Article © Chris Ralph, uploaded April 08, 2009.

Chris Ralph introduces this months species and shares with us some of his experience in keeping this species.

I first purchased a small shoal of these stunning little Cory’s in 2005. They were for sale at Porton Aquatic & Pet Centre in Wiltshire(UK) and I decided to purchase all 10 as they were unlabelled and very unusual. I kept them in a small aquarium in my kitchen along with some very nice Emperor Tetras. Unsure of their true identity I emailed a picture to my friend Ian Fuller who responded that they were indeed Corydoras diphyes.

Corydoras diphyes is a recently described species of Corydoras (2003). Corydoras diphyes is not yet commonly available to the hobbyist; in fact the ones that I purchased are the only ones I have seen for sale in an aquatic shop. When this catfish is available expect to pay around £5-£8 per fish. In its natural habitat Corydoras diphyes usually occurs in areas which have sandy substrates with bank vegetation entering the water. The water in which they are found varies from dark (stained with tannins) to clear or slightly turbid.

As you are most likely aware Corydoras diphyes belongs to the family Callichthyidae or Armoured Catfishes from South America. This catfish also belongs to the sub-family Callichthyinae. This is certainly a species that I intend to look out for in the future, as I am about to set-up some of my old aquariums that were originally within my now defunct fish house. I hope that you enjoy the following details about this little catfish. If anyone has managed to breed these fish perhaps you could add some more detail to the listing for this catfish.

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 diphyes  Axenrot & Kullander, 2003
Common Names	Variable Cory Variabel Pansermalle (Denmark)
Type Locality	Small stream (arroyo) at Estancia María Belén, 8 kilometers from Colonel Patricio Colman, 25°40'13''S, 55°05'52''W, río Paraná drainage, Depto. Caaguazú, Paraguay.
Pronunciation	hop lee so mah - die fees
Etymology	Diphyes, from the greek word meaning double nature; in reference to the unique (?) variation in colour patterns expressed in this species (striped and spotted).
Articles
Species Information
Size	45mm or 1.8" SL. Find near, nearer or same sized spp.
Habitat Information
Distribution	South America: restricted to tributaries of río Monday and río Acaray, ringht bank tributaries of río Paraná, Paraguay. La Plata, Paraná, Acaray (click on these areas to find other species found there) La Plata, Paraná, Monday (click on these areas to find other species found there) Login to view the map.
IUCN Red List Category	Not Evaluated
pH	6.0 - 7.0
Temperature	18.0-22.0°C or 64.4-71.6°F (Show species within this range)
Husbandry Information
Breeding	Has been bred. Breeds after 50% water change with water around 14°C.
Breeding Reports	There are 5 breeding reports, read them all here.
Further Information
Reference	Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters v. 14 (no. 3), pp 258, Fig. 5.
Registered Keepers	There are 23 registered keepers, view all "my cats" data.
Wishlists	Love this species? Click the heart to add it to your wish list. There are 6 wishes to keep this species, see who wants what.
Spotters	Spotted this species somewhere? Click the binoculars! There are 9 records of this fish being seen, view them all.
Forum BBCode
	Search for H. diphyes
	Look up H. diphyes on AquaticRepublic.com
	Look up H. diphyes on Fishbase
	Look up H. diphyes on Encyclopedia of Life
	Look up H. diphyes on Global Biodiversity Information Facility
	LFS label creator ARN ref:1.1.1580.815
Last Update	2024 Jun 14 08:55 (species record created: 2009 Apr 08 09:04)

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