The Bronze Corydoras, Corydoras aeneus, is – this may be surprising – very poorly researched. We know armored catfishes that roughly correspond in appearance to C. aeneus from practically all of South America, we also know the appearance of animals from Trinidad (the place from which C. aeneus was scientifically described). We know that Bronze Corydoras of the different populations look different, and we know that they differ significantly with respect to their chromosome numbers. But we don’t know what to call them.
Scientifically, the number of synonyms of C. aeneus is manageable: C. macrosteus (Sao Paulo, Brazil), C. schultzei (upper Amazon) and C. venezuelanus (Rio Cabriales, Valencia, Venezuela). These three names are used from time to time for Bronze Corydoras from the mentioned regions (or cultivated forms), but this is not scientifically confirmed. We have now received from Venezuela wild-caught Bronze Corydoras that closely resemble the orange-finned form referred to in the hobby as C. venezuelanus (see https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/10-catfishes/corydoras-venezuelanus-orange-and-c-sp-venezuela-black/), but also the Bronze Corydoras that has been assigned CW number 26.
Nowadays one expects Corydoras venezuelanus to be well bred, with strong orange fins. The strain goes back to animals that Hans-Georg Evers and Ingo Seidel caught in 1992 in the llanos of the Orinoco in Venezuela and brought to Germany. That is now 30 years of breeding selection, one must not forget that! But because there are clear differences in color (depending on lighting and also physically) to the now imported wild catches, we have decided for the designation CW26. In any case, they are beautiful, very lively animals that make the heart of every Corydoras fan beat faster!
For our customers: the animals have code 220413 on our stock list. Please note that we supply only wholesale.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
