Apisto ID please

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Malupoo

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Hey guys my lfs has a pair of these guys in and I asked for them to be held so I can find out some info on them.
They don't know a great deal about them either.
They were given to them under the name:
Apisto gramma sp. "neon head"

It's not the best photo but basically the entire head has a Jack Dempsey kind of coloring

Thanks for the help.

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1400657213.243440.jpg
 
Not Nannacara anomala (I've kept these for several years), or any Nannacara species that I've seen.

Looks like an Apistogramma to me, but I don't know which one. There are lots of undescribed species, and many of them look very similar to one another.
 
The only reason I said nannacara was because of the blue face. I'm not really too sure of any apisto species with a blue head. I'll do some digging in a little bit
 
The only reason I said nannacara was because of the blue face. I'm not really too sure of any apisto species with a blue head. I'll do some digging in a little bit

A lot of it depends on locality. The same species can look strikingly different depending on where it was collected- example, the A. borelli in Uruguay have quite a bit of red on them, and you'd normally never associate red coloration with borelli.

That said, I doubt if we are going to nail down a totally accurate ID from the above photo. The folks that are doing that are counting rays on the fins, testing DNA, etc.
 
Yep, I've seen that article. I'd be wary if you think that's the fish, since the article notes that the origins of this fish in the trade are somewhat dubious...
 
I'd call that a match...

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Bold statement there... the fish in the OP's pic is obviously stressed from being in a shop tank and you can't really see the finnage.
 
I can see shapes and dark spots, I know you are far more experienced than I am, I am a total noob.. and as a total noob I'd call that a match;) I'm basing it on tail shape, dark splotches at base of tail and that cool as heck effervescence on its face

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Yes I doubt I will go for it.
I will probably just get another male cockatoo.
But it is a pretty fish and was nice to see something new
 
Severum Mama is dead on. Some of these fish are almost identical except for the littlest things sometimes. This is why 99.99% of all Viejita's sold are actually Macmasteri's. It is fairly rare to see a true Viejita these days and they can be difficult sometimes even for experts to identify as an example. As for that, after looking at the picture, I'm not to sure if that fish is the Steel Blue.
 
I would have to say definitely A. sp steel blue although severum mama made a valid point, there are really only 2 fish they could really be otherwise and those are the 2 that I believe were used to develop steel blue, commbrae and resticulosa both of wich are nearly never imported.
 
I would have to say definitely A. sp steel blue although severum mama made a valid point, there are really only 2 fish they could really be otherwise and those are the 2 that I believe were used to develop steel blue, commbrae and resticulosa both of wich are nearly never imported.

So you're saying I noobed it :D

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So you're saying I noobed it :D

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Nah I wouldn't say you noobed it, but I did forget to add that stress patterns are one of the best ways to id apistos, they are kind of like a fingerprint. The pattern of the ops fish is indicative of sp. Steel blue.
 
So it's pretty rare?

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I would have to say definitely A. sp steel blue although severum mama made a valid point, there are really only 2 fish they could really be otherwise and those are the 2 that I believe were used to develop steel blue, commbrae and resticulosa both of wich are nearly never imported.

I must clarify myself here, I believe that this is a man made species because it shares traits of 2 related species, but that in no way means that it to cannot be a new species closely related to resticulosa and commbrae, but if it does occur naturally the location is a closely guarded secret or they are taken illegally from waters closed to collecting.
 
Either way I want one haha..

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So it's pretty rare?

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If you're referring to sp. Steel blue then not really, but they aren't as common as they used to be, I would say more uncommon than anything. Your best bet would be to familiarize yourself with the borellii forms and check out any fish your lfs sells as borellii as that is what they are usually listed as. If you'd be trying to aquire a pair then it may be tough, I've seen few people including myself lucky enough to get a female and mine was the only one out of an order of 50 that the store got. That is another sign that they are likely man made, wild fish usually come in mixed sizes and all the steel blue I've seen available were adults.
 
I think I found it too...
Ps pic is aweful, appologies
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