Corydoras paleatus breeding
Corydoras paleatus was introduced in aquaria in 1876. The first reproduction in aquarium was realized in 1878 by Carbonnier. The natural environment is in south-east Brazil, from La Plata to Argentina, where it lives in slow motion waters.
The male reaches 5 cm length and it has a higher and sharper dorsal fin than the female. The body of the male is more slender in
comparison with the female, especially in the spawning period. The female is burly and larger, reaching 7 cm length. The body coloration is grey-green, with a ochre abdomen. On this background there are some dark colored spots and point, which can be blue or green-violet (depending on the light angle). The fins are yellow with small dark colored spots lines.
It is a friendly fish and it doesn`t request any special water chemistry. That`s why it can be easily bread in a common aquarium. Corydoras eat anything, from living food to dry food but only from the bottom of the aquarium. They prefer tubifex and daphnia. Because they feed by grouting the sand, this will have a smaller granulation and no sharp edges. If these things are not respected, their mustaches will be damaged. After that, the bacteria from the aquarium may attack the new formed wound. As a remedy, we`ll use a better filtration system (especially if we feed them much and the bacteria can`t annihilate the decomposing materials) and we`ll change the ground with a small granulation sand. If the mustaches are not too damaged they`ll renew. They can live at temperatures between 18-28° C. Frey even mentions the fact that it`s better to keep the fish outside till frost time. The optimal temperature is 23° C.
The tail is a little concave and the adipose fin has a support thorn. The maximum length is 20 cm. The background is colored in grey-brown, with a darker back and white abdomen (except the spawning period). On the body it has big brown-black spots which can form a line on the flanks. The fins are grey-yellow and they have black points. On the tail there is a dark colored line.
food or tablets. The living food, daphnia, will be administrated frozen.