10
Blue rams
Names
Blue rams, like many fish in the aquarium hobby, have had their fair share of naming issues. They
were first described by Myers and Harry in 1948 as Apistogramma ramirezi, after Manuel Ramirez,
an aquarium fish collector and importer. Over the decades, scientists took them out of the genus
Apistogramma, and shuffled them around various genera with names including Papiliochromis,
Papilochromis, Mikrogeophagus, Microgeophagus, Pseudoapistogramma and Pseudogeophagus.
The valid genus for blue rams is Mikrogeophagus. Apistogramma and Papiliochromis are considered junior synonyms and are no longer valid. Pseudoapistogramma and Pseudogeophagus are
invalid generic names in low circulation. Two invalid generic names are in wide circulation involving
alternative spellings: Papilochromis, missing an ?I‘; and, Microgeophagus with a ?C‘ instead of a ?K‘.
Some of the arguments and discussion can be found online if you are interested in taxonomic issues.
By the way, there is only one other species in the genus Mikrogeophagus, and that is the Bolivian
ram Mikrogeophagus altispinosus. But that is another story.
In terms of common names, Mikrogeophagus ramirezi has quite a few too. These include common
names of aquarium-bred varieties. The blue ram is also called the ?ram cichlid‘, the ?butterfly cichlid‘
and the ?German blue ram‘. Selectively bred colour strains include the ?gold ram‘ and the ?neon‘ or
?electric blue ram‘. Selectively bred body and fin-shape strains include the balloon and long-fin varieties. Because these are all variants of the same species, they should interbreed with each other
easily.
I have never heard of anyone creating a Frankenstein M. altispinosus and M. ramirezi hybrid. I hope
nobody ever does.
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