Article © Allan James, uploaded April 01, 2000.

Allan James, fellow webmaster of the excellent "Scotcat" site shares one of his personal favourites with us this month. Over to Allan...

This is certainly one of my favourite Corydoras and as you can see in the photograph here, a male, it is somewhat similar to the Bronze Cory (Corydoras aeneus), but there the similarity ends. Though C. concolor never attains the length of the bronze Cory, it is certainly a more robust looking fish. It appears to be more chunky, especially fully grown adults which can get very heavy and impressive looking. Colour-wise it is not startling compared to some other members of the genus (the species name, concolor, actually means, uniformly coloured; of the same colour) but well looked after specimens, especially in breeding condition, display fins of a rusty orange colour and against a grey to brown body it is certainly one of the more unusual and sought after species.

I first acquired four of this species from a friend in 1994, as he was having difficulty keeping the barbels on them, probably due to bacteria in the gravel. Bottom dwelling catfish, especially Corydoras, are the first to suffer from adverse conditions in the substrate.

I kept them on sand in my fish house Cory community tank up to the beginning of 1996. Slowly they began to grow back their barbels. I then set them up for spawning as I had, as it transpired, two pairs; the males are somewhat smaller and have an elongated dorsal fin with the females noticeably heavier looking.

As mentioned earlier, both sexes have a nice orange colouration to their fins with some species having more colour than others, probably depending on the wild catchment area. I find them quite an easy Cory to keep but somewhat shy in their surroundings.

I sometimes wonder why they are not more popular, but in the U.K. at least, they are not abundant in the aquatic shops. If you do find them, have a go at spawning them, you never know you might end up with a delightful tank of youngsters!

Copyright information for the images used in this article can be found on the species' full Cat-eLog page.

Cat-eLog Data Sheet
Scientific Name	Hoplisoma concolor  Weitzman, 1961
Common Names	Slate Cory Einfarbiger Panzerwels (Germany), Mørk Pansermalle (Denmark)
Type Locality	Las Mangas, in a tributary of Río Parguaza, western Bolivar State, Venezuela, 6°20'N, 67°10'W.
Pronunciation	hop lee so mah - CONN cull or
Etymology	Latin concolor = coloured uniformly.
Articles
Species Information
Size	54mm or 2.1" SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Identification	Easy to identify, this round nosed, high backed species is all over slate grey.
Sexing	Males have a longer dorsal, and they are somewhat smaller in proportion than the more robust females.
Habitat Information
Distribution	South America: Orinoco River basin. Orinoco (click on these areas to find other species found there) Login to view the map.
IUCN Red List Category	Not Evaluated
pH	6.4 - 7.0
Temperature	23.0-26.0°C or 73.4-78.8°F (Show species within this range)
Husbandry Information
Feeding	The usual fare for adult Corys, a good quality flake food, tablet food, frozen bloodworm and whiteworm used sparingly. I fed the fry with infusoria to start off the first few days, then on to Brine shrimp nauplii, Microworm, fry and crushed flake. User data.
Furniture	Planted tank with a few hideaways; that way they will feel secure in their environment, and you will see them out in the open more often.
Compatibility	Peaceful
Suggested Tankmates	Certainly will enhance your community tank as long as it is at least 24'' long with 36'' being a better option. The usual community fish will suffice, but I am suspicious of a few of the Barb family as they do tend to nip the dorsals of Corydoras, so pick carefully.
Breeding	Using a 18'' x 12'' x 12'' tank with sand, Java moss, Java fern and a sponge filter. They spawned at a water temperature of 78F, a pH of 6 and GH 1. The eggs (shown above) are quite large, measuring 2mm and a creamy white colour. The first spawning yielded only 8 eggs but the second, 7 weeks later, amounted to 25 eggs. They laid eggs on and off for the next year then suddenly stopped for a year. The fry look like any other Cory fry having spots over the top half of the body and gradually begin to resemble the parents after 6 weeks, with pale orange fins, and a dark head which has quite a steep incline, making it look quite chunky.
Breeding Reports	There are 11 breeding reports, read them all here.
Further Information
Reference	Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington v. 74, pp 105, Figs. 1-2.
Registered Keepers	There are 139 registered keepers, view all "my cats" data.
Wishlists	Love this species? Click the heart to add it to your wish list. There are 9 wishes to keep this species, see who wants what.
Spotters	Spotted this species somewhere? Click the binoculars! There are 41 records of this fish being seen, view them all.
Forum BBCode
	Search for H. concolor
	Look up H. concolor on AquaticRepublic.com
	Look up H. concolor on Fishbase
	Look up H. concolor on Encyclopedia of Life
	Look up H. concolor on Global Biodiversity Information Facility
	LFS label creator ARN ref:1.1.1580.470
Last Update	2024 Jun 14 11:12 (species record created: 2000 Apr 01 11:22)

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