These Are Really Tiny Fish

[OldMan47]

I may have been too dead pan with the sarcasm but I was trying to say to stop thinking of habrosus as bottom dwellers. They are delightful and in my tanks they swim all over the tank. I don't see them hover in the middle regions but they swim actively through that part constantly. They also perch on plant leaves and tank decorations. I love these guys but they were all hiding in a corner of a tank when I bought them. They were just in a tank where the other fish were big enough to scare them. Now that they have only other fish their size in the tank they are a riot to watch and hold still for nothing at all. No way I'll ever get a clear picture of them.

 

[Cory_Dad]

and hold still for nothing at all. No way I'll ever get a clear picture of them.

Well, you can always do what some collectors do, dump cyanide into the water... DON'T YOU DARE!!!!!

 

[OldMan47]

I won't go there with mine Cory_Dad. I actually like my habrosus enough that the LFS no longer has any. My endler tanks have all that they had in stock.

 

[lljdma06]

I may have been too dead pan with the sarcasm but I was trying to say to stop thinking of habrosus as bottom dwellers. They are delightful and in my tanks they swim all over the tank. I don't see them hover in the middle regions but they swim actively through that part constantly. They also perch on plant leaves and tank decorations. I love these guys but they were all hiding in a corner of a tank when I bought them. They were just in a tank where the other fish were big enough to scare them. Now that they have only other fish their size in the tank they are a riot to watch and hold still for nothing at all. No way I'll ever get a clear picture of them.

I understand what you are saying, but while C. habrosus could swim in all of the levels of the aquarium, if you look closely at the mouth, you will notice that it is distinctly down-turned, which usually implies that they have adapted to feed at the substrate level. The mouth of C. pygmaeus is shaped quite differently, and is more strait. I fed them BBS, yesterday, which they loved, and there was two distinct feeding types. C. habrosus scoured the bottom looking for BBS that were trapped in the bottom. Some, though were smart enough to realize that the syringe had the brine shrimp and they were literally waiting in line to be sqirted. They also preferred that I squirted BBS directly on to the substrate. On the other hand, the C. pygmaeus, in addition to looking at the substrate, were catching BBS in the mid-levels and upper levels of the tank, and overall had an easier time feeding. I'm sorry, I'm probably beating a dead horse, but whether or not it moves throughout the tank, I still consider C. habrosus primarily a bottom dweller. It's body and feeding habits are designed for that type of living. Of the three primary "dwarf" species, C. habrosus is more typical corydora than either C. hastatus or C. pygmaeus. We can agree to disagree and I think I've brought up enough points to argue my view. Do you have any pictures of your C. habrosus?

llj

PS: I'm starting to see some serious male vs. female differences! I have several fish that are especially fat, so this is a good sign that things are going well. It looks like I'll have good sex ratios when I start breeding both species.

 

[OldMan47]

If you are seeing distinct differences, it sounds like they are coming into condition. Do you have a good population of both males and females for when they decide to breed for you? That could put an end to any discussion about the proper place of habrosus. I will not disagree with your points, they are built as if they belonged on a tank bottom but mine just won't stay there.
I have never been ablee to get good pictures of my habrosus. I'm just glad my camera is a digital or I'd have wasted a fortune by now with trying to get those pictures.

 

[lljdma06]

If you are seeing distinct differences, it sounds like they are coming into condition. Do you have a good population of both males and females for when they decide to breed for you? That could put an end to any discussion about the proper place of habrosus. I will not disagree with your points, they are built as if they belonged on a tank bottom but mine just won't stay there.
I have never been ablee to get good pictures of my habrosus. I'm just glad my camera is a digital or I'd have wasted a fortune by now with trying to get those pictures.

Right now, I have about 8 habrosus. I know I have at least 1-3 female, but some of them are still small, and possibly not mature enough yet. They are growing, though. I'd like to get 2-4 more habrosus in general, but until I know what the sex ratios for this group are, I'm putting that off. The breeding tank will be a 10g planted tank with a shallow sand substrate over a thin layer of gravel mixed with laterite. This isn't breeding for commercial purposes, so I'd rather have a tank that will satisfy breeding habits for multiple species, with only minor tweaks to the setup, and still be pleasing to the eye. A planted tank was the setup when I bred cherry barbs and kribs, and while my survival rate was lower than normal, I had the luxury of not having to feed the young fry as microrganisms abound in such tanks, and the fish that did survive are very robust. Believe me, I still ended up raising enough fry to more than satisfy any stocking needs that I had. With a planted tank, I can also later introduce larger live foods without the problems of ammonia and nitrate build-up, which are readily consumed by plants. I have larger display tanks that are being used to condition the adults. It's sort of a marriage between form and function.

llj

 

[Gill]

ooooh didn't realise you had these, they are great fun to wach aren't they. swimming around in ickle groups.
Love how fat the females get, they can't even rest properly and keep rocking on the pectoral back and forth adn then try to stay in one place by hovering. but as they are so full of eggs its Hilariuos.

 

[Amerce]

I've habrosus as well as pygmaeus and aspidoras and whilst they are small they are voracious eaters and will eat food you would think was too big for them.

Mine get lots of protein from Grindal, Whiteworm and also bloodworm. If I have brineshrimp they get that after all the fry have been fed, but will also take veggie tabs and anything sitting on the bottom of the tank.

I've actually managed to spawn the pygmaeus by accident one time but lost the fry after a week when I did a water change (water wasn't mature enough), I was absolutely gutted as this was a first for me and they were tiny I only just spotted them at the bottom of the tank

 

[lljdma06]

ooooh didn't realise you had these, they are great fun to wach aren't they. swimming around in ickle groups.
Love how fat the females get, they can't even rest properly and keep rocking on the pectoral back and forth adn then try to stay in one place by hovering. but as they are so full of eggs its Hilariuos.

Yeah, they are a recent find about a month or so ago, can't remember. I've got a female who's that way now. She's quite the porker. She's lovely, though, and as big as the largest habrosus. Hopefully, she'll become my big breeder.

I've habrosus as well as pygmaeus and aspidoras and whilst they are small they are voracious eaters and will eat food you would think was too big for them.

Mine get lots of protein from Grindal, Whiteworm and also bloodworm. If I have brineshrimp they get that after all the fry have been fed, but will also take veggie tabs and anything sitting on the bottom of the tank.

I've actually managed to spawn the pygmaeus by accident one time but lost the fry after a week when I did a water change (water wasn't mature enough), I was absolutely gutted as this was a first for me and they were tiny I only just spotted them at the bottom of the tank

They are eating well so far. There is a local shop owner that may be able to provide me with some starter cultures. I want a food that will sink, as well as the brine shrimp, and most of the worms sink pretty well.

I'm setting up a 10g for breeding these little fish and some other small species (Boraras, Ember tetras, and galaxy rasboras when they come in). Although breeding tanks and fry tanks tend to not have substrate, I'd like to put one, as this will also be a planted tank (which I think is better for raising fry anyway. I've never used sand before and was thinking about it, as I thnk the catfish would benefit from it. Might be a pain to clean, but again, the plants would help out a great deal on this and provide very young fry with their first food. It would most likely be a thin layer of fine gravel with laterite, then topped with a thicker layer of sand, but not too thick. Any thoughts? Some substate mixing would be ok actually. I may opt for just the layer of laterite, then sand.

llj

 

[Esfa]

I was soooo close to buying 6 of these yesterday

 

[lljdma06]

I'm in the process of planning a 10g breeder for some of my nano species. I received some sand samples from a website. Two of the samples consisted of an inert sand that is basically the same as the fine grain gravel that I currently have in all my tanks, but much, much smaller. I rinsed off the two samples, a surprisingly easy process, and liked the look of them. I then thought, why not put them in my little corydora tank? I didn't swap out the original substrate, but now there is a bout 1/2 inch of the sand coating the top, and they seem to already appreciate the change. If it mixes, it isn't especially important, as they are the same exact color. I'll post pictures when the water clears up. Eventually, I'll swap out the whole substrate when I order sand for the 10g breeder.

llj

 

[Barracuda518]

Very nice fish.

I just set up a Red Cherry Shrimp tank (10 gallons) and put my 17 C. pygmaeus in it. The tank has a black sand substrate with Java Moss, Driftwood, and some Mossballs. I ordered some Indian Almond Leaves for it too. I hope they will spawn.

That sand will go to the bottom of the gravel eventually.

 

[DevUK]

I have 6 habrosus. Lovely fish to watch. I find mine root around in the sand mostly but do swim all over. I bought a single pygmaeus and single hastatus from a shop the other day as they were the last ones in the tank. They've settled in nicely and swim about with the habrosus, so my "rescue" seems to have worked out quite well

I plan to buy more pygmaeus and hastatus soon, if I can find any...

 

[jollysue]

I just recieved 25 hastatus today. Lovely creatures. It is my first try at the dwarfs since I killed 25 pygmaeus in my first attempt several years ago. But I have to read through here to see what you guys are chatting about and catch up.

 

[lljdma06]

I just recieved 25 hastatus today. Lovely creatures. It is my first try at the dwarfs since I killed 25 pygmaeus in my first attempt several years ago. But I have to read through here to see what you guys are chatting about and catch up.

Congratulations Jollysue! Eventually, I'd like to get some C. hastatus, but we'll see how I do with pygmaeus and habrosus first.

They love BBS, and are up to eating twice a day now. I fed them a little less before while they were acclimating, as I didn't want to chance fouling the water. In the morning, they get a prepared food, but when I get home from work, they'll get either live or frozen depending on my work schedule. Right now, it's live BBS or a mix of frozen daphnia and surplus BBS that I freeze in the little empty slots that cubes of frozen daphnia used to occupy. The advantage of the frozen food right now is that it sinks, making it easier to eat. I still have to turn the filters off for the live and frozen food.

The size differences between the sexes in C. pygmaeus is very large. A fat female will be almost 3x the size of a smaller male. They also have quite a color difference, the male's stripe is more defined, and their eye color is different. The fat females have lighter eyes with a clear distinction between the pupil and the iris, while a small male's will be very dark. The C. habrosus don't show such a dramatic difference, with females just being about a third larger and wider. More like a typical corydora.

Female pygmaeus

Male pygmaeus

C. habrosus and pygmaeus

Full tank shot.

Thanks for looking.