Corydoras virginiae
Burgess, 1993
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his Corydoras has been around since, as far as my investigations
go, 1982. It was first captioned in the Tropical Fish Hobbyist magazine
in that year by Dr.Burgess as possibly Corydoras bicolor,
and later on in 1990 in David Sands Catfishes of the World volume
1, as a colour variation of Corydoras delphax. To add further
to the mystery you can also see this fish in Werner Seus's Corydoras
book as C004 ( the numbers given out by the German publication,
DATZ, to unidentified Cory's), but it is in this book that a further
caption explains the new name and the author. It
was named Corydoras virginiae by Dr.Warren E.Burgess in 1993
in honour of Adolfo Schwartz's wife, Virginia.
The picture above is one of four
that I purchased in 1990 as Corydoras zangama
a trade name given to them in the UK around that period, they
reside in my 6' 0" community tank in my lounge with large
cats (Syno's, Chrysichthys etc.) and a few
large characins. They have been very hardy and can compete no
problem at all with the other occupants for food.
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Corydoras
virginiae
in a dealers bare-bottom tank. You can see the change in
colouration to the first specimen in a matured community
tank. |
As mentioned this is quite a hardy Cory
and will do fine in a community tank. Would be best to purchase
a group of 4-6 or even more as they do like their own company.
Below in the breeding table is a report on the spawning activity
of this species kindly supplied by U.S. author and aquarist Larry
Vires.
Acknowledgments: Larry Vires for his contribution
to this Factsheet.
Dorsal 1/7; Anal 1/5; Elongated snout.
Silvery/beige with dark mask over eyes and
dark blotch leading from the front of dorsal down to gill covers.
Gill-covers have a yellow/orange glimmer. All fins clear.
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 but will
do well with larger species or in their own tank for breeding purposes.
Breeding report from Larry Vires:
I received a group of 6 fish ranging in size from 1.5-2.0"
SL April of 1997. The fish did not have any noticeable dimorphism,
but were fed very heavily on blackworms and tablet foods for the
next 3 months. Water quality was maintained at a pH of 7.0 and
Total Dissolved Solids were approximately 150 ppm. Along with
weekly water changes, the fish, 3 after shipping losses, all grew
to a maximum size of 2" rather quickly and one of the fish
became rather plump. However, there was no spawning activity noticed.
I then decided to use a trick which I had
used with other wild-caught Corydoras. It is not highly
scientific, but is effective. Water changes of approximately 25%
are done daily with reverse osmosis water which is about 15' F
cooler than the tank water, which should be around 82' F. This
will usually have an affect after about a week, but these fish
are very stubborn and did not spawn until 3 weeks had gone by.
There were only about 25 eggs from
each spawning, but the fry were large for Corydoras, and
grew to 3/4" in their first month. Brine shrimp nauplii were
fed for the first 2 months, and blackworms were added to the diet
after the first month.
Flake foods should also be supplemented into their diet 3-4 times
a week to ensure a well rounded diet.
The usual fare for adult Corydoras,
a good quality flake food, tablet food, frozen bloodworm and whiteworm
used sparingly.
Corydoras:
Cory = helmeted;
doras = leathery skin,(helmeted
Doras) cuirass.
virginiae:
This Corydoras was named in honour of Adolfo Schwartz's
wife, Virginia.
Burgess,
E.Warren, Dr. Tropical Fish Hobbyist, 1982.
Sands, David. Catfishes of the World V1 Supplement
1990.
Seuss Werner. Corydoras. The most popular armoured catfishes
of South America.
Larry Vires, Catfish Mailing List 1998.
Top picture: Allan
James @ 
Bottom picture: Julian Dignall @
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