Apisto Gendering

Byron · Jun 25, 2023

Concerning the species, see if the store has an invoice from whomever supplied the fish. Often if these are wild caught from South America the species and the location watercourse may be on the invoice. That would pin down the species.

Linke and Staeck [American Cichlids I, Dwarf Cichlids, Tetra Press, 1994) write that three distinct colour morphs of Apistogramma viejita occur in the wild, and one of them is found in the same habitat as A. macmasteri, and this species is also closely allied to A. hongsloi. This may help you.

Naughts · Jun 25, 2023

My responses were based on us having the same species as they are so alike. Mine were sold as Apistogramma Macmasteri 'super red' colour morph. I chose the bluest male in the tank, others had more red on them.
I have not doubted that identification. Please let me know if your research indicates it was wrong.

Byron · Jun 25, 2023

Naughts said:
My responses were based on us having the same species as they are so alike. Mine were sold as Apistogramma Macmasteri 'super red' colour morph. I chose the bluest male in the tank, others had more red on them.
I have not doubted that identification. Please let me know if your research indicates it was wrong.

I am not at all expert in identifying Apistogramma, but from the text and photos in the afore-mentioned book I would think this fish is A. viejita, Colour Morph II. Kullander (1979) described this species.

Naughts · Jun 25, 2023

Macmaster's Dwarf Cichlid 'Super Red'

Common name: Macmaster's Dwarf Cichlid 'Super Red' Species: Apistogramma macmasteri 'Super Red'. Habitat: South America. The Super Red colour morph is captive bred. Potential size: 7.5cm. Social behaviour: A peaceful community fish, but can become territorial when spawning. Food: Flake, frozen...

shop.sweetknowleaquatics.co.uk

This is the store I got them from and they're still selling them as such. I'll pass on this info. Thanks.

Byron · Jun 25, 2023

Naughts said:
Macmaster's Dwarf Cichlid 'Super Red'

Common name: Macmaster's Dwarf Cichlid 'Super Red' Species: Apistogramma macmasteri 'Super Red'. Habitat: South America. The Super Red colour morph is captive bred. Potential size: 7.5cm. Social behaviour: A peaceful community fish, but can become territorial when spawning. Food: Flake, frozen...

shop.sweetknowleaquatics.co.uk

This is the store I got them from and they're still selling them as such. I'll pass on this info. Thanks.

Give me an hour or two to scan the pages from the book and post them in this thread, as I am only going by what is there. Kullander did apparently determine there are three colour morphs that occur in South America, in different water courses. He has data including fin ray counts, colour patternings, etc. to identify the five species (3 A. viejita, 1 A. macmasteri and 1 C. hongsloi. You can decide on this data/photos. I do note the store blurb says "captive bred," I would check this out. Might be possible to contact the breeder, who may know better what fish he/she has. The book authors are well-known dwarf cichlid authorities.

Byron · Jun 25, 2023

Here are the scans from the book, first the four photos of A. macmasteri. I'll do the six of A. viejita in a second post.

Byron · Jun 25, 2023

Second set of scans, for A. viejita.

Naughts · Jun 25, 2023

Thank you Byron, very kind of you. I'll have a good read and also post on here if the store can tell me us anything.

biofish · Jun 25, 2023

I’ll try and call my store tomorrow too! Thank you for the pages, Bryon!

Edit: I can’t say for sure about the males, but I think the body shape of my female reminds me a bit more of the viejita, I can’t say for certain about Naughts, theirs might be a bit more bulky?

biofish · Jun 25, 2023

There’s been a LOT of chasing today.

IMG_3446.mov

drive.google.com

These are more images of the maybe female, do y’all still think female?

Colin_T · Jun 26, 2023

The dorsal and anal fins look pointed and the tail is damaged. Could be a young male or female. Wait and see how they go. If the smaller one gets hammered, then separate them for a few weeks and see how the smaller one looks then.

biofish · Jul 1, 2023

Final colors are in, I believe. A family emergency came up so I wasn’t able to call, and had to go away for four days. The male’s natural white coloring came in

Colin_T · Jul 1, 2023

certainly looking like a pr

GaryE · Jul 1, 2023

Look at the ventral fins. The front edges will be black on a female, even in the colourless species. macmasteri is very colourful.

I can see why you would think is was veijita if you look at wild caughts. Line breeders have been messing with these fish for 25 years, and macmasteri in stores are not the fish we see in nature. If it's labelled as macmasteri, it probably is.

It's one of my top 10 dwarf cichlids. A veijita is on that vague list too.

macmasteri, veijita, hoignei, hongsloi and a few others make up a sub group of fish related to each other in the same basic habitats. Most Apistos with high bodies are forgiving when it comes to water, but those four come from very soft conditions. Keep the water quality up. They are not a fish to miss weekly water changes with.