Microgeophagus altispinosus, the Bolivian Ram

Microgeophagus altispinosus (Bolivian Ram). (Though you see "altispinosa" everywhere, surely it ought to be "M. altispinosus," no?) M. altispinosus is a bigger, sturdier Microgeophagus, that gets to 4 inches (the female staying somewhat smaller). Fishes have red upper and lower margins to their tail fins, which are extended into filaments in the males. Otherwise they're a greenish gray with gold and black, less colorful than the domesticated Rams, it's true, but healthier, for the time being, and less inbred.
 
This fish is found in Bolivia, in the Rio Mamoré  near the town of Trinidad, in the basin of the Rio Guaporé down to its mouth, where it flows into the Mamoré, in the Rio Quizer near San Ramon, at the mouth of the Igarape, and near Guajara-Mirim on the Brazilian border, according to H. Richter, 1989. This fish was discovered as long ago as 1911, by John D. Haseman, collecting for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh; however, it wasn't represented in aquaria until Horst Linke and Wolfgang Staeck found a few in 1985 and got them safely back to Germany. Within a decade they were being mass-produced in Singapore.
 
These fishes are uncommon in their native haunts; the ones you'll see at the LFS are bred in Singapore from stock that originally came from Germany. De-worm them with praziquantel when you get them into your quarantine. It's worth repeating the water parameters Linke and Staeck reported where they found their fishes: pH of 7.6, KH about 4 degrees, with a conductivity of 123 microSiemens. Noonday water temperatures hit the equivalent of 81°F. In other words, if you have trouble getting your water acidic enough to successfully spawn M. ramirezi, you might have better chances with M. altispinosus, which has the added virtue that it doesn't require the same heat, either.
 
Give these fishes shade, perhaps with some floating plants, and plenty of cover. If they seem shy, it's a sign that light is too strong and perhaps the tank is too bare and open.
 
Lee Newman's account, "Keeping and breeding the Bolivian Ram, Microgeophagus altispinosa," from the Buntbarsche Bulletin, ACA 1996, pp 1-6, covered the elements of breeding them: the four or five days of courtship, the site preparation, the look of the ovipostors, the pale gray fertile eggs contrasted with the white infertile ones, the free-swimming fry after 4 to 5 days. 
 
Ron Belliveau reported emergency mouthbrooding behavior in M. altispinosa; when he had to disrupt a breeding pair, removing some pieces of bogroot and netting out one then the other, he found fry in the new tank that could only have been transferred there in the mouth of one parent or the other.
Rick and Sam Borstein found that two pairs in a 20-gallon tank provided enough tension that spawns were eaten; they raised fry artificially instead.
 
 
Links.  Microgeophagus altispinosus at FishBase. Microgeophagus altispinosa at the Aquatic Community site. You'll also want to scan the posts concerning Bolivian Rams archived at The Krib.  And see a  close-in video of spawning at YouTube.