What advantage does being bright red have for atabapo 1 crens in the wild?

[Hybridfish7]

first of all, are atabapo 1s even found in the wild? I am aware atabapo 2s look very similar but have less red, and have the possibility that atabapo 1s are line bred for redness off of the slight red in the 2s, sort of like how the weird mosaic pattern in wild apistogramma cacatuoides was bred and amplified to produce things like triple reds. However since they are atabapo 1, I would assume they are in fact found in the wild, which would then lead me to believe that the red serves a similar purpose to the bright oranges of fish in lago nicaragua, in regards to being able to be seen by mates in murky water. I am also aware that they only attain such a bright red at sized where they are or are close to being sexually mature, so the correlation is there.

 

[kno4te]

Rocksor

 

[Rocksor]

Atabapo 1 aka Atabapo Red are mostly wild caught (99%). I say mostly because I only know of 1 confirmed breeder in one of the Finnish countries (Sweden?) and I've heard someone in Michigan was successful. The juveniles look like Venezuela sp, and it would be difficult to sell as juvenile Atabapo Red since you can't prove it until they reach their adult age 6+ mos.

Atabapo 2 aka Atabapo Ladder pike don't get really red until much later in their adult life, way later than Atabapo reds do. Aside from pictures, I haven't seen Atabapo Ladder achieve the same dark red in captivity.

Atabapo is a blackwater biotope, really dark brown tannin stained water PH less than 6.0. It's not only the tannins but their diets that help produce the red. You will find adults that retain brightdeep red, while others not so red, so it depends at which point in their sub-adult/adult life they were caught from the wild and sold. So the red is a way to see other pikes in the tannin stained water while remaining nearly invisible from above.

 

[Hendre]

Can be dietary pigments as well as selective pressures. In environments with low light penetration (such as blackwater) you have to stand out to be seen. This is why endler guppies are so flashy, coming from algae-dense pools in nature. Cichlids are also big on their colour displays and they can read the health and success of a potential mate, a huge factor for sexual selection.