Corydoras atroperonatus 白豹鼠

C. atropersonatus is my personal favourite. Known to be collected in wide distribution in South America. It does not travel well and losses are high. Hardly any imported into Singapore when i had them that time. They do not do well in tropical weather.

Price do not come cheap in Taiwan. 

I personally kept a dried specimen in good condition after it passed away.

C. atropersonatus has dotted black spot on the body with a masked black band across it eyes. When netted out of water, you will be amazed with the high quality leopard skin texture.

 Atropersonatus means black mask. Another common name is fairy cory.

Quite a few similar corydoras sub-species are known to have similar pattern so we need to be careful if one attempts to have a breeding group. I have a few which has much softer blurr dots which faded out with slightly different body shapes. They don't really mix together if you observe them long enough. There are also others with different snouts which are easier to spot. Best done by putting them all next to each other. some people in the internet believe by counting the number of lateral scutes. I will try and provide update later.

 I have strong suspicion of at least 2 of the females are C. sychri which are much stockier in body. Despite mating with C. aropersonatus, their eggs are infertile so far.

C. atropersonatus suckling a bloodworm



Poison

Corydoras dorsal fin has a spike bone which known to stung on on any attempts to eat it whole. What is even more interesting is the toxic secretions filled through the opening of the glands when people is injured by the pectoral fins or stress-induced.

However in captivity when stressed or disturbed, the chemical emitted will also harm itself unfortunately. And C. atropersonatus seems much more vulnerable to it when bagged up for transportation. I rush home in a cab but still there are a fatality.

Flight Transportation

Caution on using below advise as this is still testing.

1. Excite the fish in big pale of tank water. Theoritical assumption is to get them to excrete the poisons. Change the water10 minutes later. Do it a few times to really purge it but make sure those fishes are already in good health.
2. Stop feeding them for at least a day.
3. Add carbon fillets and some moss into the bag before bagging them up just before leaving for airport.
4. Do not let them expose to light throughout the journey so that they stay calm.
5. As home packing has less oxygen, only pack 1/3 of the bag with water.
6. Two fishes in each bag maximum so that there is enough water.

Corydoras atropersonatus

Handling Corydoras

Handle with care and use a net. The pain is like a needle stun if you ever get poked. Another caution is the plastic bag may get punctured during transportation. Ask for double bagged if is an expensive buy. Do not put all of them in a bag. Try to spread them out to be safe from killing itself.





Breeding C. atropersonatus

Successfully breeded on a typoon day in Taiwan in 2005.

The male and female are quite obvious when mature. Females are much larger in size ( underbelly and wider ). Males are also shorter in length.

Newly hatched frys. (Left)

One month old juvenile. (Right)

Can't help myself to show again the cute little brothers. (Top)

C. atropersonatus juveniles. (Top)

Cory

22th April 2012 - add breeding section
4th April 2012