Napo catfish - Corydoras napoensis

The high-backed and in cross-section rather narrowly built Napo Cory is called with scientific name Corydoras napoensis. This small, peaceful and very sociable cory comes from the Napo province in Ecuador, South America, but is also found in Peru as well as in the Amazon region. In the wild it lives in small tributaries and on floodplains, preferably on sandy substrate.

The small gregarious Napo Cory has a silvery to golden body and two to three irregular dark longitudinal stripes, above the lateral line, below the lateral line and along the lateral line. These stripes may also dissolve into a dark-bright dot-net pattern. The fins are transparent, some with an irregular dark pattern. The mouth is surrounded by medium length barbels.

Male Corydoras napoensis remain slimmer and grow to a standard length of 4.5 cm, while the slightly thicker females of the Napo Cory can reach a length of about 5 cm.

Like all Cory species, the Napo Cory needs a school of conspecifics in a group size of at least 6-10 animals. An aquarium with an edge length of at least 60 cm is perfectly suitable for these small Corys. At the bottom the pretty little schooling fish Corydoras napoensis should find at least one sandy corner. Also very fine rounded gravel is suitable as bottom substrate . In the sand or fine gravel, the Corydoras will dig for microorganisms.

The Napo Catfish prefers the lower water layers as habitat, but is an intestinal breather and therefore needs access to the water surface of the aquarium at all times. The aquarium can be planted as long as a large enough sandy area is left free for the armored catfish to burrow. Hiding places such as caves should also be provided for the Napo Corys in the aquarium.

The Napo Cory is a so-called substrate spawner and can be bred in the aquarium. During mating the female of Corydoras napoensis attaches up to 100 eggs individually for example to the aquarium glass, but also to plants or the aquarium equipment. Places with current are preferred. After 3-5 days the larvae of the Napo catfish hatch. They are best raised without the parent fish in a separate rearing tank with some sand and some plants and fed with Artemia nauplii.

The Napo Cory can reach an age of 10 years. At an aquarium temperature of 22-26 °C and a water hardness of up to 12 GH as well as a pH between 6 and 7,5 the peaceful and social small Napo Corys find the best conditions.

Corydoras napoensis is easy to maintain and quite robust. This makes it a good candidate for community tanks with peaceful small to medium sized tetras or danios, and it can also be kept perfectly with shrimp . The Napo Cory does not actively hunt, but can certainly more or less accidentally eat a very careless baby shrimp. Crayfish and large arm shrimp are not recommended as a socialization , they can severely injure the small bottom-dwelling Cory with their claws.

With pleasure the nicely drawn Napo Panzerwels likes animal food. Frozen foods or sinking live foods such as shiner worms, grindal and tubifex can make him very happy. Special foods for armored cat fish are also readily eaten, and Napo's armored catfish will also readily accept food flakes or food granules for omnivores in the aquarium.

Our food recommendation: The NatureHolic Catfish Feed for all aufwuchs feeding sucking catfish in the aquarium is a balanced tablet food, which does not cloud the water and the fish like to eat. The catfish tablets also contain NatureHolic active ingredient complexes that provide sucker catfish with everything they need for a strong immune system, healthy growth and great, contrasting coloration.

Our plant recommendation: Use for planting NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planarians and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend for fish keeping the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and keeping.

Picture: Enrico Richter - exclusively for Garnelio