Twosaddle Corydoras (Corydoras Weitzmani) Fish Species Profile

The Two Saddle Corydoras are a popular social fish and should be kept in small groups. They are incredibly peaceful, easy to care for and non-aggressive, making them an excellent addition to any community tank. Always present hiding places for them.

Two Saddle Corydoras have a stub nose and relatively long barbels, they are also armoured instead of scaled, they display two rows of overlapping scutes running down each side and have large plates covering their head which is short and compact.

They have a light brown-tan body with three dark brown-black bands. The first band starts from the jawline then goes up over the eye, the second band runs up behind the gill plates, beginning under the pectoral and above the ventral fins, up to and into the dorsal fin at the leading edge, and the third band can be found on the end, covering the caudal peduncle. The specific shape of the spots varies somewhat from one fish to another.

The fins are all virtually transparent except for the dorsal fin that has black from the flanks running into the top third of the fin.

Origins

The Two Saddle Corydoras comes from the Rio Araza in the Madre Del Dios drainage river system in Southern Peru in South America.

They inhabit slow-flowing streams, on the margins of larger rivers, in marshlands, ponds and also in lakes but hardly ever in stagnant water.

Diet

These catfish will accept most foods offered but to ensure they get their share use sinking varieties of wafers or pellets. These should be algae-based. Also, give them occasional treats of live or frozen foods such as blood worms and brine shrimp.

Sexing the Twosaddle Corydoras

It is comparatively easy to differentiate males from females. When viewed from above, the females will appear a lot broader than a male. Males are shorter in length than females also and the males are portrayed as being more vibrantly coloured than females.

Breeding the Twosaddle Corydoras

The Two Saddle Corydoras is a relatively easy species to breed.

Preferably, a separate breeding tank will be needed to hatch and grow the fry. The tank should be densely planted, or spawning mops would also work, and the substrate should be smooth gravel or sand. A bare bottom tank is also fitting. The water should be slightly acidic, soft and neutral.

Having a higher number of males to females when breeding Corydoras is more reliable, two males to every female are advised.

Condition the breeding group on frozen and live foods; this will encourage spawning.

When the females are prominently full of eggs, perform a significant water change with colder water, and increase the flow and the oxygenation in the tank, repeat this daily until the fish spawn.

Spawning usually begins with heightened activity, and the males will continuously stalk the females. When a female decides to receive a male, the female will position her head against the mid-portion of the male. The male will then embrace the barbels of the female with his pectoral fins, the female will then create a basket with her pelvic fins, in which she will store up to four eggs.

It is believed that the sperm passes through the female's gills and are led to the eggs being fertilised. Once the eggs have been fertilised, the female will find a suitable spot to attach her sticky eggs. This process will continue until she has laid around 100 to 150 eggs.

The parents will not attend to nor protect the eggs once they have been laid. They will more than likely consume them so they must be separated from them if the fry is to be rescued.

The eggs will usually hatch three to five days later and should then be fed freshly hatched rotifers, micro-worms or brine shrimp.

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