Sterba's corydoras (''Corydoras sterbai'') is a member of the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n ''

Corydoras ''Corydoras'' is a genus of freshwater catfish in the family Callichthyidae and subfamily Corydoradinae. The species usually have more restricted areas of endemism than other callichthyids, but the area of distribution of the entire genus almos ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

and one of the most popular

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of ''Corydoras'' due to its attractive markings. The fish is native to the

Guaporé River Guaporé River (, ) is a river in western Brazil and northeastern Bolivia. It is long; of the river forms the border between Brazil and Bolivia. The Guaporé is part of the Madeira River basin, which eventually empties into the Amazon River. T ...

region between

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Sterba's cory is distinguishable from other ''Corydoras'' species as it has white spots on a black background on its head. It is occasionally confused with '' Corydoras haraldschultzi''; the difference is that the latter has a pattern of black dots on a white background on the head. ''C. sterbai'' has recently become available in an

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...

form and a black form. Like many ''Corydoras'' species, Sterba's corydoras is a

shoaling In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. Ab ...

catfish, and thus should ideally be kept in groups of 5 or more. In the wild it can be found in

and thus, wild caught fish prefer soft, acidic water. However, Sterba's corydoras is a hardy fish and tank bred specimens have adapted to a wider range of water conditions. However, like almost all fish it will not tolerate high levels of

nitrates Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are soluble in water. An example of an insol ...

. Unlike some other

they are not good

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

eaters, but are good at "cleaning up" leftover food and detritus from the

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (aquatic environment), the earthy material that exi ...

. ''Corydoras sterbai'' are relatively small for catfish, growing to a maximum size of only .

In the aquarium

In captivity ''Corydoras sterbai'' readily accepts a wide variety of prepared and frozen foods. Flake food is a good staple

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

(which will only be consumed once it has fallen to the bottom) as are sinking pellets or wafers. They relish live and frozen foods such as bloodworm,

daphnia ''Daphnia'' is a genus of small planktonic crustaceans, in length. ''Daphnia'' are members of the Order (biology), order Anomopoda, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because their Saltation (gait), ...

and

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e, but ideally should only be fed such foods once a week due to the high amount of protein in them. It is often problematic to feed ''Corydoras'' in aquaria with fast feeding mid-water fish such as tetras as flake and

sinking pellets Shipwrecking is any event causing a ship to wreck, such as a collision causing the ship to sink; the stranding of a ship on rocks, land or shoal; poor maintenance, resulting in a lack of seaworthiness; or the destruction of a ship either intent ...

are consumed by such fish before they have hit the bottom and sometimes, even while lying on the substrate. However, this problem can be overcome by placing pellets and flake on the aquarium substrate in caves or under

bogwood Bog-wood (also spelled bogwood or bog wood), also known as abonos and, especially amongst pipe smokers, as morta, is a material from trees that have been buried in peat bogs and preserved from decay by the acidic and anaerobic bog conditions, some ...

, or other such areas which are not regularly frequented by mid-water fish. The

compatibility Compatibility may refer to: Computing * Backward compatibility, in which newer systems can understand data generated by older ones * Compatibility card, an expansion card for hardware emulation of another device * Compatibility layer, componen ...

of ''C. sterbai'' is one of their main selling points as with all other ''Corydoras'' species as they are very peaceful catfish and can be kept with other peaceful fish. They should not be kept with overly aggressive bottom dwellers, particularly if there is competition over substrate space as there would be in small tanks or tanks with a large amount of "furniture". Ideal companions would be similar sized

tetra Tetra is the common name of many small freshwater characiform fishes. Tetras come from Africa, Central America, and South America, belonging to the biological families Characidae, Alestidae (the "African tetras"), Lepidarchidae, Lebiasi ...

s or particularly,

dwarf cichlid Dwarf cichlid is a term used by fishkeeping hobbyists to describe an arbitrary assemblage of small-sized fish from the family Cichlidae. Although the grouping is widely used in the aquarium industry and hobby, the grouping has no taxonomic or eco ...

s. Ideally ''Corydoras sterbai'' should be housed with a fine

such as sand or gravel in order to avoid doing damage to their delicate

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

s. However, large gravel will suffice as long as it is not sharp edged. Their only other requirement is that shade be provided for them, by means of overhanging rock, large leaved plants, arching bogwood or caves. Breeding is not too difficult. A tank with dimensions 18″ x 12″ x 12″ (10 US Gallon) is recommended. The breeding ratio that should be kept is 2 males per female. Good diet together with repeated water changes and drops of temperature are usually sufficient. However, raising the fry is not easy due to its high sensitivity. Occasionally problems can arise while transporting these fish as they are capable of secreting a chemical toxin when stressed or overcrowded. For this reason they are never shipped with other fish.

Name

The species name of this ''Corydoras'' is in honour of Professor Dr. Günther Sterba, professor emeritus of zoology of

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

. Professor Sterba is a professional ichthyologist who nevertheless produced several very popular books regarded as virtual bibles for fishkeepers over the 1970s and 1980s, translated into English under the titles ''Freshwater Fishes of the World'', ''Aquarium Care'' and (with Dick Mills) ''The Aquarists' Encyclopedia'', despite his degree of isolation at that time by virtue of living in the then

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

References

* *

External links

Sterba's Corydoras
as the July 2003 Catfish of the Month. {{Taxonbar, from=Q965336 Corydoras Taxa named by Joachim Knaack Fish described in 1962

In the aquarium

Name

See also

References

External links