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Hello!

My boyfriend's got this little guy (or girl?) in his acquarium but we don't know his species. Guesses are c. nattereri, c.vittatus or c. aeneus. We also don't know why s/he has such a big abdomen. The little fish has always been like this, since he got it from a guy on the Internet 4-5 months ago. Any help please?

I think this might be a brochis species, but not sure though. Also, maybe she is gravid? Then again I haven't seen one with such a huge belly.

Hi,

Carolus wrote:I think this might be a brochis species

certainly not, if you count the dorsal fin rays you can exclude Brochis.
However, as the colour pattern is not clearly visible and without seeing normal body shape I don't want to speculate what it might be.

Cheers,

Just a guess, but I'd say it's a deformed Corydoras paleatus. Probably not feeling well for one reason or another based on it's faded coloration.

Pregnant or not (I think not), it looks deformed (either born with deformity or developed it), and it might be bloated (not full pineconing/dropsy so far).

I have seen hunchback C. aeneus and C. paleatus before at my LFS once in a long while. They were old large adult Corys (3"+), possibly were kept in nano tanks all their life and as a result from the small size tank, they became deformed as they "tried" to grow. Or they were born with the deformity. Skeletal deformities from malnutrition or TB (mycobacterium), usually the spine would be crooked/kinked, so I don't think that is what this fish has (still a possibility though).

It looks like Paleatus.

it could be gravid (not pregnant as pregnant implies fertilization has already taken place)