Help ID'ing My First Apistos.

[ACRyun]

Hello everyone,

I researched and researched Apistos and finally my LFS got some in for me, and they didn't know what type they are. The breeder had them mislabed as Rams! I bought two of them and tried to get some pics for you guys to help me ID. They aren't great, and I had a blonde moment and didn't get pics while they were in the bag They are about 1 1/2 inches right now. And one thing the pics don't show very well is they both have small blue flecks on their face and under their eyes... Good luck and thanks!

-Alyssa

 

[Evan]

I am no ID expert but it looks like Laetacara curviceps to me.

 

[sticks]

Looks like L curviceps to me as well.

Ian

 

[ste12000]

You beat me to it..I was just going to say they look like a Laetacara sp..

I think maybe you should find a shop and breeder that knows their dwarf cichlids..A breeder should not be mistaking these fish for Rams(Microgeophagus Ramirez) and the shop should know they are not Apistogramma...Sometimes i wonder if there are any skilled shop assistants and managers in some shops...It amazes me that "experts" who run shops can make school boy errors like this..It is not as though the fish are rare or unusual, the Laetacara and Rams are two of the most common fish in the hobby.....Try asking on here for local breeders, im sure there is someone out there that can help!

 

[ACRyun]

Thanks so much for the help. Too bad, after all the waiting and promises of Apistos from my LFS and I get something else. Nonetheless, they are beautiful fish and I'll keep them =) I'm in Bakersfield, CA - about an hour and a half North from Los Angeles. Any good shops/breeders anyone can refer me to? I am not against a reasonable drive. Thanks again! I -really- appreciate it, as I am rather obsessed with researching my fish to adequately provide for them, and it's hard when you don't know what they are lol.

 

[tjudy]

I am not familiar with the stores in Southern California, but there are a few sources in northern California. One, Jim Ellenberger who runs Mainly Cichlids, has a sale forum in the sales section of this forum. He usually has a lot of apistos. David Soares also sells here (Soft Water Dwarf Cichlids). He is Bend, Oregon, so shipping to you would be reasonable. Three other sellers are further away, but all have a good shipping track record: Aquatic Clarity, Two Fish Guyz and Anubias Design.

Do not be afraid to order fish through the mail. After shipping you will pay about the same as you would at a store... assuming the store actually carries the fish. Plus the specialty seller usually does a good job of gettign the ID right.

 

[Stephan]

Hi,
those are definitely no Laetacara!:wink:
From which river or which country do these fish come?
For me it looks like a Bujurquina.
Which exactly, I do not know however.
Best Regards
Stephan

 

[ACRyun]

Hello everyone,

I bought two more of these fish from my LFS. Two that I believed to be females, as I am almost positive the two I have are male. Is the female L. Curviceps known to be longer/smaller bodied, and yellow with the black markings? They both look very very similar to this fish below, but without the black marking from the eye.

(Picture credit to: Dwarfcichlid.com)

Thanks for the help,
Alyssa

 

[Stephan]

Hi,
this yellow fish is a Apistogramma female.
Best Regards
Stephan

 

[ACRyun]

Hi,
this yellow fish is a Apistogramma female.
Best Regards
Stephan

Yes, this is just a picture of a similar looking fish I found on the internet, but this isn't what mine are, as there are some differences, like the stripe from the eye. Because I don't have photos of mine yet, I was just using this as an example.

 

[Stephan]

Hi,

look here

Sorry, my English is not so good.

 

[ACRyun]

That's okay, I appreciate your help

 

[aquaticclarity]

The fish pics that you took look to be of Blue Acara (Aequidens pulcher). They grow to be a 4-6" fish with a lot of blue spangles through out their body. The fish are found naturaly in Southern Central/North South America. It is, or at least used to be, a fairly readily avliable fish from the Florida farms. Both males and females look very similiar.

The last picture you posted shows a female Apistogramma with fry. The colors the female are showing are typical of almost every female Apiso. in brood care.

Jeff

 

[ACRyun]

Hmm, see now I am confused, as from the same batch of fish I got the two pictured below that look like Acaras, and the two that look like this female apisto, alot...

 

[aquaticclarity]

If the fish are wild caught it is very possible (highly likely) that there are multiple different species of fish being sold under one trade name. Picking through shipments of fish like this is how you can find some realy cool or hard to find fish that aren't often avaliable. The down side is trying to tell similiar fish apart and making sure you get enough of one type to work with.

If in fact the fish you are looking at are wild caught then the first photos you posted may very well be a Bujurquina sp. If they are farm fish then I'd still say Blue Acara. It is possible that there had been some Apistos in the tank (or Blue Acara) and that the other fish were added to the sales tank later.

How's that for mudding the waters?

Jeff

 

[ACRyun]

Clear as mud! :biggrin: I guess I will wait it out some and let them mature. Then I can borrow my friends Digital Rebel to get some good photos for you guys.

Thanks again

 

[Mike Wise]

I have not commented before because your photos are not good enough to identify the fish. If your females do not show the stripe through the eye, then they are not Apistogramma. I recommend that you send photos with the fish in focus.

 

[viejo]

I had the same problem.. I'll run those pics through my graphics program & see how much it helps.

 

[ACRyun]

Thanks for the help Viejo. I tried my hand at getting some more photos, hopefully these are better than the first batch, and I also got some of the new one. I moved the female from my quarantine tank to my permanent tank and all her yellow drained out of her, it's slowly coming back though... I guess she does have the black eye stripe... it comes and goes quite dramatically.

 

[aquaticclarity]

The first two pics show a female Apistogramma! It looks to be a macmasteri type. With out a clear picture it is very hard to pin down exactly which species it is though.

The other fish is still a bit of a blurr. I'm now leaning toward a Cichlasoma sp. such as C. boliviense or oe of the many other hard to distinguish Cichlasoma.

Jeff