''Apistogramma viejita'' is a
dwarf cichlid in the subfamily
Cichlinae
The Cichlinae are a subfamily of fishes in the cichlid family, native to South America.
This subfamily consists of approximately 117 described species as of July 2017. Some authors have suggested that the Cichlinae encompasses all of the Neotr ...
, in the
tribe Geophagini.
It is a
benthopelagic freshwater fish that lives in the
Meta River and the
Orinoco River in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
.
They grow up to 4.6 cm in
standard length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology.
Overall length
* Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...
.
[
The males gather harems for spawning if there is an excess number of females. The clutch of up to 100 eggs is deposited on the ceiling of a cave and is tended by the female parent.][
''Apistogramma macmasteri'' is often mislabelled as ''Apistogramma viejita'' by shops. In fact the latter is a very rare fish which is not commercially bred and thus is not commonly available in the trade.
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, Sven O. Kullander, is referencing the use of the Spanish word ''vieja'', meaning "old lady", for many species of cichlids in South America. The diminutive
A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...
''viejita'' is used for the smaller cichlids in eastern Colombia, although Kullander does not reveal why this is the case.
References
viejita
Fish described in 1979
Taxa named by Sven O. Kullander
{{Cichlidae-stub