Corydoras leucomelas or schwartzi. How to diferenciate?

Did you know fantastic help is an anagram of Planet Catfish? This forum is for those of you with pictures of your catfish who are looking for help identifying them. There are many here to help and a firm ID is the first step towards keeping your catfish in the best conditions.
Post Reply
User avatar
Jorge
Posts: 439
Joined: 04 Jun 2003, 17:00
Location 1: Madrid (España)

Corydoras leucomelas or schwartzi. How to diferenciate?

Post by Jorge »

Is this a C. leucomelas or a C. schwartzi. How to diferenciate them? What's the diference with C. ambiacis and the other two?

Image

Image

Thanks.
User avatar
Fiskars the Whiskers
Posts: 319
Joined: 31 Oct 2003, 19:52
Location 1: Ketchikan, Alaska
Interests: Catfish, coffee, math, reading, the internet, frolicing, going for drives, anthropology, Terry Pratchett books
Contact:

Post by Fiskars the Whiskers »

Hi! I have both C. Schwartziis and C. Leucomelas and I think between the two yours looks most like the C. Leucomelas. I checked the cat-a-log and it seems as though the Leucomelas as a pinker body with the black spots, eye stripe, and dorsal fin blotch. Schwartziis are grey wtih black markings and I don't think they ever have the black on their dorsal fin. I believe Ambiacus may or may not have a stripe over their eye, but they do not have the dorsal blotch either.

Image
Here is a pic of my C. Leucomelas. She's the fish on the right. To me, your fish looks similar to her.

I'm sure someone else can elaborate more on this. I might be totally wrong, too, but since you mentioned Schwartziis and Leucomelas, I thought I might add my two-cents! :)
Image
Line up!
benny
Posts: 91
Joined: 27 Jan 2003, 03:36
Location 1: Singapore

Post by benny »

Hi,

I believe they should be Corydoras schwartzi. Corydoras leucomelas is quite different in the body pattern.

Cheers,
User avatar
Fiskars the Whiskers
Posts: 319
Joined: 31 Oct 2003, 19:52
Location 1: Ketchikan, Alaska
Interests: Catfish, coffee, math, reading, the internet, frolicing, going for drives, anthropology, Terry Pratchett books
Contact:

Post by Fiskars the Whiskers »

*L* To me, the bottom one looks mostly like a Schwartzii and the top one like a Leucomelas. :) It's the pinkness of the top fish (and the dorsal blotch) that gets me. Maybe it's the light, but I've never seen my Schwartziis look pink like that.
Image
Line up!
User avatar
Coryman
Expert
Posts: 2118
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 19:06
My articles: 12
My catfish: 5
My cats species list: 83 (i:0, k:0)
My BLogs: 1 (i:0, p:1)
Spotted: 194
Location 1: Kidderminster UK
Location 2: Kidderminster, UK
Interests: Cory's, Loricariids, photography and more Cory's
Contact:

Post by Coryman »

There should not be to much difficulty in separating these to species. Both of your pictures show C. schwartzi.

C. leucomelas
Image

C. schwartzi
Image

Ian
Frisckey1
Posts: 45
Joined: 23 Jul 2003, 20:26
Location 1: Virginia, USA
Interests: Fishkeeping, 4x4ing, camping, outdoors

Agreed!

Post by Frisckey1 »

I have C. leucomelas and the spots are smaller and follow a not so perfectly straight pattern down the body. Leucomelas has less pattern in the dorsal, more black (usually), and a snubier (word?) nose. I have 2 leucomelas



Image

Image

The one on the right is the leucomelas, the left is a delphax.
Cant....stop....buying....fish!
User avatar
Fish Demon
Posts: 188
Joined: 24 Jan 2004, 21:22
Location 1: SF Bay Area
Interests: I keep lots of fish, but I am really interested in catfish (especially corys).

Post by Fish Demon »

At first I thought they might be hybrids between the two species, but now I think they are C. schwartzi. Just Schwartzis with a more squiggly line than most others.

Look at the dorsal fin - it is spotted. C. schwartzi has a spotted dorsal fin, while C. leucomelas has a predominately solid black dorsal fin.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
-Natalie

April 20, 2001

Q: How tall is Cartman in real life?

A: Well, Cartman doesn't exist in real life, but if he did he'd be two feet tall.
User avatar
Jools
Expert
Posts: 16017
Joined: 30 Dec 2002, 15:25
My articles: 198
My images: 948
My catfish: 237
My cats species list: 87 (i:13, k:1)
My BLogs: 7 (i:8, p:202)
My Wishlist: 23
Spotted: 450
Location 1: Middle Earth,
Location 2: Scotland
Interests: All things aquatic, Sci-Fi, photography and travel. Oh, and beer.
Contact:

Post by Jools »

Fish Demon wrote:At first I thought they might be hybrids between the two species, but now I think they are C. schwartzi. Just Schwartzis with a more squiggly line than most others.
Has C. schwartzi ever been spawned in captivity? I can't recall ever seeing that - so hybridization is most unlikely.

Jools
Post Reply

Return to “What is my catfish?”