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he last month of 2006 brings another factsheet from our resident "guru" Chris Ralph and a look at a relatively new "Cory" which has only been in the hobby for the last 10 years, and is coincidental in that ScotCat will be celebrating 10 years next month also, so I will hand you over to Chris to guide you along.

Brochis seussi

Brochis seussi belongs to the family Callichthyidae from Brazil; namely the Rio Poranga a tributary of the upper Rio Negro and the Mamore River basin.

Brochis seussi prefer to be kept in water which has a pH in the range of 6.5-7.2 (although it has been known for this species to tolerate a much wider range of pH 6.0-8.0), and hardness in the range of 2.0-25.0 dGH. This catfish is ideally suited to temperatures in the range of 22-26ºC.

Brochis seussi - head view

I would suggest a minimum size of 24” x 15” X 12” for a shoal of these fascinating catfish. The preferred substrate for keeping these catfish should be good quality aquarium sand such as BD Aquarium Sand, or very smooth rounded gravel in order to prevent their barbels from being damaged. The aquarium should provide some shelter in the form of rocks, bogwood and aquatic plants. As with all other species of fish, water quality and general husbandry is very important, and I would recommend that the aquarist undertake a minimum of 25% water change on a fortnightly basis.

Remarks: Corydoras seussi is placed in Lineage 8 sub clade 4 which comprises the "intermediate long-snouts" with deeper bodies. It also includes Brochis in sub-clade 1 which was synonymised with Corydoras by Britto in 2003 but in time there will be a revision which will resurrect Brochis (Cope, 1871) to full genera again.

As of the latest revision (Dias et al 2024) Corydoras seussi has now been placed in Lineage 8 sub clade 4 and has the new genus name of Brochis.

Seuss’ Corydoras, C027

None

Corydoradinae

South America: Brazil; Mamoré River basin.

Male: 6.5cm (2½ins) Female: 7.0cm (2¾ins)

24-27°C (75-81°F)

Typical triangular Corydoras body shape with a pointed snout.

The base colour of the body is tan overlapped by a much darker coloured pigment which is slate grey/blue. The dorsolateral scutes are much darker exhibiting the slate grey/blue colour than the ventrolateral scutes which are tan coloured. The head region is overlaid with an orange to almost gold colour, which in natural sunlight is truly magnificent. The head area around the barbels and eyes is also overlaid with light coloured spots. The first rays of the dorsal, pectoral and ventral fins are orange in colour interspersed with some slate grey/blue colouration. The soft rays of the pectoral and ventral fins are orange in colour, whilst the remaining fins (dorsal, anal, adipose and caudal) are light (white) coloured with slate grey to black coloured almost stripy markings. The caudal fin has 5-6 distinct vertical black bands/stripes. In bright sunlight there is a green sheen which can be seen over the top half of the body of this catfish.

These catfish are very peaceful towards their own kind and indeed other species of Corydoras/Brochis. These catfish are ideally suited to being kept in a community aquarium environment with other non-aggressive species of fish such as tetras and dwarf cichlids. Whilst Brochis seussi are not cheap to purchase, wherever possible I would recommend that you purchase a minimum of six specimens, as they are naturally found in the wild in large shoals.

Whilst this is a species of Brochis that I am fortunate to have kept in recent years I was unable to persuade the fish to breed. Whilst there are documented records for spawning the similar coloured Hoplisoma gossei, I am not personally aware of any successful accounts for spawning Brochis seussi to date. I would however, envisage that when breeding these catfish would adopt the typical Corydoras “T” clinch when mating, which involves the female transferring sperm from the male to her eggs held in her ventral fins prior to them being laid carefully on a chosen surface. It is documented and observed that the female takes the sperm from the male into her mouth which is then passed out of her vent and on to the eggs which she holds in small numbers between her ventral fins.

As with all the other Corydoras/Brochis that I have had the pleasure to keep over the years, Brochis seussi readily accepts a mixed and varied diet. I personally feed all of my Corydoras/Brochis on sinking pellets, good quality flake foods, granular foods, cultured whiteworm and frozen foods such as bloodworm.

Brochis: A sling, (a reference to the structure of the barbels).
seussi: This catfish was specifically named after (dedicated to) Mr.Werner Seuss who is a well known German aquarist and author.

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.
Chris Ralph; 19/04/05 First published in Tropical Fish magazine June 2005.
Fuller, I.A.M. & Evers, H-G: 2005 Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish Ian Fuller Enterprises. 384 p.
Ian A. M. Fuller & Hans-Georg Evers (2011). Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish Supplement 1. Ian Fuller Enterprises.

Photo Credits

© Chris Ralph