s
can be seen in the photograph this is a male due to
the longer dorsal fin against the normal of the female.
This cory is somewhat similar to Corydoras aeneus,
but there the similarity ends, as concolor
is smaller and a more robust looking fish, it appears
to be more chunky, especially fully grown adults which
can get very heavy and impressive looking.
Corydoras
concolor
I
first acquired four of this species from a friend
in 1994 as he was having difficulty with them keeping
their barbels, probably due to bacteria in the gravel,
as catfish, especially Corydoras, are the first
to suffer from adverse conditions in the substrate.
I kept them on a sand substrate in my cory community
tank up to the beginning of 1996 and they began
to slowly grow back their barbels. I then decided
to set them up for spawning as I had, lucky enough,
two pairs as the males are somewhat smaller and have
an elongated dorsal fin and the females can get quite
heavy.
Both sexes have
a nice orange colouration to their fins with some
species having more colour than others, probably depending
on the catchment area. The Latin meaning for concolor
is uniformly coloured; of the same colour. but I find
this a bit of a misdemeanor as they can show traces
of blues and greens in a healthy specimen and also
the colour in the fins as mentioned earlier.
I find them to
be quite an easy Corydoras to keep but somewhat
shy, I sometimes wonder why they are not more popular,
but in the U.K anyway, they are not so abundant in
the aquatic shops.
I did have quite
a bit of success in spawning this species and I have
a short summery in the breeding section of this factsheet.
Below is a small photo album of the breeding of Corydoras
concolor, just click on the thumbnail to see a
larger image.
Picture of
C. concolor eggs at 2mm
Juveniles
grubbing about for food
Male
with fry
If
you are keen on Corydoras and you see concolor
in your local shop, give them a go, you will not be
disappointed. Buy at least 4 and more if you can afford
it as they are not all that expensive, although they
will cost more than your average cory such as aeneus,
paleatus etc.
Remarks:
Corydoras
concolor
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
Slate
Cory
Synonyms
Corydoras
esperanzae
Family
Callichthyidae
Subfamily
Corydoradinae
Distribution
South America:
Venezuela,
Las Mangas, in a tributary to the Río Parguaza,
western part of the State of Bolivar, Venezuela.
The Río Parguaza is a stream arising
in the Serranía de Parguaza, flowing northwest
and into the Río Orinoco almost opposite
the island of El Gallo (6°20’N, 67°10’W.
Size
Male: 5.5cm (2¼ins)
Female: 6.0cm (2½ins)
Temp
23-26°C
(73-79°F)
p.H.
6.5-7.2.
Characteristics
Dorsal
1/7; Anal 1/5; Head short and compact.
Colouration
Body colour reddish/brown
with glimmers of greens/blues when in good condition.
All fins have an ochre to orange colouration with
no markings. Black band running through eyes.
Aquarium
Care & Compatibility
Will do well in a community
setup with smaller tankmates such as Rasboras and
Tetra's. Do not house with aggressive species or large
Cichlids.
Reproduction
I set them up
for breeding in a 18" x 12" x 12" tank
with sand, Java moss, Java fern and a sponge filter.
They spawned with the temperature of their water at
78°f and a pH of 6 and GH 1. The eggs are quite
large measuring 2mm and a creamy white colour. My
first spawning yielded only 8 eggs but my second spawning
7 weeks later amounted to 25 eggs. They laid eggs
on and off for the next year then suddenly stopped
for a year. I didn't get them going again until the
night of this article (14th Sept.98) The fry look
like any other cory fry having spots over the top
half of the body and gradually begin to look like
the parents after 6 weeks with pale orange fins, a
dark head which has quite a steep incline, making
it look quite chunky.
Diet
The usual fare for adult Corydoras,
a good quality flake food, tablet food, frozen bloodworm
and whiteworm used sparingly. I fed the fry with infusuria
to start off the first few days then on to Brine shrimp
naupli, Microworm, fry and crushed flake.
Etymology
Corydoras:
Cory=helmeted;doras=leathery
skin,(helmeted Doras) cuirass. concolor: Uniformly coloured;
of the same colour.
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 384 p Fuller, I.A.M, Breeding
Corydoradine Catfishes. First Edition. 2001. Ian Fuller
Enterprises, Kidderminster, England.
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