Wanamensis was originally brought back by Gerry Allen and Barry Crockford.
Ron Bowman's stock came from Neil so any stock originating from these
sources should be true stock. Gunther Schmida also had some original stock,
which we believe came direct from Gerry, so any fish originating from that
source should also be good. According to Neil he has seen some wanamensis
lately in Melbourne which he considers are true type species.
Now on the multisquamatus - The original fish where brought back by Gerry
Allen and given to Gunther Schmida. So any early photos of multisquamatus by
Gunther are original wild fish. Gunther later sent a pair to Neil, which he
bred. Lorrie Lee (a dealer at that time) purchased all his stock. It is from
here that it is believed that multisquamatus and wanamensis were interbred
and distributed in the hobby. We don't know if the offspring were sold as
multisquamatus or wanamensis or both? However, some were sold earlier to
Carl Drobski in Melbourne but we don't know what happened to that stock.
Also I acquired some multisquamatus from Lorrie Lee before he got any
wanamensis so the stock I had would be true. However, I haven't kept
multisquamatus for years and don't know what happened to those that I
distributed.
As an added note it is now believed that the multisquamatus (Red-eyed Tiger
Rainbowfish) recently collected from the Mamberamo is the true
multisquamatus and that the 'multisquamatus' collected from the Sepik by
Gerry Allen are in fact a new species. However, we will have to wait until
someone looks at both the Mamberamo and Sepik 'multisquamatus' before this
can be confirmed. Are you all more confused now than you were before ;-)
Adrian.
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Adrian R. Tappin
"Home of the Rainbowfish"
http://www.ecn.net.au/~atappin/home.htm
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