''Apistogramma hongsloi'' is a species of

dwarf cichlid Dwarf cichlid is a term used by fishkeeping hobbyists to describe an arbitrary assemblage of small-sized fish from the family Cichlidae. Although the grouping is widely used in the aquarium industry and hobby, the grouping has no taxonomic or eco ...

fish, native to the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

basin in South America. They are often kept in the aquariums and prefer to have soft, acidic water.

Characteristics

It is one of the more colorful ''

Apistogramma ''Apistogramma'' is a large genus of freshwater fish in the family Cichlidae found in South America, but also commonly kept in aquariums. They are dwarf cichlids that mostly feed on tiny animals and have breeding behaviors that vary depending on ...

'' species in some of its color forms, which are the result of

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

by aquarists. The male has brighter colors than the female. The wild forms are infrequently seen in the aquarium trade, as they are not as colorful as the selectively bred strains. The wild forms are dark yellowish-brown in the dry season, but in the rainy season where they breed, their colors become brighter, including the red spot at the base of the tail.

Range and habitat

This dwarf cichlid is found in the

basin in South America: along the middle Orinoco River, in the

Vichada River The Vichada River ( es, Río Vichada, ) is a blackwater river in the country of Colombia, South America. It flows into the Orinoco River. The eastward course of the Vichada is offset by an impact structure, called the Vichada Structure The Vic ...

drainage and the middle

Meta River The Meta River is a major left tributary of the Orinoco River in eastern Colombia and southern Venezuela, South America. The Meta originates in the Eastern Ranges of the Andes and flows through the Meta Department, Colombia as the confluence of ...

. They typically live in small, slow-moving spring-fed streams that receive plenty of sunlight, have a pH below 5 and a temperature between , but can thrive at pH 5.5–7 and .

Breeding

Before spawning, females become bright yellow with black markings. A breeding female will place her eggs inside the roof of a cavity or underneath a leaf, laying between 50 and 100 eggs at a time. The female takes care of the eggs alone, while the male guards the territory. Females become very aggressive during breeding and will chase the male and other fish from their nest. The eggs are typically salmon colored. When spawning for the first time, some inexperienced females may consume their own eggs. When the eggs hatch, the fry stay close to the substrate and absorb the remnants of the egg yolk before becoming free-swimming. At this stage the fry will feed off of dead plants and other microorganisms. A female ''Apistogramma hongsloi'' is able to raise all of the fry by herself.

Aquaristics

''Apistogramma hongsloi'' likes soft acidic water. They do well in planted tanks with leaf litter and/or driftwood which release tannins, which in turn lower the pH of the water. Like most ''Apistogramma'' species, ''A. hongsloi'' will sometimes lay eggs underneath leaves, driftwood, artificial caves, clay pots, or other secluded crevices inside an aquarium, given that all other breeding conditions are met, such as correct water parameters, adequate nutrition and appropriate choice of tankmates.

Name

In the

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

the

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

Sven O. Kullander Sven Oscar Kullander (born 30 November 1952 in Sollefteå) is a Swedish biologist specialised in ichthyology. He primarily researches cichlids – notably the genus ''Apistogramma'' and the ''Cichlasoma''-complex – and other tropical fresh ...

is honouring the collector of the type, the

aquarist An aquarist is a person who manages aquariums, either professionally or as a hobby. They typically care for aquatic animals, including fish and marine invertebrates. Some may care for aquatic mammals. Aquarists often work at public aquariums. They ...

and fish-disease specialist, Thorbjörn Hongslo of the National Veterinary Institute in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q115745 hongsloi Fish described in 1979 Taxa named by Sven O. Kullander