True Julii or no?

With much confusion on what is being sold as Julli cory cats, I need an expert. The image below is what is being sold as a true Julii, would like some confirmation before I shell out cash for these cute little buggers. Thank you!

I would say that’s a true Julii. The false julii’s, Corydoras trilineatus, have a more defined line on their sides and a more combined pattern. Like this


Edit: ok I guess all I can say is that it’s not a false julii

Neither is C. Julii. I am on my phone, tomorrow I will provide more.

The true Julii has spots not lines that are joined to each other.

SomethingsFishy24 said:

With much confusion on what is being sold as Julli cory cats, I need an expert. The image below is what is being sold as a true Julii, would like some confirmation before I shell out cash for these cute little buggers. Thank you!

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That is an old pic that is used over and over. The bodyshape does look like a C.julii but the reticulations make me doubt.

But it is pretty common to use wrong pics to sell different fish.

C.julii is extremely rare and not availlable in the common trade. I remember some changed of owner during a Coryconvention in the UK.

I am just going to copy my post from the other thread

Just let them all be called C. Julii, and then everyone will think they have a rare fish and will be able to tell stories to their friends about them over a bottle of wine. It really doesn't matter whether it is C. Julii or C. trilineatis does it, who really cares. If you want to call your fish a Julii catfish, go for it

Thank you everyone for your advise, input, opinion! I was curious, I was scrolling through the Cory section in search of more Sterbas to add to my current Sterba school, saw these True Julli for sale and just wondered if it was worth the price tag.

Corydoras julii is one of four very similarly-patterned corys that are frequently confused and will often be seen in stores under incorrect names. Corydoras julii, C. leopardus, C. punctatus and C. trilineatus all share a large black blotch in the dorsal fin, a barred caudal fin, and a horizontal stripe along the body at the juncture of the dorsal and ventral lateral plates; the body is spotted. However, all these species are highly variable in their pattern, and the horizontal stripe may be absent in C. julii.

The subject species is quite rare in the hobby, since it occurs in rivers and areas that are generally not heavily-fished commercially and is therefore seldom exported; the few times it does appear it has probably been collected in the Rio Para which is regularly fished. The "Julii" cory most often seen in stores is more likely to be C. trilineatus. The true C. julii has a spotted pattern on the head and body, and the lateral stripe is either not present or extends only midway along the body. C. julii is also somewhat smaller and more compact-looking in size than C. trilineatus.

The photo attached is, so far as I know, reliably one of this species.

All of the pictures in this thread I've seen as C. julii going back to at least 1967. Evidently a lot of confusion and misidentification for some time.

SomethingsFishy24 said:

Thank you everyone for your advise, input, opinion! I was curious, I was scrolling through the Cory section in search of more Sterbas to add to my current Sterba school, saw these True Julli for sale and just wondered if it was worth the price tag.

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I have both a Julii (or whatever it really is) and a Sterba, left over from previous stock and they are inseperable. The Julii follows the Sterba around as if it had string attached to it. Constantly doing mating dances, both of them, so I guess as far as the Julii is concerned it's actually a Sterba. Especially since It just didn't gel with other Julii's when I removed it from the Sterba tank and put it in with 4 other Julii. It was remote and lonely. As soon as I put it back in with the Sterba out of sympathy it perked right up and got on with mating dances. So far nothing has resulted from this, but time will tell.
Whatever you have, true Julii or false they are lovely fish, full of charm and life.

Byron said:

Corydoras julii is one of four very similarly-patterned corys that are frequently confused and will often be seen in stores under incorrect names. Corydoras julii, C. leopardus, C. punctatus and C. trilineatus all share a large black blotch in the dorsal fin, a barred caudal fin, and a horizontal stripe along the body at the juncture of the dorsal and ventral lateral plates; the body is spotted. However, all these species are highly variable in their pattern, and the horizontal stripe may be absent in C. julii.

The subject species is quite rare in the hobby, since it occurs in rivers and areas that are generally not heavily-fished commercially and is therefore seldom exported; the few times it does appear it has probably been collected in the Rio Para which is regularly fished. The "Julii" cory most often seen in stores is more likely to be C. trilineatus. The true C. julii has a spotted pattern on the head and body, and the lateral stripe is either not present or extends only midway along the body. C. julii is also somewhat smaller and more compact-looking in size than C. trilineatus.

The photo attached is, so far as I know, reliably one of this species.

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And don't forget C102 and C.gomezi hahahaha.

C.punctatus lacks the stripe, C.julii shows a stripe to me but not the three stripes often seen in C.trilineatus to which this name refers to.

The confusion comes from older hobby sources thinking all patterned Corys of that type were julii. Then that evolved into a trade name for a grab bag of species. The same thing happened to jewel Cichlids, where hobbyists think they have Hemichromis bimaculatus, when they don't, or even worse for kribs, where P. pulcher is sold as the krib based on an old mistake, while P kribensis is a totally different, very beautiful smaller fish.

For the fish business, @itiwhetu 's post sums up the approach. It doesn't mater if you're going to keep it and not breed it. But if you become a Cory breeder, knowing what you have suddenly matters, if you have any interest in maintaining diversity.

GaryE said:

The confusion comes from older hobby sources thinking all patterned Corys of that type were julii. Then that evolved into a trade name for a grab bag of species. The same thing happened to jewel Cichlids, where hobbyists think they have Hemichromis bimaculatus, when they don't, or even worse for kribs, where P. pulcher is sold as the krib based on an old mistake, while P kribensis is a totally different, very beautiful smaller fish.

For the fish business, @itiwhetu 's post sums up the approach. It doesn't mater if you're going to keep it and not breed it. But if you become a Cory breeder, knowing what you have suddenly matters, if you have any interest in maintaining diversity.

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Though I don't breed Corys I want to know what species I am keeping. The scientific names weren't only given for breeding reasons were they ? Otherwise we could have called all fish guppies in my opinion.

DoubleDutch said:

Though I don't breed Corys I want to know what species I am keeping. The scientific names weren't only given for breeding reasons were they ? Otherwise we could have called all fish guppies in my opinion.

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I'm a nerd with a more scientific interest in my fish, so I will go to great lengths to identify them. But it seems I'm in the minority caring about such things, and most hobbyists don't want to know the real name of a fish. They're happy with trade names, as @itiwhetu reflects. The fact I would care very much if I had C. julii or trilineatus doesn't apply to everyone. I find species diversity and evolutionary connections really interesting, but there are lots of people here who can't even accept evolution is real and don't care about species in the least. I have learned that I can't change their minds, though I'll keep trying.
But if for some semi-predictable reason one of these Corydoras because endangered or extinct, then not knowing what you had in your tanks would hurt. And distributing your fish under a false name could destroy breeding programs and help the hobby extinction of a species. That's where it goes beyond whether we're interested in the science and natural history of our fish or not. It's why I'd expect a more serious standard from a breeder than from some keeping fish as ornamentals.