUM

Yes, the new Inca50 is quite a nice fish. It is very new to the hobby and, as such, has not been around long enough for there to be a great deal of written material about it. The pictures that you might see may range greatly in their appearance, not only because of age, but also because of level of comfort or mode of behavior during the pic. When these guys are in courtship, they are pretty impressive. One of the best pics was on the cover of THF in Jan. of this year. There also a few other pics on the web, including a couple on the Gallery section of this site (Apistogramma.com).
The have made there way into this country only in the past year or so through several people (Oliver being only one). They are now available through numerous sources and have been bred by quite a few members of this forum, so there are F1s available now also.
One final thing. If you have not done so already, you may want to try a search on this forum about them. They have been diecussed several times in the past.
Neil

Hi cootwarm!,

I was also told that they haven't decided if the Inca were new species or not.

I suspect that these will be considered seperate species instead of species-forms of nijsenni and panduro. There are some similarities with their name-sakes, but also many distinct differences. They are very newly collected, so it may be awhile before they become classified.

I've found Inca information scarce, as it's not even mentioned in Romers Atlas.

That is because he didn't even know about them when he wrote his book. They may be in his follow-up edition. apistodave may know more about that. As far as info on the web, you probably won't find much outside of this forum and the apisto mailing list.

Neil

 

[ChrisM]

thanks, guys.

I'm headed to TFH right now to look up that picture.

 

[cootwarm]

Thanks Neil. I'll definitely have to order that back issue of TFH.

ChrisM,

I got my Incas off AquaBid from ApistoDave. They're F1 generation. Dave lives in Oregon and I was a little concerned about how well they would handle being transported all the way across country to Vermont. But they did great! He's sent me fish twice now for a total of 30 fish and I only had one die on me! That was because the bag had a problem and slightly deflated. (He replaced it with 2). I usually fare worse than that bringing fish home from the LFS! I plan to buy more from him in the furture.

Here is a link to his current auction: http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcichlids&1062272462

Scroll down the screen to see a photo.

Michael

 

[ChrisM]

thanks twice!

That's a good looking fish, but it's still not like the one I'm thinking of. Maybe I'm confused.