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ne of the nicest looking Cory's to grace the hobby even although it has been around for many years is this months chosen factsheet (April 2006) and it abounds in its common name of the "Green-Gold Corydoras". It is of course now, Osteogaster melanotaenia.

Osteogaster melanotaenia

This species on first sight could be misconstrued as Osteogaster aenea but the longer overall body shape and the yellow/ochre fins tell them apart. They used to be a common sight in aquatic shops up and down the country but the last few years they have been very thin on the ground and as such should be snapped up if seen in your local LFS.

The green body colouration really abounds when they are in good condition and in breeding mode.

The original type locality of Tolimais in Colombia, Honda Province in the Río Magdalena basin, is doubtful as collectors have been unable to find this species there. However, collections are made from the Río Meta basin.

Green-Gold Corydoras

Corydoras melanotaenia

Corydoradinae

South America: Colombia; Meta River basin. Type locality: Honda, Río Meta system, Colombia.

Male: 5.5cm (2¼ins) Female: 6.0cm (2½ins)

22-26°C (71-79°F)

Typical Corydoras body shape with a short and compact head.

This is akin to most of this genus, very peaceful, and would be best housed with small to medium tank mates such as Tetras, Rasboras and Danios or in a species tank for breeding purposes.

Not one of the easiest Cory's to breed but will spawn as per the genus. They will lay up to 150 eggs and the larvae will hatch after 5 days. Mark Bryson from Paisley, Scotland has been successful with this species, read his article here.

A good quality flake food and tablet food for adults with sparodic feedings of frozen or live food will keep your Corydoras in good health. Feeding the fry after they use up their yolk-sac with brine shrimp naupli, microworm and fry flake food.

Osteogaster: ostéon, bone; gast, belly, referring to coracoid bones of Osteogaster eques, which, unlike those of Gastrodermus elegans, enclose the ventral region.
melanotaenia: From the Greek melan = 'black' and the Latin taenia = ribbon, fillet , tapeworm.

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.
Fuller, I.A.M. & Evers, H-G: 2005 Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish 384 p.
Hans A Baensch and Dr Rudiger Riel, Baensch Aquarium Atlas 2
Seuss, Werner; Corydoras The most popular armoured catfishes of South America; Dähne Verlag; p.126.
www. corydorasworld.com

Photo Credits

© Allan James @