Taking a punt on a cory ID

[Gypsum]

A couple weeks ago, I picked up some corys from the LFS labeled as C. virginae. They are definitely not C. virginae. I posted photos on the Corydoras World FB page, and Ian Fuller himself said that he didn't have a clue. Doesn't bode well for anyone else, but thought I'd post on here anyway. Maybe someone recognises this fish?

My best guess is C157 but I'm not sure (the one in the middle of the top photo...I know what the other two are!).

 

[connorlindeman]

Agassiz's corydoras. Its a cool fish!

 

[connorlindeman]

Corydoras agassizii – Spotted Cory — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[DoubleDutch]

Yeah my guess would be C.agassizii but could be C.ambiacus as well.
Both fish show several different appearances / patterns.

 

[GaryE]

I wouldn't be confident identifying it without knowing where it came from, and even then, it would take some work. If it came as virginae someone thought they had something you don't see every day...

 

[Gypsum]

We've been in contact with our LFS owner. She's pretty switched on about corys, so I was surprised that these were misidentified as virginae. She said that virginae had previously been in that tank, and they hadn't gotten around to changing the label (whoops... it's very much a mom-and-pop operation!). She didn't have a clue what these were, either, but says she's working on it. Her daughter, who is less of a cory geek than her mum, was running the shop when we bought them and she didn't question the label.

We're going in tomorrow to collect some more CW045s. If the owner is there, I'll ask if she knows where they were collected from.

 

[Byron]

@Gypsum did Ian give any indication as to why he was unable to ID this cory? With no disrespect to other members' suggestions, something as obvious as C. agassizzi seems unlikely under the circumstances. There are several species with a very similar patterning. C. delphax is another that comes to mind as I had that species back in the 1990's.

As another member mentioned, knowing the source (in SA) is important. And if that data is available, then the supplier should have the probable name on the invoice, can the store check this?

 

[Gypsum]

All Ian said was, "Will need a bit of research to sort this one." That was a couple weeks ago.

I was at the LFS today. The owner doesn't think they're agassizis, and she knows her corys. If neither she nor Ian think that's the right species, then it probably isn't. Unfortunately, she has no idea where the fish were collected from. Said she got them from a wholesaler in Glasgow (which was unusual for her; she normally gets her fish direct from the importers), and the wholesaler has no clue where the fish came from. Wonder if they were part of a bycatch, and there have now been too many people in the chain to trace them.