Julii Or Trilineatus

[fionah]

Hello, I bought these as julii corydoras for £3.95 each, but I'm wondering if they are actually trilineatus. Can anyone confirm either way?

Also, is it possible to tell the sex of them from these pictures?

 

[Chris5787]

Trilineatus 100%. Same thing happened to me when I tried to purchase jullii i got these.

 

[Colin_T]

I thought trilineatus and julii are the same fish but different names are used in different books.
To sex corys look at them from above. The females are wider than the males.

 

[Azaezl]

I thought trilineatus and julii are the same fish but different names are used in different books.

If I remember rightly trilis & jullis are from different areas, fish collectors predominantely fish from the trillis area and rarely get fish from the julli area, but the odd julli does sometimes end up in the trili area. Jullis have spots, trilis have small reticulated lines, also the central line on a julli is usually broken and only reaches about half way down the body wheras on a trilli it's goes all the way to the tail. I think you can sometimes get trillis with spots(but it's not very common), so it really boils down to where they were captured. The corys in the picture as already stated are 100% definately trilineatus.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

I thought trilineatus and julii are the same fish but different names are used in different books.

If I remember rightly trilis & jullis are from different areas, fish collectors predominantely fish from the trillis area and rarely get fish from the julli area, but the odd julli does sometimes end up in the trili area. Jullis have spots, trilis have small reticulated lines, also the central line on a julli is usually broken and only reaches about half way down the body wheras on a trilli it's goes all the way to the tail. I think you can sometimes get trillis with spots(but it's not very common), so it really boils down to where they were captured. The corys in the picture as already stated are 100% definately trilineatus.

100% correct

 

[jollysue]

The only way to tell a julii for sure is to know the capturers and where they caught the fish. And since the folks who capture are not always straight on the subject but give names to their fish that will get the best price, it is almost impossible to verify a julii. As best as I have understood, the variations are so broad in the two species that the overlap is huge. Fish sold to lps are notoriously missnamed. You are forunate not to have a C. leucomelas sold as a julii. Well, actually C. leucomelas is a delightful creature, but you get the drift.

I think the next ruse is selling peppers as longipinnus. I have no doubt it is happening.

I understand that they are not the same species.

I have a group of fish that the importer swears are juliis. He has been to the source of the capture and rewards his people well. But I would not be able to prove it anymore than he can. I am satisfied that he is telling the truth and did the best he could to verify the fish and it's capture. And they are darlin fish as I hear the trilis are.

Enjoy them!

 

[geo7x]

I do find that there are differences in appearance between c.julii and c.trilineatus, as the markings of c.trilineatus appear to be much darker in contrast with the paler body, and the 'spots' generally appear as lines. C.julii on the other hand, seem to have paler, browner markings on a more 'off white' body, with a "shorter mid body stripe" (Quoted from Planet Catfish).

Just look at the difference:

C.julii: http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=187

C.trilineatus: http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=994

Although according to Planet Catfish there appears to be a 'spotted variety' of c.trilineatus which are admittedly very similar to julii, but I think the longer horizontal stripe gives it away: http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=4825

(Looking at that I think one or two of my trilis may be the spotted form )

At the end of the day, if you get a catfish labelled as c.julii in your lfs there is a 99.9999999999% chance that it is really c.trilineatus. The only way to even have a hope of getting hold of true c.julii is through a specialised importer of corydoras catfish or a very very very specialised catfish/corydoras fish shop.

 

[jollysue]

My response on the wide overlap was from Ian Fuller and Frank Falcone's attempt to educate me. In the end it seemed that what I ended up with was that while there is the "standard" trili and julii, the only way to know a julii for sure was to know the place of capture--unless I misunderstood.

But it is no doubt that anyone who knows that they have verifiable juliis will not be selling them in the lps.

Link to quote by Ian Fuller

Quote
Coryman

Group: Members
Posts: 177
Joined: 28-August 06
From: Kidderminster, Worc's. UK
Member No.: 24242



Just a word on trilineatus and julii and without casting any doubt on anyone's identification capabilities, unless the actual collecting site is known. i.e. the river from which the fish were caught it is impossible to state that the fish called C. julii are actually that species. The colour patterns of both species is variable with spotted and wavy streaked patterns showing up, the variability is probably more prominent in C. trilineatus.

Most if not all SA exporters purport to have C. julii and because none report where the fish have been collected from any true identification is impossible. I certainly would not put money on an id from pictures no matter how close to type they look.
Ian

 

[razberri]

OK, I'm confused.

What the hell do I have? Supposed "Julii", they have mostly spots, some of which form patters. The lateral stripe extends the whole way but is sparser towards the front half - but it is composed of very distinct SPOTS, not LINES. Is there another species it could be? Not trilineatum or julii but something in between??

 

[lljdma06]

OK, I'm confused.

So am I.



I'm not really confused, I just found it very amusing.

I agree about peppers being sold as longipinnus. That is so going to happen.

 

[rhostog]

I have trilineatus - when I got them as immature fish, they had distinct spots, and a broken line down the side, but as they've grown, the spots have joined up into lines and reticulations, and the line down the side has become more or less continuous. But they are different enough that we can easily tell them apart, so there seems to be a lot of variation between individuals. Perhaps razberri you might have young trilineatus?

They're really cute anyway - I think my favourites of my fish .

 

[Coryologist]

OK, I'm confused.

So am I.



I'm not really confused, I just found it very amusing.

I agree about peppers being sold as longipinnus. That is so going to happen.

Well, I will be the first to admit that I inadvertently sold more than one group of a C. paleatus variant as C. longipinnis. I bought my breeders under that name, I had nothing to compare them to and they were markedly different than any C. paleatus I had seen previously. Upon having my fish ID's as NOT being the real McCoy, I refunded the money of all those who bought these fish from me. There was no intent to deceive anyone. These are uncharted waters and I'm nowhere near the "expert" that people make me out to be. I am quite capable of making mistakes and prove that on a daily basis.

I now have "true" C. longipinnis, that have been seen in my fish room by Ian Fuller and are from a very reputable breeder. Now that I have the fish side-by-side, the differences are obvious, but again, I had no point of reference. I have advised all who bought the mis-ID'd fish from me, that they will have first crack at any fry I am fortunate enough to obtain through breeding.

I have apologized for my error and have done all I can, to make amends. - Frank

 

[lljdma06]

OK, I'm confused.

So am I.



I'm not really confused, I just found it very amusing.

I agree about peppers being sold as longipinnus. That is so going to happen.

Well, I will be the first to admit that I inadvertently sold more than one group of a C. paleatus variant as C. longipinnis. I bought my breeders under that name, I had nothing to compare them to and they were markedly different than any C. paleatus I had seen previously. Upon having my fish ID's as NOT being the real McCoy, I refunded the money of all those who bought these fish from me. There was no intent to deceive anyone. These are uncharted waters and I'm nowhere near the "expert" that people make me out to be. I am quite capable of making mistakes and prove that on a daily basis.

I now have "true" C. longipinnis, that have been seen in my fish room by Ian Fuller and are from a very reputable breeder. Now that I have the fish side-by-side, the differences are obvious, but again, I had no point of reference. I have advised all who bought the mis-ID'd fish from me, that they will have first crack at any fry I am fortunate enough to obtain through breeding.

I have apologized for my error and have done all I can, to make amends. - Frank

No worries, things like this can happen over at cyprinids too. I keep Boraras species and sometimes it is really hard to tell one from the other. Especially when they just come out of shipping. At that stage, everyone's a tiny grey-pink fish. Wait a day or two, and then you end up with a completely different species than what you thought you had. It is especially difficult when even sources aren't positive about the id. Same thing when dealing with plants.

I'm sure it's not as bad as some corydoras species, though. To me, the longipinnus look just like a wierdo longer-finned peleatus, but not a real long-finned peleatus (those look different), and C. trilineatus looks a lot like julli to me, but not quite. It's hard to tell and honest mistakes can happen. There is no need to apologize.

See, this is why I like my dwarf corydoras, I can easily tell them apart. I'm too old to play guessing games.

I do have a triliniatus, though. At least I think it is...

 

[OldMan47]

It's amazingly easy to tell a pygmaeus from a hastatus but my lfs has pygmaeus marked as hastatus. I gave up trying to tell them the one with the spot at the base of the tail is hastatus and the one with the long stripe down its side was pygmaeus but they didn't want to hear it. At least they had their habrosus marked correctly.

 

[lljdma06]

It's amazingly easy to tell a pygmaeus from a hastatus but my lfs has pygmaeus marked as hastatus. I gave up trying to tell them the one with the spot at the base of the tail is hastatus and the one with the long stripe down its side was pygmaeus but they didn't want to hear it. At least they had their habrosus marked correctly.

Funny, online vendors do this too. The pygmies I had originally received, were labeled as hastatus when they were, infact, pygmaeus. However, like I said with the Boraras, when you first get them, little pale grey fish moving fast all look the same, but once they color up, the differences are obvious.