Original description as Apistogramma barlowi:
ZooBank:87EE6A09-16C1-4447-AA89-6DEEA2949D8D.
- Römer, Uwe & Ingo Hahn. 2008. "Apistogramma barlowi sp. n.; Description of a new facultative mouth-breeding cichlid species (Teleostei: Perciformes: Geophaginae) from Northern Peru". Vertebrate Zoology. 58(1)2008 49-66 (crc01570)
Conservation: Apistogramma barlowi is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (LC) least concern (2016).