Apistogramma commbrae

By Pet Zone SD Team • October 2026

Overview

Apistogramma commbrae carries the oldest formal description of any species on this site — and very possibly a misspelled one. Charles Tate Regan published the species in 1906, three years before this site's own pleurotaenia (1909, previously the oldest description covered here) and decades before most other apistos reached science at all. But according to SeriouslyFish, the name itself may be an accident. Carl Eigenmann had already been preparing his own name for the fish — Heterogramma corumbae, after the type locality of Corumbá in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil — and sent Regan labelled photographs ahead of his own paper's publication. Regan, who appears to have intended a different name of his own, ended up publishing "commbrae" instead, which SeriouslyFish calls "an apparent misinterpretation" of "corumbae." Eigenmann's tidier, locality-based name followed in 1907, but Regan's had already claimed priority, leaving corumbae as a synonym of the name that may have been a typo of it.

Planetcatfish's independent entry lists corumbae as a synonym too, but doesn't address the spelling question at all — making SeriouslyFish's account the more complete one on this specific point, and worth citing explicitly rather than treating as settled trivia.

Identification

Apistogramma commbrae belongs to what SeriouslyFish calls the A. commbrae species complex, itself part of the broader A. regani lineage within the genus. Cichlidae.com (Cichlid Room Companion) confirms the 1906 Regan authorship and situates the genus within the putative subfamily Geophaginae, under Cichlinae. Size is the one area where published sources genuinely disagree — see the FAQ below rather than relying on a single figure to confirm an identification.

Tank Setup

• Tank size: SeriouslyFish recommends 60x30cm floor space (roughly 54 liters / 14 US gallons) as a minimum for a pair or small group — a long, low footprint rather than tall and narrow, consistent with genus-standard practice. See our tank setup guide for general dwarf cichlid tank dimensions and hardscape.
• Substrate & décor: No species-specific decor notes beyond genus-standard practice are documented — fine sand, driftwood, leaf litter, and a cave or broken-pot shelter per territory all apply here as elsewhere in the genus.
• Temperature range: This is where commbrae stands out. SeriouslyFish gives a wide habitat range of 15–27°C (59–81°F), noting the fish's home waters cool to around 16°C (61°F) in winter — a genuinely unusual degree of cold tolerance for this genus, most of which are strict tropical specialists. FishBase's narrower everyday range (23–28°C) is a reasonable fishroom target, but don't assume this species needs — or even benefits from — a heater cranked to typical apisto temperatures year-round.
• Water chemistry: SeriouslyFish specifies pH 6.0–7.4, hardness 1–6 dGH, and conductivity 20–150 µS/cm — a fairly broad, forgiving window by genus standards. FishBase's figures (pH "unknown" to 7.0) are less specific and not a contradiction, just thinner detail. See our water parameters guide for building and holding soft, mildly acidic-to-neutral water.

Feeding

SeriouslyFish describes commbrae as carnivorous in the wild, feeding on benthic (bottom-dwelling) invertebrates. In the aquarium, live or frozen Artemia, Daphnia, Moina, and bloodworm are all accepted readily, and most individuals will also take dried foods — pellets are preferred over flakes for a bottom-oriented feeder like this one. See our general feeding guide for conditioning diets ahead of a spawn.

Temperament & Compatibility

SeriouslyFish describes commbrae as peaceful and well suited to a calm community tank, ideally kept as a bonded pair rather than a mixed group. Its unusual cold tolerance is worth factoring into tankmate choices: SeriouslyFish suggests pairing it with small characins or catfish that are also comfortable in cooler water, rather than defaulting to typical tropical community-tank stocking. As with every species on this site, avoid housing it with other Apistogramma species to prevent hybridization and territorial conflict.

Breeding

Commbrae is a substrate and cavity spawner with standard Apistogramma biparental care, not a mouthbrooder. SeriouslyFish describes it as apparently monogamous, with the female handling brood care directly while the male patrols and defends the surrounding territory. Eggs hatch in roughly 36 to 72 hours depending on temperature. One practical wrinkle: above about 25°C, fry hatch too small to immediately take newly hatched Artemia nauplii, so breeders working at warmer temperatures often lower the tank temperature specifically to give fry more time to grow before their first Artemia feeding. SeriouslyFish gives an ideal breeding pH of around 6.5 — too low a pH is reported to cause losses among juveniles. Breeding condition is visually obvious: males develop red-and-blue cheek markings with a yellow gular (throat) region, while females in breeding or brooding condition turn bright yellow marked with black. Follow our general breeding guide for the broader conditioning-to-fry-rearing process.

Sourcing Notes

Commbrae is not a widely stocked retail species in the way cacatuoides or borellii are — expect to look to specialist importers rather than general fish stores. Given the genuine, two-source size discrepancy covered above, don't assume a seller's size claim settles the question; ask whether their stock traces to a specific collection point if you want wild-type fish matching a particular published account. Its wide natural temperature range also means it's worth asking a seller what temperature their stock has actually been held at, since this species tolerates — and may do better with — cooler conditions than typical apisto retail setups provide. See our general sourcing guide for broader guidance on verifying identification and acclimating new stock.

Final Thoughts

Commbrae is a genuinely old name attached to a genuinely unresolved question — not about the fish's identity this time, but about whether its own name is even the one its describers meant to give it. Add in a size estimate that varies by nearly 20mm depending which reference you trust, a conservation status that one source rates and two others don't address at all, and a cold tolerance that sets it apart from almost everything else in the genus, and you get a species better suited to a keeper who enjoys reading past the first source than one who wants a fully settled care sheet. If you want something with less published disagreement to start with, try cacatuoides or hoignei instead. If you're drawn to the genus's oldest and least tidy corners, commbrae belongs right alongside this site's pleurotaenia.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Apistogramma commbrae spelled that way?

According to SeriouslyFish, the spelling looks like an accident of timing. Carl Eigenmann had been preparing his own name for the species, Heterogramma corumbae, after the type locality of Corumbá, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil — but before his paper was published, he sent labelled photographs to Charles Tate Regan in London. Regan, who had apparently intended a different name of his own, ended up publishing the species in 1906 as Apistogramma commbrae — a name SeriouslyFish describes as "an apparent misinterpretation" of "corumbae." Eigenmann's own, more logical, locality-based name followed a year later in 1907, but by then Regan's name had priority and corumbae was reduced to a synonym.

How big does Apistogramma commbrae get?

Sources disagree significantly, and this guide isn't picking a winner. SeriouslyFish gives males up to roughly 50mm (2.0in) standard length and females up to about 30mm (1.2in). FishBase and Planetcatfish both independently report a much smaller maximum of about 33mm (1.3in) standard length for males or unsexed fish — a close match to each other, but well under SeriouslyFish's figure. FishBase separately lists a 35mm total-length figure for females that's actually larger than its own male number, likely a standard-length-versus-total-length mismatch rather than a real reversal. Until a primary source resolves it, treat anywhere from roughly 1.3 to 2 inches as the realistic adult range for males.

What temperature does Apistogramma commbrae need?

Unusually wide and unusually cool for the genus. SeriouslyFish gives a habitat range of 15–27°C (59–81°F), noting that the species' home waters cool to around 16°C in winter — meaningfully more cold-tolerant than most Apistogramma, which are tropical specialists. FishBase gives a narrower everyday range of 23–28°C. For steady fishroom keeping, the middle of SeriouslyFish's range (roughly 22–25°C / 72–77°F) is a safer target than pushing toward either extreme, but the species does not need — and in winter doesn't get — true tropical heat in the wild.

Is Apistogramma commbrae endangered?

Sources disagree on whether it's been evaluated at all. FishBase lists an IUCN Red List status of Least Concern, assessed 28 October 2020. Neither SeriouslyFish nor Cichlidae.com (Cichlid Room Companion) mentions an IUCN rating at all for this species — Cichlidae.com states plainly that it has not been evaluated by the IUCN Red List. This site flags the conflict rather than picking a side; the same pattern showed up on this site's own hippolytae entry, where FishBase and Cichlidae.com disagreed over its conservation status too.

Where does Apistogramma commbrae come from in the wild?

SeriouslyFish places it through the Paraguay River watershed (part of the larger Paraná system) across Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, plus a separate population in the upper Guaporé River — part of the upper Madeira/Amazon system — in western Brazil. FishBase's distribution (the Paraguay basin, the middle Paraná in Argentina, and the Uruguay River basin) broadly agrees but doesn't mention the Guaporé population; that's a narrower account rather than a real contradiction. The type locality is given as Carandasinho, Mato Grosso, and Colônia Risso, in the upper Paraguay watershed.