his month of December
2008 is another landmark here at ScotCat as we reach
the milestone of the 150th factsheet over an 11 year
period of your favoutite catfish website. So we have
invited along Catfish Study Group secretary, Adrian
Taylor, who also hosts his own website on his first
love, the hillstream catfishes of Asia. Adrian has
also been prolific in breeding Corydoras of many types,
so I will hand you over to him to promote another
special member of this family.
Corydoras
similis
These medium sized
Corydoras catfish regularly appear in our stores every
other year or so, and it is often the case with them
that they only show their true colours after settling
in to our tanks. Although their finage posses little
in the way of colour or markings, the body colour
can truly said to be breathtaking when they are in
spawning condition. During this time the spots that
adorn the first two thirds of the body get more pronounced
and the area’s around the cheeks and gills take
on a golden hue, the blue blotch that is present from
just posterior of the dorsal fin to the caudal peduncle
becomes even darker and the body scutes in this area
take on a bright turquoise luster.
The sexes are
easy to determine as the females are generally larger
than the males, have larger ventral fins and the pectoral
fins are more deeply convexed posteriorly. Corydoras
similis has been spawned in the aquarium and
tend to comply to the usual techniques in breeding
most of the Corydoradinae group of catfishes.
The image below
shows an albino variety of Corydoras similis.
Corydoras
similis -
albino
These cory-cats
have proved not to be problematic in the way they
are looked after, which makes them a must have species
for any small to medium sized community tank. A substrate
of sand or small rounded gravel interspersed with
clumps of plants; like Amazon sword and containing
areas of rock and/or bogwood would make a ideal bio
type. Like wise feeding Corydoras similis
is not a problem as they will readily consume commercial
foods such as flake, granular and tablet foods and
frozen foods such as bloodworms and daphnia, like
all fish they benefit from regular feedings of live
foods such as Daphnia, Cyclops, Grindal worms and
bloodworms.
Remarks:
Corydoras similis
is placed in Lineage 9, the "short-snouted"
species with the designated type species: C. punctatus.
A revision in the future would constitute the resurrection
of the genus name Hoplosopma (Agassiz, 1846).
Common
Name:
False Blotch Tail Cory
Synonyms:
None
Family:
Callichthyidae
Subfamily:
Corydoradinae
Distribution:
South America:
Brazil, Madeira river system and the district of Rondonia.
Size:
Male: 5.5cm (2¼ins)
Female: 6.0cm (2½ins)
Temp:
22-26°C (71-79°F)
p.H.
6.0-7.2.
dGH.
6-15
Characteristics
Dorsal fin 8 rays and a strong
spine, Adipose fin small. Pectoral fins 5 rays and
a strong spine. Ventral fins 5 rays. Anal fin 5 rays.
Caudal fin 14 rays. Head large, snout rounded, eyes
large. Barbels 3 pairs; one pair maxillary barbels
that reach as far back as the eye, two pairs of madibulary
barbels outer mandibulary barbel not quite reaching
the eye, with the inner madibulary barbel being somewhat
smaller.
Colouration
Body base colour cream, head
profusely covered in irregular small brown spots,
these spots continue along the body from the dorsal
fin in even rows above the lateral line diminishing
in size the nearer they get to the caudal peduncle.
The area of the body beneath the lateral line is coloured
a creamy tan. There is a blue coloured blotch which
begins posteriorly to the dorsal fin base, terminating
at the caudal peduncle; this blue blotch darkens in
colour the closer to the caudal peduncle it becomes.
The ventral surface is white to cream in colour. The
fins being hyaline.
Aquarium
Care & Compatibility
This is akin to most of this
genus, very peaceful, and would be best housed with
small to medium tankmates such as Tetras, Rasboras
and Danios or in a species
tank for breeding purposes.
Reproduction
Corydoras similis
has been spawned in the aquarium and tend to comply
to the usual techniques in breeding most of the Corydoradinae
group of catfishes, which you can find information
on, in the breeding
articles section of the website.
Sexual
Diferences
The sexes are easy
to determine as the females are generally larger than
the males, have larger ventral fins and the pectoral
fins are more deeply convexed posteriorly.
Diet
Feeding
Corydoras similis is not a problem as they
will readily consume commercial foods such as flake,
granular and tablet foods and frozen foods such as
bloodworms and daphnia, like all fish they benefit
from regular feedings of live foods such as Daphnia,
Cyclops, Grindal worms and bloodworms.
Etymology
Corydoras:Cory=helmeted;doras=leathery skin,(helmeted
Doras) cuirass. similis: Named for
its similarity to Corydoras
ourastigma.
Glossaryof Terms
Caudal
Peduncle: The area between the dorsal fin and
the tail. Dorsal fin: The
primary rayed fin(s) on top of the body.
Hyaline: Transparent or clear without
pigment. Lateral Line: A sensory line, along
the sides of the body. Maxillary barbels: Pertaining to the
upper jaw. (maxillary barbels).
Ventral fins: The
paired fins, between the pectorals and the anal fins.
References
Alexandrou,
Markos & Taylor, Martin. (2011). Evolution,
ecology and taxonomy of the Corydoradinae revisited.
Fuller, I.A.M. & Evers, H-G:
2005 Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish Ian Fuller
Enterprises. 384 p Ian A. M. Fuller & Hans-Georg Evers
(2011). Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish Supplement
1. Ian Fuller Enterprises.
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