Aspidoras
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| Aspidoras rochai Ihering, 1907 |
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Aspidoras fuscoguttatus |
The Aspidoras genus is a moderately sized genus of freshwater catfish in the armored catfish family consisting of 19 species from Brazil and Peru. They are all small, the largest not surpassing 5 cm in length. The type species for this genus is Aspidoras rochai. The name Aspidoras is derived from the Greek aspis (shield) and dora (skin).
The subfamily Corydoradinae contains three genera, although the differences between each of the genera are not so great as to preclude some "lumpers" to consider them all the same genus. The character that serves to distinguish this genus from others in the family is the number and shape of the cranial fontanels. Many of the species of Aspidoras are similar and often hard to distinguish. Without specimens, it is often very difficult to positively identify a species from photographs alone.
[edit] In the aquarium
Aspidoras do fairly well in aquaria under similar conditions as for most Corydoras species. The water conditions that seem best are a pH of 6.8 to 7.0 and a temperature of about 22°C to 26°C. The species that is most likely to be found in an aquarium is the sixray corydoras, Aspidoras pauciradiatus.
[edit] References
- "Aspidoras". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Burgess, Dr. Warren E. (1987). A Complete Introduction to Corydoras and Related Catfishes. Neptune City, NJ: T.F.H. Publications. ISBN 0-86622-264-2.
