ID please? Mystery long nose corys at LFS

[bekateen]

ID please? I know the two fish look different in this picture, but they looked almost identical in the store. The one fish has really washed out since I picked the two up at my LFS as "mixed wild corys." But if you look closely, you can see the faint hints of the same color pattern on the pale fish as is clear on the dark fish - vertical mask through the eyes and iridescent operculum and cleithrum, black line up dorsal fin margin, upside down black triangle on body at base of dorsal spine, perpendicular black blotch over the body from base of dorsal fin, a few random blotches perpendicularly arranged below the adipose fin, a faint horizontal line between the upper and lower lateral scutes, and vertical spots/stripes on tail. Plus, they both have concave snouts. I have no clue, but I thought they might be similar to

cw012

. Thanks for your help.

[pleco_breeder]

My first thought was

Corydoras pastazensis

, but have to admit I'm a bit thrown by the dark patch in the dorsal fin. I don't remember seeing that in this species.

Larry Vires

[bekateen]

Thanks Larry. I thought the same too, or maybe blochi; but like you, I could see these aren't an exact match.

On the CorydorasWorld page, Ian Fuller said he agrees that

cw012

is the most likely match. I'm eager to see the colors mature, and I haven't yet attempted to sex them. Hopefully I got a male and female. These were the only two specimens that arrived in the shipment.

Cheers, Eric

[Karsten S.]

Hi Eric,

it would be interesting to see more pictures when they are settled.
Based on your picture I would say it's rather Corydoras blochi, but CW012 might also be an option.
What irritates me are the blotches below the adipose fin, do they both have them ?

Do you have any information about their origin or which other species were in this mix ?

Cheers,

[bekateen]

Hi Karsten, thanks for the info.

Yes I thought blochi too, but as you said the spots below the adipose fin really throws blochi out. And yes, both fish have them. Sadly, I must report that the pale individual died overnight in QT. Now I have only the one darker fish. When I found them, I considered the possibility that the pale color was a reflection of stress or poor condition, but I had high hopes for it.

The other fish shipped with these were leucomelas, sodalis, trilineatus, leopardus and C102 (or at least two distinct color patterns), agassizii and zygatus.

Cheers, Eric

[Karsten S.]

Hi Eric,

ok, if both had this blotch then I would also rule out C. blochi.
The other species that you mention can be found in nothern Peru / southern Colombia (Laetetia) , this makes CW012 quite possible. However, the pattern looks odd.
But some saddle snouted species are quite variable in the pattern...

Cheers,