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Danny Blundell (1) Allan James (2) Jonas Hansel (3) Chris Ralph (1) Graham Ramsay (1) Joost Schuitemaker (1) Reinhold Wawrzynski (1) Yann Fulliquet (2) Alan Pinkerton (1) John Bradley (1)

A must have species if you are a keen Corydoras keeper. Females grow larger than the males. Lineage: Placed in Lineage 4 which includes two of the dwarf species and a revison would be a resurrection of the disused Microcorydoras (Myers, 1953) with the designated type species: C. hastatus. As of the latest update Corydoras pygmaeus has now been placed in Lineage 5 and has the new genus name of Gastrodermus (2024). Aquarium Care: Will do best in a small species only tank or kept with small tankmates such as small tetras and dwarf rasboras. G. pygmaeus is a bit like G. hastatus in that it likes to shoal in midwater and as such should be kept in a group of at least six. Substrate can be of fine sand and plants such as java moss and java fern can be used alongside rockwork for further effect. If kept in a species tank for breeding, a fine substrate, java moss and a sponge filter would suffice with weekly 50% water changes to keep the water pure. Diet: Small foods such as microworm, grindal worm, good quality flake and tablets. Frozen foods such as small bloodworm. Etymology: The specific name pygmaeus: From the Latin pygmaeus = 'dwarf', alluding to its small size. Remarks: Still found on some online sources as Corydoras pygmaeus.

Pygmy Cory

Corydoras pygmaeus

Callichthyidae

Brazil: Tributaries of the Rio Madeira, near Calama. Ecuador, Tributaries of  the Rio Aguarico. Peru, Rio Nanay, west  of the city of Iquitos. Type locality: einem Nebenfluß des Rio Madeira (Brasilien).

Male: 2.5cm (1ins) Female: 3.0cm (1¼ins)

22-26°C (71-79°F)

6.0-7.2.

Alexandrou, Markos & Taylor, Martin. (2011). Evolution, ecology and taxonomy of the Corydoradinae revisited.
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.
Ian A. M. Fuller & Hans-Georg Evers (2011). Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish Supplement 1. Ian Fuller Enterprises.
ScotCat Factsheet no. 157. July 2009.