his
Corydoras is like one of those intriguing conspiracy
stories where you don't know fact from fiction. What
has that got to do with a Corydoras I hear
you ask!. Well when this Cory was first photographed
in 1997 in the Japanese magazine "Aquamagazine"
and then imported to the U.K. about the same time,
Corydoras sp. reynoldsi "Asher"
was the name that they were imported with, and the
vote was split down the middle amongst the top Cory
breeders in the U.K. whether this was indeed the true
Corydoras
reynoldsi
or indeed a new species still to be described. This
Cory has been given the C-number, C064.
Corydoras
tukano
From information
given to me by one of the top U.K. Cory breeders, Ian
Fuller, according to Hans-Georg Evers, the German
aquarist, breeder and author, Corydoras
sp.cf.reynoldsi or Corydoras sp. reynoldsi
'Asher' is indeed the real C. reynoldsi and
he has had his thoughts confirmed by Stanley Weitzman
who described the original species in 1960. Asher
Benzaken is the name of the exporter of this fish
from the port of Manaus, Brazil and who has a fish
farm in this area.
Well you might
just say that that is the mystery solved then, but
hold on there is another twist to the story. another
of the top U.K. Corydoras breeders, Jim
Makin, has verified that he bred Corydoras reynoldsi
in the early 80's and the males did not have the longer
dorsal that these 'asher' have and they also bred
not unlike Corydoras paleatus with lots of
small eggs in a mass. The difference with sp 'asher'
is that they lay small amounts of eggs here and there
and the eggs are the largest I have ever seen from
a Cory, a whopping 2.2mm in size. Jim has bred and
raised this larger egged species and I have also had
eggs and raised the fry from my collection, and the
sizes do match up. The
females I found to grow that little bit larger than
the males.
Corydoras
tukano
Another
bone of contention is the body pattern. As you can
see in the above picture there are two large blotches
on the body, one at the posterior of the dorsal running
down to the ventral fins and the other bridging the
area akin to the adipose and anal fins. There is also
a small dark patch running down the back and a black
band running through both eyes. In the original line
drawing below of Corydoras reynoldsi there
is also two blotches in the same area but they don't
spread down through the body, are only small with
the dorsal/ventral spot being broken in two. The body
shape of these two illustrations are very much alike
so one wonders if it is only a pattern variation which
occur in the wild from different locations and they
are indeed one and the same fish.
Corydoras reynoldsi
Myers & Weitzman, 1960, holotype
(reproduction of illustration in Myers & Weitzman,
1960, fig. 2)
To
add even more confusion to this scenario is that there
is a long-nose version of this species which is identical
in every aspect apart of course in the longer snout.
This species hails from the tributaries in the upper
Rio Negro, Brazil, so could our sp "asher"
also come from this same area and live alongside
its larger cousin, as the port of Manaus the
export station, is of course down the Rio Negro with
its confluent with the Amazon River. So you can make
your own mind up until we are told by the ichthyologists,
when they get round to working with this species,
if indeed they are one and the same species.
Now that we move away from the scientific bit, how
do we keep this Corydoras. From my experiences
they are very easy and adapt to most water conditions
as long as they are not too diverse. They do nicely
in a small group and you can tell the girls from the
boys by the longer dorsal in the smaller male and
the fuller and larger body of the female.
Acknowledgments:Jim MakinandIan Fuller of the
Catfish
Study Group for
their input and also to Jim for providing the original
papers and article on Corydoras reynoldsi.
Update;
December 2003.
The new name of Corydoras tukano has now
been given to this species by Marcelo R. Britto
of Departamento de Vertebrados, Museu Nacional da
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Brazil, and
Flávio C.T. Lima. The ichthyologists
have finely finished work on this Cory and you can
read a short abstract
on their
published work on ScotCat.
Update:
Placed in Lineage 6 which has always
been classified as Corydoras (Lacépède,
1803) so a new genus would need to be described and
a new type species when a new revision is carried
out.
Common
Name:
Bumblebee
Cory, Asher Cory, C064
Synonyms:
None
Family:
Callichthyidae
Subfamily:
Corydoradinae
Distribution:
South America:
Brazil; Rio Tiquié, upper Rio Negro basin.
Size:
Male: 4.0cm. (1½ins).
Female:4.5cm. (1¾ins)
Temp:
22-25°C (71-77°F)
p.H.
6.0-7.2.
Characteristics
Small round head. Male dorsal
fin longer than female.
Colouration
Two large blotches on the
body, one at the posterior of the dorsal running
down to the ventral fins and the other bridging
the area akin to the adipose and anal fins. A small
dark patch running down the back and a black band
running through both eyes.
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
I set up 2 males
and a female in a 18" x 12" x 12" tank
with sand, Java moss, Java fern and a sponge filter.
They laid 11 eggs scattered throughout the aquarium,
high on the glass and also low on a flower pot. The
water parameters were a P.h.of 6.5 and water temperature
of 76F, K.H., 3., G.H.,1. The eggs are large
measuring 2.2mm and the largest of any Corydoras
that I have bred. Unfortunately the eggs did not hatch
and were not viable. They also laid eggs about a week
later but they were not fertilised either. I have
since then purchased more of this species and I hope
to record some success with this most beautiful of
Corydoras at a later date.
Update:
I have now bred and raised the fry and and you can
now find this article
on Ian Fullers, Corydoras World website.
Diet
The usual fare for adult
Corydoras, a good quality flake food, tablet food,
frozen bloodworm and whiteworm used sparingly.
Etymology
Corydoras:
Cory = helmeted;doras = leathery skin,(helmeted
Doras) cuirass. tukano: Named after the
Tukano indians, a tribe that lives in the area of
the Rio Tiquié.
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 Ian A. M. Fuller & Hans-Georg Evers
(2011). Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish Supplement
1. Ian Fuller Enterprises.ers
& Weitzman, 1960:(figs. 1, 10; table
11 H). Aqualog News, First impe beautiful plated
cat Corydoras
Photo Credits
Top image:
@ Allan James @
Bottom image:@ Helen Burns
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