Hrm... Undulatus mistaken for bronze?

[OohFeeshy]

Wheyhey, my 18gs cycled so I went off to get some bronze cories. Had some rarer ones there, can't remember the names (darn latin... darn memory), but I eventually found the bronze cories. I got 6 as they couldn't sex them so hopefulkly I've got a few breeding pairs. Anyways, I was wondering what the markings are usually like on the body of bronze cories, as there is one that looks slightly iffy... I'll try and get a pic when they're sitting still.

OK, look at my last post with the edited bit.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi OohFeeshy

Congratulations on the new bronze corys. I just know you will enjoy having them.

Bronzes are usually a sort of gray with an irridescent sheen. Depending on the way the light hits them, they can show a variety of subtle colors. While they might look a little plain compared to some of the ones with more vivid markings, they are amazingly beautiful if you take the trouble to really look closely at them. Some do have darker coloring along their sides than others.

I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures of them!

 

[OohFeeshy]

The odd one seems a bit of an outsidre too, while the others were snuggled up in the plants he was on the other side of the tank on the filter. Its probably another common species, I'm just not that good at IDing them. The best way I can desciribe it is that it has 3 horizontal black bars with the top two kind of 'joined together' with black dots. God, its like playing 20 questions...

Okely dokely, from planet catfish it looks most like...
Corydoras undulatus

Hrm... The females look a lot like bronze cories. The ones I bought weren't bronze deffo either, they had no label on. The plot thickens... But anyway, it looks a lot like- http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/calli...ydora/509_5.php
Anything that looks similar? I want to get it some friends of its own if hes the odd one out

UPDATE- After a close (and I mean very close) look last night, I have found that there are two that look like they are male undulatus. Apart from the colour, are females broader than the males? Because all of the more 'bronze' ones are quite stocky... Are these easy to breed?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi OohFeeshy

OK, first things first. All female corys are wider than the males; that's the best way to tell them apart. Depending on what species they are, they are often longer and just generally bigger too. The easiest way to see the difference is to look down on them from the top of the tank.

But if some of your fish look like the one in the picture, they are definitely not bronze C. aeneus.

The bronze corys seem to be hard fish to photograph, because while I have looked through my favorites list trying to find a good picture of a "typical" one, I haven't had much luck finding one. The problem seems to be that the camera picks up the subtle colors and shows them so much more bright and vivid that they appear in many cases to be markings.

If you ignore the reflection at the top of the fish in this picture it will give you a better idea of what an actual bronze looks like:

http/www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/B...d=6223&cid=3680

It should be a soft gray with a lighter underside. Here's another picture, but it is a long tailed variety:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/calli...rydora/51_3.php

Bronze corys spawn readily and are one of the best fish for someone just starting to breed egglayers. If this might be your plans, you might want to exchange the ones you are not sure about and make your school all the bronze corys.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Rightyo. Thanks inch I'm pretty sure they are all C. Undulatus, as I said all the more 'bronzy' ones are larger. There are either 2 or 3 males, theres one I'm not entirely sure about. I think I'll keep them, they are grouping together a lot more now. I've found (after a brief look on Google) an account of spawning, so I might give tham a go in a few weeks once they are well settled in. If they don't spawn, it doesn't matter that much. If they do, and I'm sure they are undulatus, then I'll be very happy

 

[kevin007]

undalutus...that's a rare species where i live..could it be that you have mistakened them with corydoras elegans? check those out..look kinda similar (i have those myself)

 

[OohFeeshy]

I had a look at elegans, kinda similar but mine don't have the stripy dorsal that elegans have. The lfs I got them from had a couple of other rarer species of cory, so its entirely possible the bronze were in another tank and I happened to get v. cheap rare ones . I'll try and get a decent photo of a male and a female (at least what I think are) then we shall see.

EDIT- I first came to C. undulatus with this- http/www.nettaigyo.com/corydoras/encyc/index-e.html
Then I looked it up on planet catfish.

EDIT EDIT- Also mine have 'spotty' heads which bronze doesn't have...

 

[Ben]

this is a pic of a normal bronze i got from a lfs,just to make sure

except for the green on its gill, that how it looks in real life

DD

 

[OohFeeshy]

OK then... A few summaries.
1. At least two are definately not bronze. There is one I'm not sure about.
2. The ones that are not bronze look most like Undulatus.
3. The ones that look more 'bronzy' are larger than the ones that are not.
4. The female Undulatus look a lot like bronze.
5. They all group together well.
6. The shop had other rarer cories, so if they are from the same breeder it's not impossible for them to be undulatus.
7. They were in a tank together (all 6) and there was another tank that looked like it had bronzes in.

So in short, they're very likely to be Undulatus. Yey

 

[OohFeeshy]

I'll just go over the spawning plan for them then. What ratio should I put in the 3g? I've got about 2 males and 4 females. So once they're in there, I'll condition them for a weekish (should I just put the females in there then?) then add a male and do a cool water change. I've got bbs eggs and can get glassworms, daphnia and larger brine shrimp (these will be too big for the fry so I might as well condition the parents on them) so food should be OK. But I can probably get liquifry and MW.