Corydoras
concolor Weitzman, 1961 |
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.
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.
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Picture of C.concolor
eggs at 2mm |
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Juveniles grubbing about
for food |
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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.
Dorsal 1/7; Anal 1/5;
Head short and compact.
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.
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.
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.
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. |
Top: Graham
Ramsay
Bottom three: Allan James @  |
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| Synonyms:
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| Corydoras
esperanzae |
| Common
Name: |
| Slate
Cory |
| Family: |
| Callichthyidae |
| Subfamily: |
| Corydoradinae |
| Distribution: |
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: |
| 5.5cm. (2¼ins) |
| Temp: |
| 23-26°C
(73-79°F) |
| pH.: |
| 6.0 - 7.2 |
| Donation: |
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