SCOTCAT.COM  

Julian Dignall (3) Dennis Barrett (2) Danny Blundell (3) Johnny Jensen's Photographic Library (2) Malik King (1)

An old favourite in the hobby and has been bred numerous times. See article. Males have more colourful markings than the females and also have three black bands in the dorsal fin. Lineage: Placed in Lineage 5 and a revision and the resurrection of the genus name Gastrodermus Cope, 1878 has now finely occurred (2024). G. elegans is the type species for Gastrodermus. Aquarium Care: This is akin to most of this genus, very peaceful, and would be best housed with small to medium sized tank mates such as Tetras, Rasboras and Danios or in a species tank for breeding purposes. Best to purchase 6 individuals or more as they will be happier in a group. Diet: Readily accepts a mixed and varied diet which includes granular foods, tablet food, frozen bloodworm and good quality flake to name but a few. Etymology: The genus name Gastrodermus: The lining membrane of the alimentary tract of an invertebrate, used especially when the germ-layer origin is obscure. The specific name elegans: Elegant, or nice. Remarks: There are a few different forms of this species and one of them was described by Holly in 1940 as Corydoras pestai. This is now a synonym of G. elegans but there is a train of thought that this species (G. pestai) may be valid and has been treated as so in Isbrücker (2001b: 232). Still found on some online sources as Corydoras elegans.

Elegant Corydoras

Corydoras pestai, Corydoras elegans

Callichthyidae

South America: Upper Amazon River basin.Type locality: Teffé, Brazil.

5.0cm (2ins) Male; 5.5cm (2¼ins) Female.

23-25°C (73-77°F)

6.0-7.2.

Angelica C Dias, Luiz F C Tencatt, Fabio F Roxo, Gabriel de Souza da Costa Silva, Sérgio A Santos, Marcelo R Britto, Martin I Taylor, Claudio Oliveira, Phylogenomic analyses in the complex Neotropical subfamily Corydoradinae (Siluriformes: Callichthyidae) with a new classification based on morphological and molecular data, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2024;, zlae053.
Ferraris, C.J. Jr., 2007. Checklist of catfishes, recent and fossil (Osteichthyes: Siluriformes), and catalogue of siluriform primary types. Zootaxa 1418:1-628.
Fuller, Ian A.M. & Evers, Hans-Georg: Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish. 2005. 384 p.