Bearded Cory (Corydoras barbatus)

Common Name:

Bearded Cory.

Scientific Name:

Corydoras barbatus.

Family:

Callichthyidae.

Sub-Family:

Corydoradinae.

Distribution:

SE Brazil between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Size:

Approx 4.75 inches in the wild, 3.25 inches in the aquarium.

Diet:

They feed well on microworms, crustaceans and insects in the wild. They'll take live foods in captivity as well as standard prepared foods for armoured cats.

Water Temperature:

82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius) for maintenance, 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24degrees Celsius) for breeding.

Water Chemistry:

Moderately hard water (dH about 18).

pH:

Ideally 6.5-7.5 (They prefer slightly acidic to Neutral water). Like many fish which are tank bred, they can be acclimatized to a ph slightly outside this range if carried out slowly and carefully.

Life Span:

Potentially 10 years but 2-5 is much more common.

Description:

These are the least "Cory-like" of the Corydoras catfish.

These are long, streamlined cories with a copper backdrop. There are brown swirls throughout (though they are rare on the ventral surface of the fish). A thick broken black stripe separates the brown swirls from the golden belly. Every fin is clear or almost completely so with black dotting. Some have first rays which are tan coloured with brown speckles. A few large black spots exist near the vents.

Behaviour:

They dig in search for food and will bury themselves on occasion.

These are peaceful shoaling fish. While they have been implicated in the deaths of tank mates, it has been said that if a Cory is seen snacking on a tank mate, one can rest assured that the Cories didn't kill it.

They need a shoal of 6+ conspecifics in order to feel comfortable in their surroundings and in order for you to see the range of corydoradine interactions.

Important to note. Cories sense food by smell more often than by sight. This is important for two reasons. For one, they need to have the barbels remain relatively intact, as these are their olfactory sensors. And, secondly, a Cory that won't eat when it is immediately chow time may not know that such is the case. I have seen many a time when a Cory can have pellets dropped almost literally on top of them and not find it until ten minutes later after taking a circuitous route reminiscent of the most convoluted Bil Keane comic.

Cories will dash to the top to take gulps of air, though they should not be doing this on a frequent basis. One of the first signs that a water change is overdue is the Cories taking disproportionate top runs.
They will also feed at the top if they discover that their tank mates do that and pick up on cues that this is the day's method of feeding.

Cories have the ability to segregate themselves into conspecific groups even though humans may not be able to tell them apart.

Sexing:

Males have a very long black first ray of their pectoral fin. They also have bristles on the edge of their head.

Breeding:

A lowering of temperature and barometric pressure, when done in conjunction with water changes, may very well induce spawning. Another trick is the feeding of live foods, especially Tubifex and finely chopped earthworms. A ratio of about one male to one female (perhaps with a few more females than males) and at least five of each sex is good for spawning (though some spawning have taken place with fewer than five of each).

Unlike other cories, the females take charge of the spawning ritual. They also swim back and forth much more than their other congeners.

Between spawning bouts, the males and females will swim about in the middle layers of the water and the males will place themselves in the classic cory "T-position".

Once the sperm is released, the female rests on one pectoral fin and fans the sperm (in order to distribute it over the eggs) with the other. Hopefully she can direct the sperm to the pelvic fin "basket", where she is holding her newly released eggs.

The eggs are fastened in bunches of three or four near the surface and approximately 60 are laid in a 12-15 hour time period.

The eggs take five days to hatch and the fry use up their yolk sacs within two days. Frozen rotifers are recommended as a first food and they can eat brine shrimp nauplii within two weeks.

Miscellaneous:

It is truly easier to have success with cories if they are not treated as scavengers but as community inhabitants of their own right.

Two failed attempts at naming C. barbatus took place in 1907: Ihering tried to name it C. eigenmanni and Miranda-Ribeiro tried to describe it as C. kronei. The original combination, Callichthys barbatus, was first described in 1824 by Quoy & Gaimard.