C. julii & C. trilineatus

[CatherineMPLS]

Hi All Just joined the forum and hope you can help.

I just purchased 3 cories this weekend. I was told they were all C. julii , but after some research, I have found that only 1 is a julii and the other 2 are trilineatus.

They are in a 10 gallon tank (heavily planted) with my male betta and 4 amano shrimp - and they are all getting along great. It's pretty neat to watch them all congregate around the sinking algae wafers... even the betta comes down to see what's happening on the bottom

The LFS said they would be fine in this size tank, but once again after some research, it seems they should have a bigger tank and I do plan to do this after the Holidays... just in case you were thinking "that tank is too small for them"

Anyways, on to the questions....

Should I take the julii back and get a trili so there are 3 of the same kind? They typically all stay together, so I'm not sure if I should be concerned or not that they're not all the same They don't 'appear' to notice that they're different.

Also, the cories are ALWAYS looking for food. Is this normal or do they need more food? Currently I am splitting an algae wafer into 5-6 pieces and dropping 3 pieces (so about half a wafer total) in for the fish in the morning (the shrimp get their own smaller pieces). And in the evening either a small amount of flakes or freeze dried bloodworms.

Thanks in advance for your response!!

[MatsP]

Are you absolutely sure that you have a C. julii - they are quite rare, and not very likely to turn up in the local LFS somewhere... C. trilineatus can vary quite a bit.

So, we probably need a (good) photo of the suspect fish.

Three corys are fine in a 10g tank, but with a few other inhabitants in there, it's starting to get a bit crowded.

Corys do constantly forage for food. It's the way they are. I would suggest not feeding algae wafers, but sinking food for omnivores. I feed mine a variety of sinking foods, JBL NovoTabs, Tetra Prima (Tetra Bits, Tetra Discus, same food, different labels for different countries). Live or frozen food is always a good thing too.

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Mats

[CatherineMPLS]

Thanks for the quick response!

I don't plan to add anymore fish. To be honest, I wasn't really planning on adding the cories... I went looking for an assassin snail... but when they didn't have any of those snails, I decided to get the cories and just keep smashing the pond snails that hitch-hiked into my tank


Well, I'm not 100% certain they're different species, but I might bet $50 on it
All I have is my camera phone right now... which doesn't do well with tank shots.

The one I think is the julii has very small distinct individual cirlces (and is smaller in length... but this could also be because it's younger), and the other 2 are obivously different and have a more linear pattern. I found some pics online of pretty much exactly what they look like... but even with all my 'nerd skills' I can't seem to figure out how to upload them I'll play around with it more tonight and see if I can borrow a friends camera to take some good pics.

[MatsP]

Have you looked at the test on "identification" on

Corydoras julii

.

We only have a single picture of true C. julii, so it is definitely worth trying to get a picture of your fish - although I still think it's unlikely that you find C. julii in a shop - yes, they will be LABELED as C. julii, and a lot of people will call them that. It is one of the most commonly mislabeled fish.

I thought I had found a picture of true C. julii, but Ian Fuller identified it at C. trilineatus - Ian is one of the authors of "Identifying Corydoradinae Catfish".

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Mats

[Coryman]

C. julii are not actually rare in the wild and as Matts says they are indeed variable in colour pattern. The trouble is that they come from eastern central Brazil and are not often collected, but when they are they are caught in their thousands. Any so called C. julii that are exported out of Belem, Brazil are likely to be the real thing. Ant that come from Colombia or Peru will not.

This is a picture of one of my original group from back in 1980.

Image courtesy Ian Fuller & Corydorasworld.com

Ian

[CatherineMPLS]

I still haven't been able to take any quality pictures of them... If I ever do, I will post them.

The cories do all swim, eat & rest together, so at least I don't have to worry that one may or may not "feel" left out

So far, they've been really entertaining to watch! I would love to get a bunch more... but not until I have a bigger tank

[ginagv]

Corys are addictive little creatures to be sure...

I know I am a full blown hard core cory addict...

welcome to the club.

Gina