Two Variaties Of Microgeophagus Altispinosa (bolivian Ram)

[ted28]

I was reading threads about the bolivians on Cichlid-Forum.com. A person was saying that there are two variates of the said fish. They described the first as being slightly bigger with one diamond shaped marking (Black Mark) on the side of the body, while the second was slightly smaller than the first with a jagged double or triple diamond (Black mark) shape on the side. Could there be something in this. My male Bolivian Ram looks like the first fish described while the female is the second fish described. Anyone know any truth to this.

 

[a.d.wood]

Hi there,

My understanding is that they are all just colour forms of the same species. There was 1 form seperated for a while which has 2 distinct spots, Mikrogeophagus sp. 'Zwielfleck/Two-patch' (1 spot on the flank and 1 on the caudal peduncle), but whether this stays seperate from Mikrogeophagus altispinosus is something we'll just have to wait and see.

Andrew