What Type Of Cories Are These?

hello! i just bought 2 new cory's to go with my lone panda cory today. (i had originally had 3 pandas but 2 died but when he was alone for a week or so, he still seemed happy) i hadn't heard of this type of cory that the name on the tank said. they were the only 2 in the tank along with some glowlight tetras (which i got a few of too). the cories were about the same size as my little panda and the fish store guy seemed very knowledgable so i trusted what he said. he said the 2 don't grow very large, about teh same as a panda, and that they should get along fine (which they do! my little panda was so excited when i put the 2 new guys in the tank. he swam right up to them and has been following them around all over ). but i still don't know what kind they are.. i think the name may have started with a 'C' or maybe a 'P'.. that probably doesn't help though, hehe. but they look sorta like sterbai cories, but the guy said they weren't. almost like slightly lighter colored panda's but with spots.. i'll attach a few pictures if anyone can help. thanks so much to anyone who's willing to throw thier two cents in! in all 3 pictures, you can see my happy little panda following 1 of my "mystery" cories around. heheh they're very cute. <3

here's one picture..

here's another pic..

and here's the last pic i have.. isn't my little panda such a pest? heheh

They are just darlin'! Just little sweeties. Still young.

I will let someone else ID them I am notoriously incompentent in IDs. But LPS/LFS are even worse!

But they definately are not C. sterbai

A common name used in LPS/LFS is C. punctatus. But of course they are never C. punctatus. Your fish store person could very well be knowledgeable about fish keeping and the fish care of their stock. But it doesn't mean he knows how they are classified!

jollysue said:

I will let someone else ID them.

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Corydoras leucomelas - Frank

Thanx, Frank.

If my life had depended on it, that is what I would have guessed. Look like my first two Cories: C. punctatus, which I determined to be leucomelas. Of course that got hottly debated, when I posted some very bad pics of them.

Yup, leucomelas. My favorite cories have somehow always been my leucomelas!

those are some fine cories. lucky you

Straydum said:

those are some fine cories. lucky you

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Hmm, I think I have one of those, thats mine in the pic, is it the same as that one? Hard to tell from the pic but mines pretty big. Does it have a common name?

whats the difference between leucomela and punctatus cories? are leucomela's dots more broken while punctatus's dots more in a line? And which cory is bigger at a mature age?

Im just asking this because i really like this cory and i plan to get some but i would like to identify them myselfs at petstores =P

Edit: also, would they do fine in a group of 4?

C. punctatus is a name that lps providers seem to pin on any any Cory they can't be bothered to ID. C. punctatus are very rare and look nothing like C. leucomelas.

C. punctatus
C. punctatus juvenile

C. leucomelas

so would i be correct in saying C. Puncatus' have smaller dots on its body while C. Leucomelas' have larger dots on their body?
Also, which would grow larger and would they be happy in a group of four?or should i make it five?

thanks

You would be right in saying that C. puncatus are completely different looking fish, they look very similar to C. julii another rare cory, often confused with C. trilineatus.

C. leucomelas have a large black mark on its dorsal fin, which starts from the base of the dorsal fins, where as in C. puncatus the markng starts at the dorsal tip.

C. leucomelas also have a black bandit style eye mask marking (Very similar to many cory species)