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Here's the Lambourne book's notes on Corydoras habrosus reproduced for everyone's benefit.

C. habrosus Weitzman 1960 {Dainty Corydoras}

First collected: A. Fernandez-Yepez 1950.

Distribution: Venezuela: Cojedes - Rio Salinas, tributary of Rio Pao Viejo, El Baul. Colombia: Rio Casanare. Max SL 35mm, F larger than M.

C. habrosus seems to be closely related to C. cochui, both are pygmy species and both share a similar colour pattern. In C. habrosus the stripe along the mid-side of the robust body can be separated to form 2 or 3 irregular-shaped blotches and there is no black spot at the base of the anal fin. There are also 2-3 well-developed lateral-line pores above the coracoid, which are also present in several other species of Corydoras. In contrast, C. cochui is slender-bodied, the stripe can be separated into 4-5 blotches, and there is a black spot at the base of the anal fin. Further revision of the genus may make C. habrosus and C. cochui synonymous.

Breeding: Detailed Account: 4 males, 24mm, 4 females, 30mm, all wild caught, 30x20x20 cm breeding aquarium, furnished with 1.2cm layer of well-washed river sand, 1 box filter, 1 small clump Java Moss, water chemistry pH 7.4, 12°GH (tap water pre-aged for 2 weeks), temperature 25°C daytime, 18°C nighttime (no heating in fish house during summer). Spawning in typical T formation. 30 eggs laid, egg dia approx. 2mm, deposited singly and indiscriminately upon aquarium sides, sides of box-filter and in Java Moss. Measurement of SL during development as follows: 3.5mm (7 days old), 6.5mm (1 month old), 10mm (2 months old). Adult colouration attained in 6-7 weeks. Considering small size of female, egg size comparatively large. Also, it was discovered that while the fine sand did not affect the adults, it caused considerable damage to the barbels of the fry, and many died. Subsequent spawnings used 1.5mm dia gravel.

I italicised the last part for emphasis.





Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Yea i hope the little guy gets better, I also hope one of the lfs around here will actually get in some habrosous so i can get them otherwise i don't know where i'm gonna get them.

The Lambourne book makes a comment about habrosus that is apposite here.

Apparently, when he tried breeding them, his first attempt was over fine sand. While the fine sand caused the adults no problems, he suffered rampant barbel loss in the babies and a complete wipeout. Switching to 1.5mm diameter rounded gravel stopped this.

They're not known commonly as 'Dainty Corys' for nothing ...

I'm now wondering if that was the right choice of smiley ...

Last edited by Calilasseia at 14-Feb-2005 06:23

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Interesting info.

I strongly believe it has something to do with the level of activity of the habrosus, in contrast to other cories. They are constantly digging.

The one other cory that I thought was having barbel erosion (trilineaus), apparently only injured it. It is only one of the barbels and it seems to have stopped eroding. Those guys sleep much of the time, with the exception of short spurts here and there.

Here's hoping your habrosus get better soon Cory_Di, because [1] they're lovely little guys, almost as cute as my Pandas () and [2] you really love them and devote lots of care and attention to them. Would be a shame to see them curl up their fins and kick the bucket when they're in the hands of someone who busts a gut to give them a good home ...

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Awww - thanks so much. I think these guys will make it. The one died and I don't know how he survived so long given the severity of his affliction.

They look funny trying to find food on that glass with no barbels. One moves so fast he slides as if it is ice. But without barbels, they need to hit a piece of food dead on to find it.

Mini-Me will be the first to get her barbels back because hers have not completely eroded. The others, I often wonder if they will even get barbels since they have lost the snout leading into the barbels.

I must get pictures in the coming days. So I can do a timeline.

sorry to hear about the loss cory.

ive been recently thinking about removeing my moon sand and placeing in a mix of flourite and bits of walnut gravel in my 75g tank. i have a dozen cories in there and after reading this thread im 2nd guesing it.

is this periculer species fragil? i have agass and leucomelas in the tank now. the agass barbels are really long but they are a longer nose type then the others who have shorter barbels. i also have rams and yoyo loaches. should i worry about flourite?

if so then what would you recommend? i really dont wanna put my cories into harms way when they have done so well for me.

I don't know. I've heard from many who have had no problems keeping certain species of cories with flourite, while others gasp at the thought.

All I can say about the habrosus is that they are probably 10 times more active than my trilineaus. The habrosus are constantly digging down into the gravel and I think all it would take are some abrasions.

I did catch some info on the web suggesting that habrosus have more delicate barbels. Maybe that is the issue. As Cal points out - they don't call them dainty for nothing.

Yea i wouldn't recomend flourite for any type of barbel having fish. Tis pretty sharp, like i said i am using florabase which seems to be a light soft substrate, although it does cloud the tank like hell when you move any around. Other then that i think its a good substrate so far...although on the bag it does say to replace it after a year. Well we'll see.

hmm, sorry for ur loss cory but if barbel erosion have proceeded that far, i doubt they'll regain their barbels - the medication might help stop further infection but.....anyway, another, the javamoss might help them be more comfortable, but corys without barbels rarely breed, if not never....

The only "soft" plant substrate i know of is florabase. Its a real light substrate and is what i plan on trying to use on my 10 gallon habrosus species tank. I have a bag now and plan on switching out my old gravel on my empty cycled 10 and putting in the florabase. Some say its only good for a year but hell i might as well try it and see if i like it. I use flourite on my rams planted 10 gallon and it looks great but its sharp so i decided to go a different route of course with an all bottom dweller style tank. Also you don't have to rinse the florabase GL

Thanks for sharing that.

Because of the flashing in at least 2-3 of the 5 I got from the beginning I believe these guys have had some type of low level parasite infestation. Whatever it is has been resistant to praziquantel (good for flukes/gill flukes), metronidazole (good for protozoans), and acriflavine (also protozoans). And, it has been resistant to Coppersafe - all tried over a period of months on various occassions.

One was flashing so severely that by the time he caught my attention with it, he had managed to shred up his face beyond the barbels. It was red and bleeding.

Therefore, I truly believe the barbels are eroding not from nitrates (low), nor simply substrate (flourite/gravel combo), but from the flicking/flashing against the rough substrate. I believe this has led to microscopic knicks in the barbels leading to infection and the erosin itself. Two died from systemic infections and both had severe erosion, into the mouth and one in the facial structure.

Today, I am losing another. He became lethargic two days ago and I wasn't sure he was ill. I noticed him not eating today and watched carefully to make sure he wasn't feeding when I wasn't watching. However, he barely moves and has difficulty doing so. Convinced that a bacterial infection is at work here, I dosed the tank with full strength Furacyn, which claims to be safe for scaleless fish. I know this is a risk with the tiny habrosus, which can be more sensitive, but I'm finding they have been resilient to all of the treatments I've tried thus far.

All fish are tolerating the treatment well with no heavy breathing or other signs of stress, other than in the affected cory, who had been breathing heavily all day. I inserted an airstone to aid him. By 6:00 he could barely lift himself to get a gulp of air and I saw the first red streak on his belly from the reflection in the glass. By 9:00, it was clear that blood had pooled in his abdomen, as seen through his transparent body. I decided against euthanasia, figuring he would expire shortly on his own.

I can only hope that if the other three have bacterial infections, the Furacyn will put it in check for them. I will do a full round for their benefit. After a week's rest, and if the one continues to flash and flick, I will give Ick Guard 2 a shot, which is suppose to be safe for scaleless fish and plants. It is the formalin that I am interested in at this point. It's time.

R.I.P. wee habrosus .

The little guy lost his battle during the night. I found him atop the sponge filter where there was only a body lengths distance to the surface. By the looks of his blood filled, pale body, I believe he expired shortly after I went to bed last night.

I must continue the Furacyn for the benefit of the others. Septicemia is such a silent killer, not revealing itself until it is too late for meds to work. .

* Lays single rose for Cory_Di's little habrosus ... *

I have to say, your fortitude in the circumstances is way beyond the call of duty. Given how you love these little guys, it must be heartbreaking to put so much effort into looking after them, only to have something like this strike. Wish there was more I could do in the circumstances, but if you've got resistant parasites, then I'm at a loss too. I'm also staggered to learn that copper based meds aren't working either: usually, they're the 'nuclear option' that destroys all comers.

My thought at this stage is that you should seek professional lab assistance. This sounds like some kind of microsporidian has taken hold in the tank. Microsporidians are the only organisms I know that are so resistant to attack by multiple meds. The one I'm thinking of at this stage is one called Nosema, which usually affects Characins but can also strike other fishes too. It would be worth popping the poor little guy into preservative and letting a lab do a full micro-organism assay. Once you know what you're dealing with, the chances of being able to treat it will be improved.

I hope it isn't a microsporidian, because if it is, then you'll be in the same boat as Bruce Moomaw was with his Diamond Tets. And his account two years ago of what happened that he sent me was seriusly depressing to read.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I don't feel it is a microsporidian. Rather, when I tried copper I did so at a reduced rate. I feared killing their tiny, sensitive bodies with it. However, I am going to try full strength Ick Guard 2 which touts to be safe for scaleless fish at that level. I will be watching carefully for any adverse reaction. For now, I want to complete the round of Furacyn, which will take another 4 days after today. It is dosed three times, every other day. The cories are tolerating it very well at full strength - a welcome sign that maybe they are not as sensitive as I had believed. I don't want to mix meds so I'll be doing several water changes and running activated carbon to ensure that doesn't happen.

I was too afraid all these months to address the occassional flicking and flashing that had turned more rampant with time. I hadn't noticed all the damage it was doing to their faces - the flicking itself.

A quote from the Skeptical Aquarist is apposite here:

Bacterial infections are generally secondary. The primary culprits in barbel erosion may be skin flukes. A report of barbel "detachment" in ictalurid cats being aquacultured, which is ascribed to necrosis from gyrodactylus (fluke) infestation, is mentioned in a Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management white paper. Could these parasitic trematodes be an issue in Corydoras barbel erosion also?

The paper in question is here Scroll down to the section on Gyrodactylus. It mentions barbel detachment in Ictalurid catfishes being ascribed to these organisms.



Last edited by Calilasseia at 08-Mar-2005 15:38

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

$30 heater
$20 worth of meds
countless waterchanges to save 2 cories.

seeing them still alive 2 wks later....priceless

im with ya Cory_di, im still fighting whatever my cories got tooth and nail. im not winning but dangit so far i havent lost either

Cali . Thank you!!! So someone else out there suspects what I do. That's wonderful.

I've still got flashing going on, but I feel the more immediate need is to stop any potential infection. The last one had no appearance of infection, aside from the erosion (no visible lesions). He went off food, got lethargic and developed hemorrhagic septicemia - often a complication based in a secondary infection. After this round of meds, these fish WILL go through an Ich Guard 2 bath, which is for scaleless fish. I've tried copper and that didn't work. I feel I have to try something with formalin in it.

However, flukes are usually killed by Praziquantel and I have dosed that more than once, without any change in the flashing. I'm thinking protozoans of some kind, possibly. I still see only one of the remaining 3 flashing.

Sin - you forgot one thing

Education: priceless.

There is a huge learning process going on. I don't like having to learn this way, but I want to know what works. I'm also proving that habrosus - or at least these habrosus - are much more tolerant of meds than I was led to believe. I know whatever is causing the erosion (primary and secondary), will eventually kill them as it has 3 already. I've told my mother more than once it's ok to die trying, but not ok to not try and just die. (She is allergic to more meds than you can imagine and fears any treatment. Yet, she keeps saying it is just a sign that it is her time to go. So, my statement to her is very fitting, as it is here. If you're going to die of the ailment, you may as well die trying to stop it, provided you aren't terminal.



Last edited by Cory_Di at 08-Mar-2005 17:59

Cory_Di, I've been searching around for some documents on parasites in Corydoras. Although reading this lot will take time, I've found a few interesting ones.

PubMed (all these are extracts):

New Gyrodactylus species in Corydoras paleatus

Dissolved Aluminium Eliminates Gyrodactylus In Salmon Especially In Acidic pH

Possible New Drug To Use Against Gyrodactylus And Other Flukes

New Parasites In Cultured Fish

Another Treatment For Flukes

Study of Praziquantel And Related Meds

Organophosphate Resistance In Trematodes

Oh, by the way, a new species, Gyrodactylus rasini, has turned up in Czech bred Swordtails. Its spread to other aquarium fish species has yet to be documented, but it is one to watch out for.

A lot to wade through, Cory_Di, but you might latch on to some clues using this lot as a starting point. I had to wade through 201 extracts to get this information


Last edited by Calilasseia at 09-Mar-2005 10:54

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks! I'll be sure to look through them, but won't be able to tonite. I'll probably go through them in a day or two and print them out so I can take my time with them. Thanks for linking! .