Corydoras 2, Banded Corydoras

Author: Ian Fuller

The term 'Banded Corydoras' is a title that has been given to quite a number of Corydoras species, some are widely known and are readily available at most aquatic retailers, others are not so frequently available and only seen in aquatic literature. All of these so-called 'Banded Corydoras' posses a dark band that extends down and along he ridge of the back, or high up on the upper sides of the body, which is usually intense black in colour. There are four species that are most commonly seen, and these are Corydoras arcuatus (Elwin, 1939), Corydoras melini (Lonnberg & Rendahl, 1930), Corydoras metae (Eigenmann, 1914), and Corydoras davidsandsi (Black, 1988). The other species that are rarely seen are usually imported very infrequently and in small numbers. Most of these rarer species generally arrive as contaminants in shipments of other species. This is exactly what has happened with some specimens I picked up recently, there were two Corydoras simulatus (Weitzman & Nijssen, 1970) that arrived in a shipment of Corydoras metae and three Corydoras amapaensis (Nijssen, 1972) that turned up in a shipment of Corydoras melini. It is nearly always possible to find a number of the rarer species in this way, especially if you are on hand when a shipment is due, but it can take a long time before you have gathered enough stock to attempt breeding them.

In more recent years because of the demand for the rarer and more unusual species collectors and exporters in South America have started searching out these rarer Corydoras species, and the locations of them being kept very a secret. The next problem that arises as with anything that has the words 'rare' or 'unusual' added to the name the prices rise dramatically, I have seen and have to admit even paid prices in excess of £50.00 per fish to get the fish that I want

Other species that fall into the 'Banded' group are Corydoras narcissus (Nijssen & Isbrücker, 1980), Corydoras imitator (Nijssen & Isbrücker, 1983), Corydoras adolfoi (burgess, 1982), and Corydoras duplicareus (Sands, 1995). There are also three other species that have shown up in recent months, one of these is being called 'Mega metae' but in truth and in my opinion it looks nothing like Corydoras metae, in fact they are far closer in appearance and shape to that of Corydoras melini, or Corydoras davidsandsi, and the fact that they are large specimens gives rise to them being called 'mega'. We are also seeing the same thing with Corydoras arcuatus there are shipments arriving where the specimens are nearer to sixty-five millimetres standard length as against the ones we have known for many years that only grow to around fifty millimetres, it is possible that these new large specimens may also prove to be new species. The first of the other two species is also very close in colour pattern to Corydoras davidsandsi, where it differs is in the black band which is narrower and stops a little short of the caudal peduncle, the fish it self has a slightly different body shape in as much as it is a lot deeper and is longer in the head with a sharper snout similar to that of Corydoras haraldschultzi.

The second species is very reminiscent of Corydoras narcissus, but where this one is different is again in the black band that runs down the length of the back, this time the front part of the band finishes just in front of the dorsal fin above the eye, and there is only a little scattered dark grey to black flecking that forms a feint mask across the eye. The size and shape of this fish is somewhat different as well, the head profile has a definite bump just in front of the dorsal fin, which is far more prominent in mature males than females. The shape of the snout is also different, in that it is long and pointed compared to the long hooked shape that Corydoras narcissus has.

Another feature of this species is that it does not appear to reach the size that Corydoras narcissus does. The eight specimens that I have had now for eighteen months have reached a standard length of fifty to fifty-five millimetres, compared to Corydoras narcissus that can attain a standard length of seventy millimetres or more. It remains to be seen whether or not these two fishes prove to be new species

Article reproduced by kind permission of Ian Fuller of www.corycats.com

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Other articles by Ian Fuller

• Chela Dadyborjori
• Correct Temperature for Catfish
• Corydoras amapaensis, Nijssen
• Corydoras Sanchesi
• Corydoras, From Small beginings
• Corydoras, The Boys and the Girls
• Dwarf Cory and Pygmy Cory
• Identifying Corydoras
• Starting with Corydoras
• Tail spot Corydoras