Red Tiger Motaguense - Rio Blanco

[qguy]

A lot of Red Tiger Motaguense are hyphenated with the "Rio Blanco" moniker, meaning the specimens or the ancestors of the fish you have were collected from Rio Blanco, my questions is, are there other types of RTM or Motaguense ? Does the Rio Blanco specimen have features that separate it from other motaguenses ?

BTW Mine were sold as "Red Tiger Motaguense - Rio 75G"

 

[dogofwar]

In a nutshell, there are fish in the hobby labeled both "Rio Blanco" and "Rio Copan."

Despite belief by some that they're different fish, they're the same per the guy who actually collected them and brought them to the hobby (Ken Davis):

"It's real simple, we collect in the Rio Blanco because it's a smaller tributery to the Copan and easier to collect, The Rio Blanco's in the hobby came from a location about a mile from where the Blanco runs into the Copan, so basically they are all the same fish. All the fish from the Blanco and Copan came from 4 collecting trips we made from 2006-2009. Ken"

Rio Copan Vs. Rio Blanco Red Tiger Motaguense

It's real simple, we collect in the Rio Blanco because it's a smaller tributery to the Copan and easier to collect, The Rio Blanco's in the hobby came from a location about a mile from where the Blanco runs into the Copan, so basically they are all the same fish. All the fish from the Blanco...

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[dogofwar]

As an aside, all of the fish in the hobby have been inbred since at least 2009. Which makes claims of F1 fish pretty dubious (I'd like to see the 12-year-old wild pair still - allegedly - floating around).

And also kind of settles the endless quest for "new bloodlines" - the OP's fish are as colorful and attractive as fish a decade or more ago.

 

[qguy]

Thanks !!!

So basically, there is only the Red Tiger Motaguense and the gold/regular motaguense, is this correct ?

 

[Rocksor]

Thanks !!!

So basically, there is only the Red Tiger Motaguense and the gold/regular motaguense, is this correct ?

Reading past information, there were instances of misidentification between multifasciatus (previously friedrichstahlii) and motaguensis. There was also variances in red coloration within the population of Rio Blanco tributary and the Rio Copan. Both of these could have attributed to some saying they had gold motaguense. The red tiger common name seems to come from Europe and is based on the female coloration.

As far as I could tell there is only P motaguensis and no variant coloration from a different location of Rio Blanco/Rio Copan, unlike Paratheraps melanurus which has 2 distinctive color variants (red/gold vs red/blue/gold).

 

[dogofwar]

Parachromis motaguensis, I'm sure, has varied coloration of populations and individuals in populations across its range.

The issue here, though, is that RTMs from the Rio Copan and the RTMs from the Rio Blanco, near where it connects to the Rio Copan are literally the same population of fish. There is nothing that can or does keep fish from that stream or the river to which it connects from intermingling.

That they have two names doesn't make them different. That some of the handful of individuals that were collected from 2006-2009 that represent the ancestors of all of the fish in the hobby happened to be redder or oranger than others just represents natural variation of fish in a population.

Reading past information, there were instances of misidentification between multifasciatus (previously friedrichstahlii) and motaguensis. There was also variances in red coloration within the population of Rio Blanco tributary and the Rio Copan. Both of these could have attributed to some saying they had gold motaguense. The red tiger common name seems to come from Europe and is based on the female coloration.

As far as I could tell there is only P motaguensis and no variant coloration from a different location of Rio Blanco/Rio Copan, unlike Paratheraps melanurus which has 2 distinctive color variants (red/gold vs red/blue/gold).

 

[dogofwar]

Correct. But people will still insist on calling them separate names

Thanks !!!

So basically, there is only the Red Tiger Motaguense and the gold/regular motaguense, is this correct ?

 

[newworld]

Kept the red Tiger type never liked them and not really keeping them again, I would kill to get the gold type that was in Chicago 20 +|/-years ago

 

[qguy]

I cannot seem to believe that no one imported these specimens since 2009 ? I had my first encounter with these specimen way back in the 90s. Hopefully those lines that I had before 2009 bred with the 2009 imports to improve the bloodlines, but I guess most breeders and hobbyist will just breed brothers and sisters as these would be much more practical.

As an aside, all of the fish in the hobby have been inbred since at least 2009. Which makes claims of F1 fish pretty dubious (I'd like to see the 12-year-old wild pair still - allegedly - floating around).

And also kind of settles the endless quest for "new bloodlines" - the OP's fish are as colorful and attractive as fish a decade or more ago.

 

[dogofwar]

There aren't exporters there. All RTMs and other fish from that area were collected and brought back by hobbyists like Ken.

I cannot seem to believe that no one imported these specimens since 2009 ? I had my first encounter with these specimen way back in the 90s. Hopefully those lines that I had before 2009 bred with the 2009 imports to improve the bloodlines, but I guess most breeders and hobbyist will just breed brothers and sisters as these would be much more practical.